Re: Non-fiction Explanation

[Deb Logan <jd3logan@BRIGHT.NET>]

Hi!

        I emphasis the fallacies of the idea of nonfiction whenever
possible.  When I teach
the kids the Dewey system, we talk about it as a classification system
that was intended
to hold EVERYTHING!  I tell them that I could classify them and find a
place for them in the Dewey system.  My middle school kids get a chuckle
out of that idea.  I ask them
what they would think about still having all of the "fiction" books and
biographies in the Dewey part of our library media center.  They are
glad that libraries decided to create separate sections for fiction and
biographies.  We also talk about why some fiction is still in the Dewey
section.

        I have a favorite way to impress that what is "information"
depends on factors such as point of view, the best knowledge of the
time, etc.  I share exerts from David Macaulay's book, MOTEL OF
MYSTERIES.  [From Amazon.com- List Price: $11.95, Paperback - 95
pages,(September 1979) Houghton Mifflin Co (Pap); ISBN: 0395284252]

In case you are not familiar with it...

        The book starts with the idea that our civilization buried
itself under junk mail and
when there was an accidental reduction of 3rd class postage rates.
Also, our pollution
contributed to our demise.  A future scientist digs up a "burial
chamber" which would be
better known to us as a motel room.  This scientist painstakingly
interprets all that he
finds.  For example on the "sacred collar" he finds the ceremonial head
band with the
chant, "Sanitized for your protection".  A drawing depicts his
colleague, Harriet wearing
the collar and headband.

The students love this book.  The pictures are a riot.  We then also
look at Macaulay's
book or video, "PYRAMID".  In the video, he talks about doing a best
guess based on his research as to where he should place the pyramid's
temple.  I then show the kids a 1990 newspaper article showing that they
did finally find the great pyramid's temple under a cess pit.  It was
found exactly where Macaulay thought it would be.  His best
research-based guess was correct!   After reading Motel of Mysteries, my
kids KNOW that not all research necessarily results in accurate
conclusions.  We talk about some known things that turned out to be
wrong.  ("Tomatoes are poisonous", etc.)

        Before we do Internet research we always talk about at least
some of the clues to validity of sites.

        Hope this helps!
--
Sincerely,
Deb Logan
Librarian/Media Specialist
Taft Middle School
Marion, OH
KidsConnect Volunteer
jd3logan@bright.net

Taft Middle School
http://156.63.251.180/taft/index.html
Taft Library/Media Center
http://156.63.251.180/taft/tlibrary.html

KidsConnect is a question-answering and referral service
on the Internet, provided by the American Association
of School Librarians, a division of the American Library
Association.

**************************************************
PS.  This reminded me of the time when a teacher found out that fiction
books could be looked up by subject too.  She asked me not to tell her
students that, because she had already told them that only nonfiction
books had subject cards.  I suggested that we share the correction
together.

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