Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 200
•
Trim: 7 x 10
978-1-4758-3101-6 • Paperback • March 2018 • $34.00 • (£26.00)
978-1-4758-3102-3 • eBook • March 2018 • $32.00 • (£25.00)
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.
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.
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.
— Millie Davis, English teacher and National Council of Teachers of English Senior Developer, Affiliates, and Director, Intellectual Freedom Center
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.
— Sara L. Schwebel, author of Child-Sized History: Fictions of the Past in U.S. Classrooms and Associate Professor of English, University of South Carolina
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.
— James M. Pederson, New Jersey School Superintendent
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.
— Dana Maloney, High School English Teacher