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I am not usually snarky or pessimistic in my Literacy Speaks posts, but after spending the holidays reading several educational books and guides, I just have to ask....where exactly do some of these teachers teach? Their classrooms seem to be some sort of alternate reality that in no way resembles the public school system that I teach in on a daily basis and have for 22 years.

And in some ways, I'm glad that I don't have the classrooms that some of these teachers have. Really? Who has time alphabetize their nonfiction books after organizing them by topic? I'm just satisfied to get them off of the floor at the end of the day.

Postal supplies? Individual mail boxes? Where does the money come from? Besides the money factor, I'm not sure that many of these types of activities would fly in face of the new evaluation system. Also, what about accountability? The idea of assessment seems to be absent unless the book is specifically dealing with assessement issues. At my school, what you teach must be directly correlated with a state performance indicator~that means testing. 

Now having said all of that, here are a few things that I particularly found useful:

Classrooms that foster nonfiction inquiry should bubble over with information. Teachers need to make this information available to students. Maps, globes, and atlases should be standard issue in every classroom. When my students were reading Goodbye Vietnam, I realized that they did not know where Vietnam was or any of the places where the main character and her family traveled. So, I pulled up Google Earth and traced the families' journey from Vietnam across the South China Sea and into Hong Kong. 

Classrooms should have an abundance of up-to-date newspapers. Some teachers begin the school day by reading and discussing the articles in the paper. Many national dailies have newspaper-in-education programs that provide reduced rates to schools. Students can be taught how to read the newspaper, section by by section. The cumulative effect of daily newspaper reading pays maor dividents in broadening a student's knowledge.

Travel brochures spark interest in other places. Teachers can visit travel agencies, airlines, and bus and train companies to get freebies to share with your students. Often times they'll be happy to give you their old posters, maps, and brochures.

Teachers and students can use almanacs for finding specific information. Almanacs not only list more than a million current facts, but also include all the newest flags and maps of the world, the most recent census reports, and comprehensive coverage of the year's prominent issues. Almanacs are truly amazing bundles of information Once a teacher shows her students how to use the general index, they'll be off on their own.

The Guinness Book of World Records is one of those books that kids just love. Either invest in some for your classroom or borrow them from the library. Who doesn't want to know the weight of the world's largest doughnut?

One of my favorite tips is stocking your classroom with museum publications. These tomes of knowledge are filled with scientific, historic, and artistic information. Museums and other cultural organizations publish monthly newsletters, magazines, and articles filled with nonfiction information.

So, while I'm still in awe of some of the classrooms depicted in the educational books that I've recently read (and a bit skeptical of some), there was still some valuable information that could be gleaned from them.

Mrs. Etheridge