The common standards expect students to become adept at reading informational text, a shift in focus that many English/language arts teachers fear might diminish the time-honored place of literature in their classrooms.
In schools nationwide, where all but four states have adopted the Common Core State Standards, teachers are finding ways to incorporate historical documents, speeches, essays, scientific articles, and other nonfiction into classes.
The new standards envision elementary students, whose reading typically tilts toward fiction, reading equally from literature and informational text. By high school, literature should represent only 30 percent of their readings; 70 percent should be informational. The tilt reflects employers鈥� and college professors鈥� complaints that too many young people can鈥檛 analyze or synthesize information, or document arguments.
Some passionate advocates for literature, however, see reason for alarm. In a recent paper issued by the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based group that opposes the standards, two language arts experts argue that those distributions make it inevitable that less literature will be taught in schools. Even if social studies, science, and other teachers pick up much of the informational-text reading, co-authors Sandra Stotsky and Mark Bauerlein argue, language arts teachers will have to absorb a good chunk as well, and they will be the ones held accountable.
The Common Core State Standards require students to read many 鈥渋nformational鈥� texts along with novels, poetry, and plays. An appendix to the standards lists dozens of titles to illustrate the range of suggested reading. Some 鈥渆xemplar鈥� texts can be found on the bookshelf.
SOURCE: Common Core State Standards, Appendix B
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to imagine that low reading scores in a school district will force grade 11 government/history and science teachers to devote more time to reading instruction,鈥� the paper says.
De-emphasizing literature in the rush to build informational-text skills is shortsighted, the study argues, because the skills required to master good, complex literature serve students well in college and challenging jobs. The problem is worsened when teachers make 鈥渨eak鈥� choices of informational texts, such as blog posts, Mr. Bauerlein said in an interview.
鈥淚f we could ensure that the kinds of stuff they鈥檙e choosing are essays by [Ralph Waldo] Emerson or Booker T. Washington鈥檚 Up From Slavery, then that would be wonderful,鈥� said Mr. Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University in Atlanta. 鈥淭hose are complex texts, with the literary features that make students better readers in college.鈥�
The only required readings in the standards are four foundational American writings, such as the Declaration of Independence, and one play each by Shakespeare and by an American dramatist. Students also must 鈥渄emonstrate knowledge鈥� of American literature from the 18th through early-20th centuries.
An appendix to the standards lists texts that illustrate the range of works students should read across the curriculum to acquire the skills outlined in the standards. Those titles are not required reading, but are being widely consulted as representations of what the standards seek.
Stories, poetry, and plays share space with nonfiction books and articles. Kindergarten teachers are offered Tana Hoban鈥檚 I Read Signs, along with P.D. Eastman鈥檚 Are You My Mother? For 4th and 5th grades, the standards suggest Antoine de Saint-Exup茅ry鈥檚 The Little Prince as well as Joy Hakim鈥檚 A History of US. Middle school suggestions include Winston Churchill鈥檚 1940 鈥淏lood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat鈥� speech and an article on elementary particles from the New Book of Popular Science along with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. For 11th and 12th graders, T.S. Eliot鈥檚 鈥淭he Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock鈥� is suggested, as are Malcolm Gladwell鈥檚 The Tipping Point and Alexis de Tocqueville鈥檚 Democracy in America.
A New Blend
Taking a cue from the standards, many teachers are blending fiction and informational reading as they phase in the common core.
At Calvin Rodwell Elementary School in Baltimore last month, Erika Parker and her class of 4- and 5-year-olds were planning a trip to a nearby farm as part of a unit called 鈥渇all fun with friends.鈥� She read the children two versions of The Three Little Pigs; they joined her to shout out the famous refrain: 鈥淣ot by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin!鈥� They were addressing a common-core expectation that they learn to compare points of view in multiple texts, Ms. Parker said.
She also read the children books and stories about fall weather, friendship, the life cycle of pumpkins, and how to grow apples. They ventured into the schoolyard to learn about tree trunks and limbs and how trees could be grafted to produce new varieties and colors of apples.
鈥淲e are certainly still reading works of fiction,鈥� she said later. 鈥淭hey love their stories. But they also really get excited about something in real life that they can make a connection to.鈥�
Quinton M. Lawrence, too, is trying out a new blend with his 5th and 6th graders at the K-8 Woodhome Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore. The language arts teacher is drawing on newspaper articles, novels, and poems to explore the theme of individuality.
Children are choosing from a range of novels with a 鈥渞ealistic feel,鈥� Mr. Lawrence said, including House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, and The Skin I鈥檓 In by Sharon Flake. They read newspaper articles about a school uniform rule and the creation of avatars鈥攙irtual alter egos鈥攊n video games.
Through discussion, the students zeroed in on 10 major components of individuality, such as intelligence, beliefs, and physical appearance, and they explored them through the real and imaginary characters they read about, Mr. Lawrence said. They will write two-page essays exploring the theme further, based on additional research from other articles online, he said.
