1. The Writing Break
The writing break strategy involves stopping what ever is going on in the classroom to allow the students a minute or two to quickly and spontaneously reflect upon and write about what has been presented in the classroom up to that point. This is an an important strategy because it allows the student and the teacher a moment to pause, to catch their breath and to reflect upon what has gone on in the classroom up to that point. Research has shown that none of us, high school students especially, remember more than 10% to 30% of what we see, hear or read. Research has also shown that none of us, high school students especially, can pay close attention to anything for longer than 20 minute or so. Therefore, stopping every 10 to 20 minutes in a class to allow the students a minute to reflect upon and to write about what has happened will not only reinforce what the student has seen, heard or read, but will allow the students to pause, take a break, and gather themselves to pay attention for another 20 minutes or so. Studies have shown that the Writing Break strategy can increase retention and comprehension from 10% to 30% to 70% to 90%. That is a significant enough increase in the important areas of retention and comprehension for me to put this strategy in my Top Ten Strategies.
In my classroom, whether I am lecturing, the class is reading silently, reading aloud or we are watching a video, I will stop what ever is going on every 10 or 20 minutes for a writing break. I will give the class a prompt, like "what about what we have read, seen, or heard today stands out for you and why?", or "what about what we have read, seen or heard in the last 20 minutes is unclear to you?". Then I will tell the class that they have a minute or two to reflect and write their responses. After everyone has had a moment to write, I will call upon several students at random to read what they have written, and make a few comments about what they have raised in their writings, and then go back into the class activity. These writing breaks will be a good assessment tool for me as a teacher to see if the students are getting what I want them to get out of the class activity, and to highlight areas that I might need to clarify or review.
2. The Exit Slip
The Exit Slip strategy involves using the last one to five minutes of class time for the students to jot down their response to the day's lesson on an index card and to hand that card to the teacher as the student "exits" the classroom. The teacher then reviews the exit slips before the next class.
In my class, I will explain the Exit Slip procedure to my class at the beginning of the term. I will provide them with 3x5 index cards for them to use as exit slips. I will stop class early enough to allow the students one to five minutes to write their exit slips. I will put up several prompts on the overhead that the students can use if they want, like 'what did you learn in today's lesson', 'what was the most important thing you learned today, 'what questions do you have about today's lesson, 'is there anything that you would like me to review the next time we get together'? I will then have the students write their exit slips and I will collect them as they exit the classroom. I will review the exit slips before the next class. The exit slips will be a valuable tool for me to assess what the students are learning and what they are missing and for me to identify areas that I need to review or clarify in the next class. The next time the class gets together, I will read and discuss some of the most representative exit slips, and use that opportunity to review the last session, to clarify or review any points that a lot of the class seemed to have missed and to answer any lingering questions that the students have. I will devote as much time to this part of the exercise as is necessary, but the hope is that it will take only a few minute at the beginning of every class.
3. The Admit Slip
The Admit Slip strategy involves asking the students to bring in a short piece of writing about the assignment they have done to the next meeting of the class.
I will explain the Admit Slip procedure to my class at the beginning of the term. I will provide them with 3x5 index cards as needed upon which to write their admit slips. I will tell the class that, after they have done the homework assignment for the next class, I want them to write down a brief, spontaneous response to the assignment. I will give them some written guidelines and prompts at the beginning of the term that they can keep in their notebooks and refer to when filling out an admit slip. Prompts such as 'what did you get out of this assignment', 'what are the three most important things that you learned', 'what questions do you have about the assignment'? I will collect the admit slips as the students enter the classroom for the next session, and quickly review them as the students settle in. After we have dealt with the exit slips from the previous class session, I will read and discuss a few of the most representative and salient admit slips and respond accordingly. Like the exit slip, the admit slip will be a valuable assessment tool for me to see if the students are getting the material and to point out areas that need answer, clarification and explanation before we move forward. Better to find and deal with problem areas during the term than at the end.
Monday, June 4, 2012
My Top Ten Texts (1 and 2)
1. Whitney, David C. and Robin Vaughan Whitney. The American Presidents: Biographies of the Chief Executives from George Washington to Barack Obama. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. by permission of Direct Brands, Inc. (2009). Revised and updated 11th edition.
