Adding a new dimension to the a NON-Fiction unit for high school

I have a colleague teaching grades 10,11,&12 who wants to give his 'Non-Fiction" unit an up to date twist by focusing on the online sources students spend time reading. He's thinking about MySpace and Facebook. Can anyone suggest where to look for materials? Is there a "23 things"-like series of exercises that might be pertinent? What other websites that engage students come to mind? Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

Tags: 2.0, English, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, non-fiction, web

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on November 19, 2008 at 6:11pm

I'd go to the Library of Congress or National Archives. There are also great ideas at the New York Times. I especially like the Snapshot at the Times. Why send them to what they read? Direct them to what they should read.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Cathy Nelson on November 19, 2008 at 8:09pm

Author Marc Aronson was at the School Library Summit held last week and the session he was involved in was a panel discussion called "Matchmaking NonFiction Books and Educational Technology in the Digital Age." It was a fabulous session, and I was quite impressed with the part of the session where Kevin Jarrett toured the attendees were exposed to Second Life, showing us sets and places that students had built to re-enact nonfiction material they had read in nonfiction books. Talk about a way to underscore the importance of nonfiction AND give kids a way to experience it. Fabulous session. Fabulous idea.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mark Cruthers on November 19, 2008 at 9:22pm

Hi Sue,

One thing your collegue could try is uplaoding their power point to a web based power point presentation system. Your students could read these power point lessons online. Check out authorstream or Wiziq.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Carol Good on November 21, 2008 at 8:13pm

Personally, I just collect articles, pictures, and videos as I surf the net and save them on a bookmark. I post links on a blog site with a prompt for students to start with for a response. The first nine-weeks to one semester I have them email their responses to me; after that, students post their responses online where the other students can respond to their comments as well. The idea came from two other teachers - Jim Burke and Bob Barsanti - but was tweaked for my needs. This is an option for your colleague as well - check out my site which has an explanation of the assignment called Challenge Points.