Reading - It's NOT just for English classes

As you may or may not have noticed there is new reading trend in the Common Core to push more ”NON-Fiction” reading onto the students.  I have always liked non-fiction just because of the opportunity to learn something and at the amazement of how somethings ARE true - they say it is a guy thing, girls usually read more for fun!  Anyway, I am not claiming to have read all the following articles but I have skimmed most of them and will put them on my “to read list”.  I thought some of you may be interested in them too.  At the bottom is yet another list of ideas or sources to purchase non-fiction books. We have many of the suggested books in the library and I would be happy to order any others for you.  Just let me know.

Personally I think this is a great idea.  Reading is NOT just for ENGLISH classes!  There are some great Science authors (Mary Roach) and Science books, History, & Historical Fiction books as well.  An "Art" book even won a Newbery award! Any teacher can make reading a book an assignment in their class.  They do not need to a deep literary analysis of the book - Save that for the Literature classes.  Here are more ideas for books in the classroom.

In The News

• The fuss over Non-Fiction - http://www.teachersfirst.com/exclusives/moreless/librarian/fuss/q4.cfm
• The end of literature - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/common-core-nonfiction-reading-standards_n_2271229.html
• NAS - http://www.nas.org/articles/common_core_state_standards_nonfiction_versus_fiction
• NCTE- http://www.ncte.org/standards/common-core/nonfiction-texts
• NYTimes - http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/fiction-or-nonfiction-considering-the-common-cores-emphasis-on-informational-text/?_php=true&_&_r=0
• NPR - http://www.npr.org/2013/01/19/169798643/new-reading-standards-aim-to-prep-kids-for-college-but-at-what-cost
• Ed Week- http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/01/30/19nonfiction_ep.h32.html

Specific Books

• Schoolastic - http://commoncore.scholastic.com/teachers/books/non-fiction
• Pins - http://www.pinterest.com/teachuncommon/nonfiction-for-high-school-students/
• Great NF books - http://www.greatcommoncorenonfiction.com/
• NY Times Author suggestions - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/12/05/list-what-common-core-authors-suggest-high-schoolers-should-read/
  
• It's okay to be smart - http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/reading-list
• All time greatest - http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/100-all-time-greatest-popular-science-books/