This is a scrupulously researched collection of brief but extremely well-written biographies of all of the Presidents of the United States from George Washington to Barack Obama. The book is compelling to me because each biography is, in terms of length, relatively brief so that each can be read and digested in a single sitting of thirty minutes or so. While short in length, however, these pieces are long on fact and detail. Each biography covers the life of that President from childhood, through every step of his professional and political career, through his presidency, and closes with a review of what the president did after his term was over. A wonderful feature of the book is that each biography opens with an at-a-glance table and timeline that highlights the key facts and events in each president's life and presidency. The essays are accompanied by many portraits, photographs and reproductions of important documents as well.
I will use this book in my Social Studies classes as a quick, ready reference for students to access a brief biography of each president that we study in class. The compact and brief nature of each biography will give my students a framework upon which they can build and expand with further research and writing if need be. The at-a-glance style tables and timelines at the beginning of each biography can be easily reproduced in the student's own notes to be used as an outline for an essay or research paper and as a study guide. I envision keeping a copy of this book (and later editions as it is updated) in the classroom for easy access to the students as a research and study tool. I will allow any student who needs it to check the book out for an evening or a weekend for research and study.
2. Lindsay, Rae. America's First Ladies: Power Players from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. Gilmour House/R & R Writers/Agents, Inc. (2009).
I have not read this book, but Rae Lindsey has written and published an impressive array of scholarly works of history and politics that have received highly favorable reviews. This book received similarly favorable reviews, being described as "scholarly", "well researched" and "well written". The book is a collection of biographical sketches of all of the First ladies from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama, and gives rich historical facts about the lives and times of each First Lady. The book is not limited to simple biographical or anecdotal information. The author spends considerable time describing the tasks and duties of the First Lady, with an emphasis on how each First Lady used that unofficial office as a major role player in American history and politics, often as a pioneer, or a stand-in or spokeswoman for the President.
I will keep a copy of this book in my classroom alongside my first Top Ten text, The American Presidents, discussed above. I envision this book about First Ladies being used in the same way as the book on the Presidents, as a handy research and study guide, only this research and study guide will be from the perspective of the female gender. I anticipate it being a nice balance to the book on the Presidents, and that it will expose my students to a perspective on history that they may not have considered.
This is a scrupulously researched collection of brief but extremely well-written biographies of all of the Presidents of the United States from George Washington to Barack Obama. The book is compelling to me because each biography is, in terms of length, relatively brief so that each can be read and digested in a single sitting of thirty minutes or so. While short in length, however, these pieces are long on fact and detail. Each biography covers the life of that President from childhood, through every step of his professional and political career, through his presidency, and closes with a review of what the president did after his term was over. A wonderful feature of the book is that each biography opens with an at-a-glance table and timeline that highlights the key facts and events in each president's life and presidency. The essays are accompanied by many portraits, photographs and reproductions of important documents as well.
I will use this book in my Social Studies classes as a quick, ready reference for students to access a brief biography of each president that we study in class. The compact and brief nature of each biography will give my students a framework upon which they can build and expand with further research and writing if need be. The at-a-glance style tables and timelines at the beginning of each biography can be easily reproduced in the student's own notes to be used as an outline for an essay or research paper and as a study guide. I envision keeping a copy of this book (and later editions as it is updated) in the classroom for easy access to the students as a research and study tool. I will allow any student who needs it to check the book out for an evening or a weekend for research and study.
2. Lindsay, Rae. America's First Ladies: Power Players from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. Gilmour House/R & R Writers/Agents, Inc. (2009).
I have not read this book, but Rae Lindsey has written and published an impressive array of scholarly works of history and politics that have received highly favorable reviews. This book received similarly favorable reviews, being described as "scholarly", "well researched" and "well written". The book is a collection of biographical sketches of all of the First ladies from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama, and gives rich historical facts about the lives and times of each First Lady. The book is not limited to simple biographical or anecdotal information. The author spends considerable time describing the tasks and duties of the First Lady, with an emphasis on how each First Lady used that unofficial office as a major role player in American history and politics, often as a pioneer, or a stand-in or spokeswoman for the President.
