Middle School Monday: Non-Fiction Articles that You Know…Matter.

Do you have a printer somewhere in your library? [Silly question.] If you’re like me, on certain days of the week, you see a slew of non-fiction articles printed to be used as ‘article of the week’ assignments for work on annotations.

Like I hope we all have, I’ve been reading about the water protectors at Standing Rock. If you’re interested in a link to an engaging, student-friendly piece that would make a lovely ‘article of the week’ text for non-fiction and/or close reading, see below! [It is not through a popular ELA news website that lets you set the difficulty of the text, but it is timely, interesting, and important.]

I first saw What I Found In Standing Rock by University of Wisconsin senior basketball player Bronson Koenig when Angie Manfredi [follow her at @misskubelik] tweeted about it, comparing Koenig’s writing to Matt de la Peña’s. High praise! I read Koenig’s story and loved it. Engaging, powerful, and informative, it does read like part of a fabulous YA novel. Reading this article with a class could be paired with facts about the Dakota Access Pipeline, clean water, and the peaceful protests of the water protectors. It could also be paired with watching some of Koenig’s jaw-dropping Final Four highlights!

Interested in more about Koenig? Or, perhaps you’d like your students to compare the autobiographical piece to a reporter-written story? This article about Bronson Koenig from Sports Illustrated could help.

Is sharing articles that matter—that touch on social justice issues—part of pushing an agenda? No. Well, actually, if we consider human decency to be an agenda, I’ll push it. Every day.

I’m Julie Stivers at @BespokeLib and I hope you have a great week!

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