Royal Fireworks Press News & Blog
Newsletter, December 6th, 2013
Two exciting conferences in February
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 20 to 22 February 2014
Common Core and American Nonfiction: Some Thoughts from MCT
Common Core and American Nonfiction: Some Thoughts
Michael Clay Thompson
The Common Core standards have now been adopted in the majority of states, to our relief or disappointment, depending upon our understanding of the standards. My impression is that some of the negative reactions to Common Core have not so much to do with the standards themselves as with how they are interpreted or implemented. Let me make a few observations about them with reference to classics of American nonfiction.
First, Common Core refers to nonfiction as “informational texts,” a horrid term that cannot vanish fast enough. The word nonfiction is perfectly adequate and scholarly and needs no substitute
