QUESTION: Non-Fiction in the English Classroom

[Lindsay Lombardi]

Hello,

I'm looking to develop a semester course for high school students that centers on Non-Fiction.

So far I've decided to utilize the NY times Learning Network, the
graphic text Palestine, and some excerpts from Nickel and Dimed.

Any other engaging texts/films you think would work for high schoolers, graphic or otherwise. I work with learning disabled and emotionally disabled teens.



-Lindsay

[Frank W. Baker]

How about using the NYT blog LENS to help them appreciate the "language of photography" as well as the story behind the news photograph? I also maintain a visual literacy website which may offer you even more ideas.

[Ryan Goble]

LIndsay - I realize this is a tricky question to put in a "proper" place - maybe you do a question about non-fiction doc film in the teach with the moving image group also - I'll crowdsource this one here too....

[Lindsay Lombardi]

good idea

[Richard Swandel]

I've used several non-fiction texts in my English classes and have found it very engagine for students. You may want to look at memoir and non-fiction with books like Maus, or a Million Little Pieces. Fast Food Nation ia another title that some students found interesting. As for movies, I've used The Control Room, Dogtown and Z-Boyz, and you could do a whole unit on Michael Moore and his documentary techniques.

Sounds like a fun idea for a class. Good luck.

[Annie Vickery]

For a NF unit I did this year, I found a lot of stuff at a site called The Week. It encapsulates current issues from several different angles and there is always one topic each week that students are really into. One week, there were articles on privacy on Facebook - that got a lot of debate going - and another week there were articles on fast food and government control of calorie counts. That also led to some interesting discussion.

[Mike Gange]

Some obvious suggestions pose interesting questions about our culture.
have you considered Time and Newsweek? And then pose the question as to how 700 w. can adequatley cover an important current event. Also questions such as who is the reporter and how much filtering goes on. This is a good place to introduce the conept of gatekeepers.
Rolling Stone: poses questions about culture and counter culture. Whose culture is it?
National Geographic, esp'y portrayal of Africa: poses questions about "others" and why does Africa get treated in extremes -- showing both beauty and social misfits.
Sports Illustrated: how many articles are there about women & swimmers? Except for the swim suit issue, of course.
In every case, I would also mention the ads, and how they shape reality.
Bonne chance.
Mike

[jswee]

Hi Lindsay,

This is a Canadian doc - but it has some amazing ideas for all types of writing strategies that you may like to look at... http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/studentsuccess/thinkliteracy/files/Wri...

Another thing that I did with my Grade Eights is I put together some learning centres and at each one kids had to perform a variety of tasks (all Non-Fiction) Here were the five centres - 1)Map Reading 2) Reading Bus Schedules/Maps 3) An article from the web on Urban Myths 4) Article on pros and cons about Tatoos 5) How to look up things and read the phone book. Now this one maybe outdated as kids have more access to the web - but its still a useful skill to know how to do if you are stuck somewhere without wireless access.

Joan