Literature and Primary Sources

Enrich student engagement and deepen learning with this guide to foolproof techniques and strategies to integrate primary sources and literature to benefit learners from kindergarten through high school.Readers of all ages experience literature in a different light when historical context is provided via primary sources. Literature, meanwhile, helps learners to uncover additional layers of meaning inherent in primary sources. Guided by best practices developed by the authors over years of working with both students and teachers, this book speaks to the countless opportunities for instructors to integrate related primary sources with the literature that students read in school classrooms—from historical fiction and poetry to graphic novels.

How fortunate are we that Tom and Rebecca – classroom teachers, school librarians, and experienced Library of Congress Teachers in Residence – have teamed to write Literature and Primary Sources: The Perfect Pairing for Student Learning. Whether you choose to read it from cover to cover to absorb all the content and ideas that they share or to pop in and out of chapters as you need them, your instruction and your students' learning will be the better for it., School librarians and classroom teachers alike will appreciate the expert advice and resources provided to implement in our own programs. Tom and Rebecca have done an outstanding job of offering ways to differentiate across multiple grade levels and have equipped readers with teaching methods to replicate with our students. This book gives me the confidence I need to enact these strategies in my lessons today., Literature and Primary Sources is a must-read for school librarians of all grades whether you are just getting started with primary sources or are looking to expand upon your current lessons. This book has it all, from preparing and implementing to analyzing and reflecting on teaching with primary sources paired with a wide range of literature. This is THE quintessential book for school librarians looking to further develop their teachings of primary sources.

Tom Bober is a school librarian at Captain Elementary in St. Louis, MO, USA, and a former Teacher in Residence at the Library of CongressRebecca Newland is a high school librarian in Fairfax County, Virginia, USA and a former Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress.