Content area
Full Text
This article acknowledges the difficulties in using authentic literature instead of predictable and linear textbooks, while articulating methods for developing an alternative practice that promises the nurturing of lifelong literacy as a spillover benefit.
Dr. William Alexander, a noted curriculum authority and a central founder of the middle school movement, shared in a presentation in 1963 that teachers must have a goal of stimulating a "love for learning, an attitude of inquiry, a passion for truth and beauty, a questioning of mind" (National Middle School Association, 2010, pp. 3-4). He asserted, "Learning the right answers is not enough. . . beyond answers alone, we must help children ask the right questions, and discover their answers through creative thinking, reasoning, judging, and understanding." (NMSA, 2010, pp. 3-4). Although Alexander was quoting a belief statement from Winnetka Public Schools in Illinois where he was a superintendent, his words remain inspirational today to middle grades teachers across the country-including those of us who read the pages of thisjournal-and Alexander's ideals have been influential in the development of the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) position paper, This We Believe.
We know that developing challenging and integrated curriculum so foundational to successful middle school is not easy; it is messy and in and of itself, challenging. What makes it even more challenging is that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) emphasize that students must be given opportunities to grapple with "works of exceptional craft and thought" (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010, p. 35). The range of these works must not only extend across genres but also across culture and across time. Both challenges must be accepted.
This article responds to This We Believe by describing one attempt to develop challenging and integrated curriculum. It also responds to CCSS by describing how authentic literature can be used with instructional strategies to support learning across the curriculum.
This article shares a brief review of related literature. Next, instructional strategies to use with authentic literature are shared. The article concludes with final thoughts about using authentic literature to develop challenging and integrated curriculum.
Authentic literature's scholarly context
While no single, simple definition for authentic literature exists in the Literacy Dictionary...