Using Informational Text to Teach Literature

Harper Lee includes an episode in which Atticus shoots a rabid dog in chapter 10 of the novel. Students today may know little about rabies as a disease and thus be unable to think critically about this section of the novel. A brief reading on rabies – from a volume entitled Common Diseases of Farm Animals, part of a series of Farm Manuals produced by Lippincott beginning in 1915 – illustrates what was, during the period when the novel is set, the basic understanding of the disease, its dangers,

Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak is a brilliant, riveting, and provocative exploration about how one moment in time changes a young woman’s life. There’s much for students and teachers to explore with this text, but here we offer two informational texts to allow students to dig into the difficult issues of consent. We are hopeful that the use of these two short texts can allow students to think critically about the idea of consent, so that they can begin to unpack the complex sexual and legal poli

This lesson includes an excerpt from an interview in which three white women from prominent southern families discuss what their lives were like in the South of the 1930s. In the excerpt, the women discuss their relationships with and perceptions of the black people they interacted with. The reading allows students to think through Scout’s blindspots about the lives of the black characters in the novel, particularly Calpurnia, and to analyze the brief but intriguing presence of the rebellious L

Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak is a brilliant, riveting, and provocative exploration about how one moment in time changes a young woman’s life. There’s much for students and teachers to explore with this text, but here we offer an informational text that allows students to dig into the difficult issues of consent. We hope that the resources we've created to use with the Salon interview, "The Ugly Truth About Sexual Assault," will allow students to think critically about the idea of consent, so

Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak is a brilliant, riveting, and provocative exploration about how one moment in time changes a young woman’s life. There’s much for students and teachers to explore with this text, but here we offer resources to allow students to dig into the difficult issues surrounding legal definitions of consent. We hope that the use of this short informational text can allow students to think critically about the idea of consent, so that they can begin to unpack the complex sexu