I will keep a copy of this book in my classroom alongside my first Top Ten text, The American Presidents, discussed above. I envision this book about First Ladies being used in the same way as the book on the Presidents, as a handy research and study guide, only this research and study guide will be from the perspective of the female gender. I anticipate it being a nice balance to the book on the Presidents, and that it will expose my students to a perspective on history that they may not have considered.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Occasional Paper-The bias of the producer
I recently watched a documentary about the Titanic produced by James Cameron, who directed the feature film, Titanic. Actually, I think the show was a documentary about making a documentary, which is all the better for purposes of this occasional paper. Flush with cash from his successful movie career, Cameron wanted to finally and definitively answer all the lingering questions about the sinking of the Titanic. He assembled an impressive array of experts to assist him in his quest for answers. There were several engineers from different specialties, naval historians, representatives from the company that built the Titanic, underwater salvage experts, experts in determining the cause of ship sinking, experts in force and stress, and myriad other experts with experience and training in ship engineering, ship building and ship wrecks. Cameron also had the most advanced technologies available to these experts. They had two mini-submarines equipped with lights and cameras in which they crawled all over the wreck of the Titanic and the floor of the sea around the wreck, recording in great detail the wreck and the debris that surrounded it. Then, Cameron gathered all of these experts in a big room with a huge screen upon with they could show film, pictures and diagrams, and they all set out to analyze the evidence and to answer once and for all how and why the Titanic sank.
What quickly became apparent, however, was that James Cameron had his own hypotheses about how and why the Titanic sank, and exactly what happened that fateful night and why it happened. It was soon apparent that Cameron was not so much interested in determining exactly what happened and why as he was in proving his own preconceived notions about what happened and why. He would actually shout down any expert who tried to disagree with him. After a few futile attempts to advance their own theories, based on their training and expertise, these experts, in the face of Cameron's steamrolling, would shrug their shoulders and give up. I don't suggest that Cameron set out to change history or to cover anything up. I don't even think he was aware of what he was doing. What I do mean to suggest is that Cameron is a man of significant ego, with a very high opinion of his own intellect and powers of deduction, and he was funding the entire enterprise, including paying the experts. Therefore, this documentary, in the end, would be a statement of James Cameron's theories of how the Titanic tragedy occurred and why. This got me worrying that people would watch this documentary and think that they were learning historical fact, when in fact they would be learning James Cameron's version of history.
I have long been troubled by Hollywood's version of history. Not so much troubled by the fact that Hollywood chooses to make entertaining films about historical events and historical characters, as troubled by the fact that the history depicted in these films is so often bad and often just wrong. It has always concerned me that the only exposure to history that many people get is through films and television, and that they will come to think what they saw on the screen is historical fact.
The concern of producer bias doesn't stop at film and television. One must consider the bias of the writer of historical works of non-fiction and even history textbooks. It is the equivalent, if you will, of James Cameron writing a book about the sinking of the Titanic with the same inherent bias that went into his production of the documentary film.
I think it is incumbent on all social studies teachers to warn their students to always consider the potential bias of the producer of any historical document, including their own text books, and to seek out as many other source materials as they can to compare one to another. It would be incumbent upon every social studies teacher to make those other source materials available to their students. As a social studies teacher, I will also warn my students to be careful of the history that they see on movie and television screens, and to thoroughly research those historical depictions in other source materials before they form their own opinions.
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What quickly became apparent, however, was that James Cameron had his own hypotheses about how and why the Titanic sank, and exactly what happened that fateful night and why it happened. It was soon apparent that Cameron was not so much interested in determining exactly what happened and why as he was in proving his own preconceived notions about what happened and why. He would actually shout down any expert who tried to disagree with him. After a few futile attempts to advance their own theories, based on their training and expertise, these experts, in the face of Cameron's steamrolling, would shrug their shoulders and give up. I don't suggest that Cameron set out to change history or to cover anything up. I don't even think he was aware of what he was doing. What I do mean to suggest is that Cameron is a man of significant ego, with a very high opinion of his own intellect and powers of deduction, and he was funding the entire enterprise, including paying the experts. Therefore, this documentary, in the end, would be a statement of James Cameron's theories of how the Titanic tragedy occurred and why. This got me worrying that people would watch this documentary and think that they were learning historical fact, when in fact they would be learning James Cameron's version of history.
I have long been troubled by Hollywood's version of history. Not so much troubled by the fact that Hollywood chooses to make entertaining films about historical events and historical characters, as troubled by the fact that the history depicted in these films is so often bad and often just wrong. It has always concerned me that the only exposure to history that many people get is through films and television, and that they will come to think what they saw on the screen is historical fact.
The concern of producer bias doesn't stop at film and television. One must consider the bias of the writer of historical works of non-fiction and even history textbooks. It is the equivalent, if you will, of James Cameron writing a book about the sinking of the Titanic with the same inherent bias that went into his production of the documentary film.
