Sample Units for Using Informational Text Now Available

For our first volume, Using Informational Text to Teach To Kill a Mockingbird, there was so much great stuff, we couldn’t fit it all into the book! It was tough to pick two chapters to leave out of the print version, but we had to cut the volume in size or face an unreasonable sales price.

The good news is we can share these materials with you immediately online. You can use them as you see fit (even before the publication of the print volume):

Unit 8: What is the meaning of rabies in Mockingbird? (PDF)

R. A. Craig: Common Diseases of Farm Animals

Answers for unit 8 (PDF)

Unit 9: What does Scout really know about Calpurnia? (PDF)

Claudia Durst Johnson, “Interview: A Perspective on the 1930s”

Answers for unit 9 (PDF)

We look forward to hearing your thoughts and reactions. Let us know what works for you (and what doesn’t). Let us know your favorite sections and questions. And let us know of any ideas you have for how these units can be updated or expanded. If you like what you see, you can pre-order the full volume, which will be available in March 2014.

If you're attending NCTE, please attend our workshop on Saturday at 1:15pm, where we will be sharing strategies for finding great informational texts and making rewarding connections between them and the literature that you teach.