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Friday, November 1, 2013

Insights on Tackling Informational Text — Whole Child Education

Insights on Tackling Informational Text — Whole Child Education:

Klea Scharberg

Insights on Tackling Informational Text

Tackling Informational Text - ASCD Educational LeadershipThe mandate to get K–12 students reading more informational texts is the feature of the Common Core State Standards that has stirred up the most complaints. Bringing more nonfiction into students' lives will require many educators to stretch a little—from English teachers who love to inspire others through their favorite poems to science teachers accustomed to relying on textbooks to kids whose reading of choice is fiction, fiction, and more fiction. The November 2013 issue of Educational Leadership shows how to creatively make this stretch and how to help students think of nonfiction as challenging and fun.
In her "Perspectives" column, Editor-in-Chief Marge Scherer believes it starts with finding texts that present engaging style and content, rather than texts that hide "the good stuff." Kids need to be exposed to the best nonfiction and given the skills to delve deeply into it.
Articles in the issue include

Keep It Simple for Our Youngest Learners — Whole Child Education
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