鈥淭he idea that students are exposed to informational text is somehow taken for granted,鈥� said Mr. Lawrence, whose district serves a predominantly low-income, minority population. 鈥淢ost of my kids have not been exposed to newspaper articles. Their parents don鈥檛 subscribe to magazines. So it鈥檚 good for them to see these kinds of things, learn about their structure, as well as the structure of novels.鈥�
Sonja B. Santelises, the chief academic officer of the Baltimore system, which has been working with teachers districtwide to design common-core modules and sets of texts in social studies, science, and language arts, said the emphasis on informational reading is crucial as a matter of equity for her 83,000 students.
鈥淲e鈥檙e na茂ve if we don鈥檛 acknowledge that it鈥檚 through nonfiction that a lot of students who鈥檝e never been to a museum are going to read about mummies for the first time or read about the process of photosynthesis,鈥� she said. She considers it important to use informational readings simultaneously as tools to build content knowledge and to familiarize students with a variety of types of text.
When Ms. Santelises visits classrooms, she still sees plenty of literature being enjoyed, so she isn鈥檛 worried about fiction losing its place in school, she said. 鈥淔iction and narrative have been so overrepresented, particularly in the elementary grades, that I feel this is more of a balancing than a squeezing-out.鈥�
In a study that painted a portrait of that imbalance, Michigan literacy researcher Nell K. Duke found in 2000 that informational text occupied only 3.6 minutes of a 1st grader鈥檚 day and 10 percent of the shelf space in their classroom libraries.
The Role of Literature
In the rush to rebalance, however, educators risk cheating literature, some experts say. 鈥淭he emphasis on nonfiction is leading to the development of a whole new universe of activities that will leave less time for the ones about literature,鈥� said Arthur N. Applebee, a professor of education at the State University of New York in Albany.
Thomas Newkirk, a professor of English at the University of New Hampshire, said he thinks the common core鈥檚 鈥渂ias against narrative鈥� doesn鈥檛 serve students well. If teachers seek to make students ready for real life, he said, they must equip them not only to argue, interpret, and inform, but to convey emotion and tell stories.
鈥淭he world is much more narrative than the standards suggest,鈥� said Mr. Newkirk, who teaches writing to freshmen and trains preservice teachers.
鈥淭hink about when candidates are running for office, and they have to tell the stories of their lives, the story of where we are going as a nation,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen we honor someone who has passed away, someone who is retiring, we need to tell their story. The other skills are important, too. But in the real world, there are moments when we have to distill emotion, experience. To claim otherwise misrepresents how we operate.鈥�
The question of which faculty are responsible for the new informational-text expectations is permeating conversation.
Colette Bennett, the chairman of the English department at Wamogo High School in Litchfield, Conn., said she believes the standards allow her to keep her focus squarely on literature, with essays and other nonfiction used to enrich that study. Recently, she had students use 鈥淭he Hero鈥檚 Journey,鈥� a narrative framework designed by American mythology scholar Joseph Campbell, to help them interpret King Lear, she said.
鈥淭he standards say that 30 percent of a student鈥檚 reading in [high] school should be literary, which is as it should be,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 my responsibility. My purview is fiction, poetry, literary nonfiction, and no other teacher is going to teach that.鈥�
But teachers of other subjects have not been asking their students to read enough, Ms. Bennett said. 鈥淚 hear them saying, 鈥極h, what am I going to drop out of my course to do more reading?鈥� And I say, 鈥榃hat? You haven鈥檛 been doing a lot of reading all along?鈥� 鈥�
More Time on Reading
To avoid sacrificing literature and still give students deep experience with informational text, one thing will be required, according to Carol Jago, a former president of the National Council of Teachers of English: more time.
鈥淭eachers don鈥檛 have to give up a single poem, play, or novel,鈥� said Ms. Jago, who now directs the California Reading and Literature Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, which helps teachers design lesson plans. 鈥淏ut students are going to have to read four times as much as they are now.鈥�
Where will the time come from? From substituting good-quality reading for 鈥渂usywork,鈥� movies shown in class, and the hours students spend daily on electronic entertainment such as texting and playing video games, Ms. Jago said.
In sorting out how to put the standards into practice, some experts caution against an either-or interpretation. It鈥檚 important for students to be steeped in all kinds of reading and writing, they say, and it鈥檚 all possible with good planning and collaboration.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know why this dichotomy has been constructed in a way that is so divisive. It鈥檚 very unhelpful,鈥� said Stephanie R. Jones, a professor who focuses on literacy and social class at the University of Georgia in Athens.
鈥淲e shouldn鈥檛 teach kindergartners as if they鈥檙e going to join the workforce next year. But it won鈥檛 hurt us to make sure we are emphasizing nonfiction a little more in K-5. And I don鈥檛 think fiction has to be edged out at all,鈥� she said.
鈥淚n some college and career paths, it鈥檚 important to state a claim and justify with evidence, and in others, it鈥檚 important to be really creative and innovative and not start with an argument, but have open inquiry and move toward some kind of discovery.鈥�
