When I’m working on a book, there’s a perfectly balanced moment when anything seems possible. It comes as I’m well into the research, bursting with ideas and dreams and enthusiasm. Once I start writing, it’s not long before I crash. Reality sets in fast: not everything that fascinates me is going to fit between the covers of a book.
High school offers numerous opportunities to integrate multimedia into literacy activities across content areas. In this month’s column, please find a sampling of ready-to-use materials that will enrich and stimulate conversations about books, support student research, and enable students and teachers to hear from writers and illustrators about their craft.
Forty years ago, two librarians and a publisher at the American Library Association conference lamented that no African-American author or illustrator had yet been honored with a Newbery or Caldecott medal. In response to that conversation, they decided to establish an award that would acknowledge the achievements of African-American writers and artists in the field of children’s literature.
Walter Wick set up a complex device to snap a picture of a single drop of it. Barbara Kerley’s crystal-clear color photographs reveal how people worldwide are dependent on it, and connected by it. Langston Hughes, Karen Hesse, Jon Muth, and Herbert Shoveller celebrate its arrival in different forms. Water: ubiquitous, yet often scarce, and endlessly fascinating.
The Emancipation Proclamation was announced on this day in 1862. Utilize TeachingBooks.net’s online resources, like Book Guides and Book Readings, to encourage students’ interest in and exploration of books about this part of history.
For example, read Gloria Whelan’s picture…
I can’t hide it: I love access to information, and I love providing access to others.
Part of providing access to information includes letting folks decide for themselves which information will meet their needs. I sometimes have to remind myself…