I think it is incumbent on all social studies teachers to warn their students to always consider the potential bias of the producer of any historical document, including their own text books, and to seek out as many other source materials as they can to compare one to another. It would be incumbent upon every social studies teacher to make those other source materials available to their students. As a social studies teacher, I will also warn my students to be careful of the history that they see on movie and television screens, and to thoroughly research those historical depictions in other source materials before they form their own opinions.
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Monday, May 28, 2012
En Espanol, por favor.
The mother of two of my grandchildren is from Mexico. One of them, Little Suzy, is pictured in my profile picture. Their mother is adamant that these children grow up to be fully acclimated, English speaking Americans. She insisted that they have English names, Susan and Andrew. It isn't that she is ashamed of her Mexican heritage, it is just that she very much wants her children to succeed in this country. She is in fact, proud of her Mexican heritage, so my son and she are raising the children to be bilingual. The children are learning to speak Spanish and English with equal fluency.
To that end, my wife and I were overjoyed to find that we could find a Spanish language version of nearly every classic story book that you typically find in English. Often the books are exactly the same, same cover, same illustrations, the only difference is that the text of one will be in English, the other in Spanish. Every time that we buy a story book for those grandchildren, we buy both the Spanish and the English version. So, for instance we have Goodnight, Bunny and Buenas Noches, Conejito. We have The Three Little Pigs and The Big, Bad Wolf, and we have Los Tres Cerditos y El Lobo. We have great fun reading first one version and then the other. We think it helps the kids learn to speak and to read both languages with equal facility. I love it when Little Suzy points to a picture and proudly proclaims "Bunny!" and then, a second later, almost whispers "conejito" (self-talking?). I often wonder what it means that Suzy always selects the English version for us to read to her first.
There are a lot of students in the school system for whom English is their second language. I think that it is important that teachers recognize their cultural and language differences and strive to take that into account in the classroom. I am not teaching yet, but I would have no problem if a student could find content readings in their native language and use them to help learn the lesson, so long as the student can read and write the answers in English. I think that my grandchildren are going to be thoroughly bilingual speakers and readers, and I think that is great. If it helps the student to learn the lesson by using study aides in their native language, I think that teachers should respect that and facilitate it.
To that end, my wife and I were overjoyed to find that we could find a Spanish language version of nearly every classic story book that you typically find in English. Often the books are exactly the same, same cover, same illustrations, the only difference is that the text of one will be in English, the other in Spanish. Every time that we buy a story book for those grandchildren, we buy both the Spanish and the English version. So, for instance we have Goodnight, Bunny and Buenas Noches, Conejito. We have The Three Little Pigs and The Big, Bad Wolf, and we have Los Tres Cerditos y El Lobo. We have great fun reading first one version and then the other. We think it helps the kids learn to speak and to read both languages with equal facility. I love it when Little Suzy points to a picture and proudly proclaims "Bunny!" and then, a second later, almost whispers "conejito" (self-talking?). I often wonder what it means that Suzy always selects the English version for us to read to her first.
There are a lot of students in the school system for whom English is their second language. I think that it is important that teachers recognize their cultural and language differences and strive to take that into account in the classroom. I am not teaching yet, but I would have no problem if a student could find content readings in their native language and use them to help learn the lesson, so long as the student can read and write the answers in English. I think that my grandchildren are going to be thoroughly bilingual speakers and readers, and I think that is great. If it helps the student to learn the lesson by using study aides in their native language, I think that teachers should respect that and facilitate it.
Journaling
I have been keeping journals since I was in college. Some are simple. The one I carry with me each day often consists of just quick, short hand notes about what happened that day and reminders. It may not look like much, but if my wife wants to know what day we put the car in the shop, I can look back through that journal and tell her. Another journal consists of long stream of consciousness rambles that run into many pages. That is the journal where I record my feelings and work through things that are going on in my life. One journal, kept in the bookcase, contains, simply, an entry for each book that I finish; title, author, date I finished it, and that's all. It also happens to be my favorite journal. I will sometimes just sit and read through it, smiling as I remember the truly great books that I read and when I read them. I never go back and read the journal were I pour out my soul on page after page. Once that is down on paper, I never go back to it. Sometimes I will keep a journal when I am going through some long stage of my life that has a beginning and usually an end. Like when I was dealing with kidney cancer. That journal was more in the nature of a diary, and it was for that specific time in my life. When that chapter in my life closed, that journal closed.
