Curriculum Connections
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March 3, 2009

From Claudette Colvin and Ryan Smithson to Wangari Maathai and Charles Darwin, this month's issue examines the lives and work of people on the front lines—of science, of political and social causes, and in conflicts around the world. A bit closer to home, Nick Glass celebrates the work of substitute teachers—clearly unsung heroes on any campus.

Daryl Grabarek,
Editor, Curriculum Connections
dgrabarek@reedbusiness.com

What's New

  • A Personal War
    Body counts, peace negotiations, troop deployments, deadly skirmishes—the drumbeat of war thrums through the media, colors conversations, and permeates politics. The continual coverage numbs us to the tragedy of war, and tempts us to hold it at an impersonal arm’s length. But here’s the catch—it’s not impersonal. Just ask the Iraqi mother, searching local morgues for her son’s body. Or the teenager that has only known life as an Army brat. It’s a very personal war. Recent titles for teens and tweens engage varied literary forms to explore war’s heroism, chaos, ethics, and ambiguities, through individual stories.

    Crisis in the Middle East
    U.S. military families endure multiple and prolonged deployments of both regular and National Guard troops. Deborah Ellis investigates their experiences in Off to War: Voices of Soldiers’ Children (Groundwood, 2008), a collection of interviews with about 40 Americans and Canadians, aged 6 to 17, with one or more parents in Iraq or Afghanistan. They speak candidly of missing their parents and fearing for their safety, and of the difficulties of restoring family relationships, including the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder and physical abuse. They also express pride in their family members’ service and courage, although many state they have little idea why the war is being waged in Iraq. These provocative voices will offer frank insights to civilian students, and assure soldiers’ children that they are not alone in their stressful experiences. more » » » 

Nick's Picks

  • Nick's Picks: Selected Resources from TeachingBooks.net
    Substitute teachers. How often do you hear them included in discussions about education? Despite having attended dozens of reading, library, and technology conferences, I have never noticed a program or a vendor exhibit dedicated to the work of substitutes. Yet these teachers provide important classroom continuity and vital support for full-time educators.

    In this month's column, I've highlighted specific literature-based activities that a substitute teacher can use to engage students—merging books, technology, and fun. more » » » 

Interview

  • Phillip Hoose Sets the Record Straight on the Montgomery, Alabama, Bus Boycott
    Everyone knows the story of Rosa Parks, the African-American woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, AL, on December 2, 1955. But someone else took that brave stand nine months before Parks did: 15-year-old Claudette Colvin. Colvin first came to author and historian Phillip Hoose's attention while he was working on his book, We Were There, Too!: Young People in U.S. History (Farrar, 2001). He learned that there was a teenager who had done precisely what Rosa Parks did, also in Montgomery, AL, and had been arrested. So why didn't the bus strikes begin then? What happened between Claudette Colvin's courageous act and Rosa Parks's stand that solidified the move to boycott? And how did Colvin, at age 15, have the courage to take a position that would pave the way for one of the most important chapters in the history of the Civil Rights Movement? Here Hoose talks about how he set out to answer those questions, and his book, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice(Farrar, 2009).

    When did you first consider Claudette Colvin as a subject who merited her own book?
    We Were There, Too! took me six years to research and write. By the time I got to the Civil Rights movement, I was in my fifth year. I sent out an all-points bulletin, and it was easy to find stories of young people who contributed to the movement. As Dr. King said, "The blanket of fear was lifted by Negro youth." There was this 15-year-old girl who took the same stand almost a year earlier than Mrs. Parks had, and who was treated quite roughly—dragged backwards by her wrists off the bus, handcuffed, ... and jailed. [The African-American lawyer who defended Colvin, Fred Gray,] had the courage to fight the charges, and later, in 1956, he participated in a trial [that fought the constitutionality of the bus segregation laws, with Colvin as a key witness]. That case—Browder v. Gayle—should have been famous. The idea that someone could have had such enormous courage at such a young age is remarkable, and I wanted to find her. more » » » 

Make These Curriculum Connections

  • One Person Can Make a Difference
    Recalling the people along the way who suggested that he couldn't change the world, Barack Obama told a group of young people gathered in 2007 at Cornell College in Iowa: "I have no doubt that in the face of impossible odds people who love their country can change it." This call to service, he said, would be a focus of his presidency. There's no better time than now—while Obama's message is fresh in our minds—to walk through our libraries and find material to inspire young people to serve their communities. Listed below are some fiction and nonfiction titles to introduce to your students.

    Start the Discussion with Fiction
    With minimal text and compositions that include black-and-white caricatures (and scenes), as well as colorful panoramas in a more realistic vein, Duncan Weller has created a fresh and visually rich environmental fable in The Boy from the Sun (Simply Read Books, 2007). Preceded by dazzling yellow endpapers, the story opens to a spare white background and three sad, young figures, outlined in black, sitting on a sidewalk. Their backs are to a factory that is churning out black puffs of smoke. A fourth figure floats down from the sky; his head is yellow, and he is smiling. The newcomer proceeds to show them a bird, diverse groupings of people, grass, and finally—following the black-and-white sidewalk through the buildup of colorful page turns—a wonderland of natural beauty that bleeds off the pages as the children romp through them. Much of the story is wordless, but toward the end, the sunny figure recites a poem in which he tells his friends that change is possible. This title lends itself to discussion, and there is much to see, including hidden surprises. more » » » 

Professional Shelf

  • Reading Comprehension: Strategies for Independent Learners
    Camille Blachowicz and Donna Ogle are leaders in comprehension research and this volume is chock-full of practical ideas and strategies for use in kindergarten through grade nine classrooms. The first half of the book focuses on what we know about comprehension and the characteristics of good readers, creating effective classrooms for instruction, and assessment. The remaining chapters provide strategies for comprehending fiction and informational texts, taking tests, and developing vocabulary. All strategies and examples are based on actual classroom observations and practices. There are also chapters on engaging in research and encouraging habits that create lifelong readers.

    Each chapter is enhanced with graphic organizers, including the classic K-W-L (What I Know, What I Want to Know, and What I Want to Learn) developed by Ogle in 1986. Student samples, charts, rubrics, reproducibles, and checklists are also provided. Numerous suggestions for student responses are offered, such as writing and drawing activities, readers' theater, choral reading, and pantomime. Literature discussion activities includebook clubs, literature circles, and readers' workshop. Accommodations and adaptations are given for varied student populations. more » » » 


Guess which naturalist is celebrating a bicentennial? Visit this one-stop resource for all things Darwin.

Around the World in 35 Names, a TeachingBooks.net geography lesson.
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