http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2007/09/23/we-interrupt-this-blog/ A School Library Journal Blog Sun, 05 Aug 2012 22:26:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2007/09/23/we-interrupt-this-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-1066 david e Sun, 23 Sep 2007 10:43:35 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2007/09/23/we-interrupt-this-blog/#comment-1066 It's interesting, because the way we tend to discuss things in our lives (our daily living history, if you will) is vastly different from the way we read about them and study them. History is presented as a linear progression of facts and details, cause and effect, but as our personal interests meander and we take sideways leaps, move backward and forward. When we look at the types of non-fiction that boys read (fact and trivia books, way-things-work, Eyewitness topics), and we see that they don't always read front-to-back, perhaps the most radical thing we can offer with regard to teaching/reading history is to go non-linear. That library display you mention would allow the eye of the viewer settle in on the thing that most interested them and allow for reading events in both directions from there. It’s interesting, because the way we tend to discuss things in our lives (our daily living history, if you will) is vastly different from the way we read about them and study them. History is presented as a linear progression of facts and details, cause and effect, but as our personal interests meander and we take sideways leaps, move backward and forward. When we look at the types of non-fiction that boys read (fact and trivia books, way-things-work, Eyewitness topics), and we see that they don’t always read front-to-back, perhaps the most radical thing we can offer with regard to teaching/reading history is to go non-linear. That library display you mention would allow the eye of the viewer settle in on the thing that most interested them and allow for reading events in both directions from there.

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