Rhetoric, not literary analysis becomes the new focus in English

The common core asks for more nonfiction texts, specifically "high quality complex information texts.". Education week ("Schools begin shift to information-text instruction" by Catherine Gewertz, march 14, 2012) addresses the need for new kinds of PD. ("Most teachers are to taught how to teach reading", the article quotes one NY school official.).

What is especially interesting to me is the picture of what teachers are doing with texts. The article begins, "In an English language arts classroom in Iowa 10th-graders are analyzing the rhetoric in books about computer geeks, fast food, teenage marketing, working poor, chocolate making, and diamond mining... Students are dissecting the sources, statistics, and anecdotes the authors use to make their arguments in books... And film documentaries.". The same teacher, sarah brown wessling, the 2010 National Teacher of the Year, says, "we spend a lot of time talking about attributes of nonfiction, like how to read an interview. Or how to tell the difference between fact and opinion."

This is rhetoric curriculum spread throughout the 4 high school years. I think that's a different thing than saying that teachers must teach more nonfiction. Instead, it means teaching rhetorical reading, reading for argument, for tone, for bias, and for author's purpose.

The article references an online teacher toolkit developed by the state of Oregon and NY's teacher resources which can be found in this issues links page at edweek.org/links.