Journals have been an invaluable asset in my life. And, occasionally, an excellent tool.
A teacher should encourage their students to keep a journal for the duration of the class. I think that a journal would be a useful tool for students to record what they learned that day and their impressions of what they learned that day. It could also help them realize that they have questions that need to be answered, and act as a reminder to bring up that question in the next class. It could be an excellent adjunct study guide for the final exam. Mainly, it would be a tool to reinforce the learning and give the student ownership of what they learn.
Click here for Journaling Podcast
Journals have been an invaluable asset in my life. And, occasionally, an excellent tool.
A teacher should encourage their students to keep a journal for the duration of the class. I think that a journal would be a useful tool for students to record what they learned that day and their impressions of what they learned that day. It could also help them realize that they have questions that need to be answered, and act as a reminder to bring up that question in the next class. It could be an excellent adjunct study guide for the final exam. Mainly, it would be a tool to reinforce the learning and give the student ownership of what they learn.
Click here for Journaling Podcast
Alfred, Lord Tennyson and The Band Perry
Reading this blog, people must think that I was an odd child, reading Kipling and Poe and Steinbeck and Hemingway from the age of twelve. Maybe I was an odd child with all of that reading, but I did normal things too. We played daylong baseball games in the pasture next to the calf lot. We played vicious games of tackle football, without pads in the same pasture. I rode my bike into town and bought comic books and bubble gum. I built camps in the woods and tree houses in the trees and forts out of bales of hay in the loft. However, like as not, I would be holed up in my tree house or hay bale fort with a good book.
At around 12 or 13 I was reading a lot of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poetry. I was a bit carried away by the Arthurian legends and bold cavalry charges. In fact, my favorite of his poems was The Charge of the Light Brigade. "Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, all in the valley off Death, rode the six hundred....." Oh, the majesty of that gallant but doomed Light Brigade! In fact, I memorized the poem and had to go around and recite it to all the sixth grade classes. They had no clue what I was talking about.
Imagine my surprise when, over forty years later, my 20 year old daughter comes to me and asks if I have a book of Tennyson's poems! Of course, I do, and as I pull it down from the shelf, I ask her why she is interested in Tennyson. Turns out that she has seen a music video by The Band Perry for their song 'If I Die Young'. In the video, the beautiful blond singer for the group lies down in a boat with a book of Tennyson's poems on her breast, singing about what to do if she dies young. At the end of the video, the pages of the book flutter open to the poem The Lady of Shallot, wherein the beautiful but cursed blond heroine floats in a boat down to Camelot but, tragically, dies before she reaches Sir Lancelot. Off Emily goes to read The lady of Shallot and off I go to watch the video by The Band Perry.
What a wonderful link from new to old! The modern media of a YouTube video sent my daughter in search of a very old poem.
Teachers should always be on the look out for new media, especially music, that can tie into the literary content of the subject matter that we teach. If teachers can make the subject matter more relevant to what is going on in their students' lives, the students will surely be more receptive to learning the material. There are lots of movies of Shakespeare's stories set in modern times, with modern characters and modern settings, but with the original story line. Teachers should always be on the lookout for more modern media, videos, movies, blogs, music, that can bring the subject content alive for their students, and, hopefully, cause them to seek out original source material.
At around 12 or 13 I was reading a lot of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poetry. I was a bit carried away by the Arthurian legends and bold cavalry charges. In fact, my favorite of his poems was The Charge of the Light Brigade. "Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, all in the valley off Death, rode the six hundred....." Oh, the majesty of that gallant but doomed Light Brigade! In fact, I memorized the poem and had to go around and recite it to all the sixth grade classes. They had no clue what I was talking about.
Imagine my surprise when, over forty years later, my 20 year old daughter comes to me and asks if I have a book of Tennyson's poems! Of course, I do, and as I pull it down from the shelf, I ask her why she is interested in Tennyson. Turns out that she has seen a music video by The Band Perry for their song 'If I Die Young'. In the video, the beautiful blond singer for the group lies down in a boat with a book of Tennyson's poems on her breast, singing about what to do if she dies young. At the end of the video, the pages of the book flutter open to the poem The Lady of Shallot, wherein the beautiful but cursed blond heroine floats in a boat down to Camelot but, tragically, dies before she reaches Sir Lancelot. Off Emily goes to read The lady of Shallot and off I go to watch the video by The Band Perry.
