Using Informational Text to Teach The Great Gatsby

The Common Core State Standards initiated major changes for language arts teachers, particularly the emphasis on “informational text.” Language arts teachers were asked to shift attention toward informational texts without taking away from the teaching of literature. Teachers, however, need to incorporate nonfiction in ways that enhance rather than take away from their teaching of literature. The Using Informational Text series is designed to help. In this fourth volume (Volume 1: Using Informational Text to Teach To Kill a Mockingbird; Volume 2: Using Informational Text to Teach A Raisin in the Sun; Volume 3: Connecting Across Disciplines: Collaborating with Informational Text), we offer challenging and engaging readings to enhance your teaching of Gatsby. Texts from a wide range of genres (a TED Talk, federal legislation, economic policy material, newspaper articles, and 1920s political writing) and on a variety of topics (income inequality, nativism and immigration, anti-Semitism, the relationship between wealth and cheating, the Black Sox scandal and newspaper coverage, and prohibition) help students answer essential questions about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel. Each informational text is part of a student-friendly unit, with media links, reading strategies, vocabulary, discussion, and writing activities, and out-of-the-box class activities.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgements How to Use This Book Unit 1: Why Should We Care about Economic Inequality? Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman: “Exploding wealth inequality in the United States” David Vandivier: “What Is The Great Gatsby Curve?” Chapters 1, 6, and 8 Unit 2: What Is Tom Buchanan Worried about -- Is Civilization “Going to Pieces”? Lothrop Stoddard: The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy Kenneth L. Roberts: Why Europe Leaves Home Chapters 1, 2, 4, 7, and 9 Unit 3: Does Money Make People, Like Tom, Mean? Paul Piff, “Does money make you mean?” Chapters 2, 6, and 8 Unit 4: Who Is to Blame in the Black Sox Scandal and in Gatsby? “Eight White Sox Players Are Indicted on Charge of Fixing 1919 World Series; Cicotte Got $10,000 And Jackson $5,000” Stuart Dezenhall, “Newspaper Coverage of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal” Chapters 4 and 9 Unit 5: Everyone Is Drinking, So Why Does Prohibition Matter in Gatsby? The National Prohibition Act “Making a Joke of Prohibition in New York City” Chapter 7 or any time Writing and Discussion Rubric About the Authors Tables and answers for all sections are available for download on the series website: www.usinginformationaltext.org.

About the Author :
Audrey Fisch is Professor of English and Coordinator of Secondary English Education at New Jersey City University where she has taught for over twenty years. Susan Chenelle is Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction at University Academy Charter High School in Jersey City, New Jersey, where she taught English and journalism for several years.

Review :
Using Informational Text to Teach The Great Gatsby hits a home run! Its challenging readings (old and new, in texts of all sorts) and its activities provide students—under the guidance of their teachers—with opportunities for rich, deep reading, learning and thinking. And, while these informational readings and activities tie directly to Gatsby and the world of the novel, they do more—they tie directly to our world today, instilling the study of The Great Gatsby with a relevance it would not otherwise have. Using Informational Text to Teach The Great Gatsby is provocative in the best sense: it urges difficult discussions about racism, anti-Semitism, anti-immigrationism, and class stratification, and it illustrates why these conversations are essential today. The book promises to equip students to be leaders of a more equitable world by also setting high standards for literacy and critical thinking, and by providing tools for student success. I hope this bold attempt to revamp educators’ approach to an American classic and schoolroom staple is widely adopted. Using Informational Text to Teach The Great Gatsby continues the exceptional work of Fisch and Chenelle in their quest to make teaching literature relevant for today’s classroom. They present the challenging subjects of race, class and economics in a critical manner that prompts student engagement that is both meaningful and significant. The units in the book also provide ample literary and historical contexts that are useful for critical discussions and inquiry learning. This is an excellent teaching tool that helps unpack and analyze a complex literary work to provoke critical thinking about Fitzgerald and the American Dream. I love how Using Informational Text to Teach The Great Gatsby empowers students with tools and lines of inquiry to read not only Gatsby but also the world in which they live. The topics in this book are clearly selected with student interest in mind, and the curricular units are extremely well developed, providing scaffolding for deep and engaged learning through a variety of activities. The book is a valuable resource for all teachers of The Great Gatsby, to use for full-class, as well as small-group or personalized, study.