What a wonderful link from new to old! The modern media of a YouTube video sent my daughter in search of a very old poem.
Teachers should always be on the look out for new media, especially music, that can tie into the literary content of the subject matter that we teach. If teachers can make the subject matter more relevant to what is going on in their students' lives, the students will surely be more receptive to learning the material. There are lots of movies of Shakespeare's stories set in modern times, with modern characters and modern settings, but with the original story line. Teachers should always be on the lookout for more modern media, videos, movies, blogs, music, that can bring the subject content alive for their students, and, hopefully, cause them to seek out original source material.
Thanks, Dad
More than anyone else, my father shaped my reading history. My father did graduate high school, but he didn't go to college. He should have, but boys who grew up on tobacco farms in rural Guilford County in the 1940's didn't usually graduate high school, much less go to college. Plus, he and my mother started a family and got married, in precisely that order, right out of high school. Lucky for me, unlucky for Dad. Dad didn't go to college, but he read all the time, right up to the day he died. Kipling, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Poe. He didn't borrow these books from the library, he bought them and kept them in a bookshelf by his bed. No paperbacks for him either; only hardbacks with the brightly illustrated dust jackets. And I saw him read. I saw him, often, in an easy chair, under a bright light, his reading glasses sliding down his nose, completely absorbed in a book.
Dad would call me over to that easy chair, with a book in his hand, and say " I think you are ready to read this, I want you to give it a try and tell me what you think". It started with Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Not a Walt Disney picture book, but the actual book. Then the Just So Stories, Riki-Tiki-Tavi, and then, Kipling's poems. Then it was on to Edgar Allen Poe's poems, then Poe's short stories, and then, when I was twelve years old, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
I remember starting that book in my room one Saturday morning and the next thing I knew it was dark nighttime. I had read the entire day through, not stopping for meals or to go outside or anything, but being completely unaware of the passage of time at all. That was probably the first time a book had had that effect on me. I remember feeling stunned, disoriented even, by the power of that family's story. And in the process, I learned a lot about the Great Depression, The Dust Bowl, exploitation of migrant workers, labor unions and strikes.
It seems to me as teachers we must find and recommend literature that will make the subject matter come alive for students. I can think of no text better to teach the Great Depression than The Grapes of Wrath. I think that we all hope, as teachers, that what we are doing is opening a door to learning that the students will push open wide when they leave our classrooms. The best way for them to push open that door and to continue their education beyond the classroom is through reading. I feel that it is the duty of teachers everywhere to assign books and readings that are both accessible and inspiring so that our students will continue to read in the content area we teach. Perhaps one of the most valuable tools with which we can equip our students is a comprehensive reading list of great books in our content area to take with them and to read from for the rest of their lives.
When Dad died, I inherited all of his books. I can think of no other legacy that could have meant as much to me. I re-read them often, and I think of him reading those same books and I am grateful. Thanks, dad.
Dad would call me over to that easy chair, with a book in his hand, and say " I think you are ready to read this, I want you to give it a try and tell me what you think". It started with Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Not a Walt Disney picture book, but the actual book. Then the Just So Stories, Riki-Tiki-Tavi, and then, Kipling's poems. Then it was on to Edgar Allen Poe's poems, then Poe's short stories, and then, when I was twelve years old, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
I remember starting that book in my room one Saturday morning and the next thing I knew it was dark nighttime. I had read the entire day through, not stopping for meals or to go outside or anything, but being completely unaware of the passage of time at all. That was probably the first time a book had had that effect on me. I remember feeling stunned, disoriented even, by the power of that family's story. And in the process, I learned a lot about the Great Depression, The Dust Bowl, exploitation of migrant workers, labor unions and strikes.
It seems to me as teachers we must find and recommend literature that will make the subject matter come alive for students. I can think of no text better to teach the Great Depression than The Grapes of Wrath. I think that we all hope, as teachers, that what we are doing is opening a door to learning that the students will push open wide when they leave our classrooms. The best way for them to push open that door and to continue their education beyond the classroom is through reading. I feel that it is the duty of teachers everywhere to assign books and readings that are both accessible and inspiring so that our students will continue to read in the content area we teach. Perhaps one of the most valuable tools with which we can equip our students is a comprehensive reading list of great books in our content area to take with them and to read from for the rest of their lives.
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