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For Educators: Using Our White House: Looking In, Looking Outby Mary Brigid Barrett
The above quote, from On Poetry and Craft, a book written by teacher and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Theodore Roethke, is my favorite quote about teaching. All of us who have dedicated our lives to working with young people in classrooms know why we do it—we have a passion.
Working on the Candlewick Press editorial team for the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance publication Our White House, I knew that one of the best ways for me to be a creative asset would be to draw on that passion—that love of teaching kids—and to build on years of work as a classroom teacher, years of experience as an author and illustrator working with teachers and students in schools across the country. I am a firm believer in a liberal arts approach to education and have found that an interdisciplinary approach to learning—one that weaves the arts, the humanities, and the sciences— not only succeeds in terms of student achievement, but also succeeds in terms of student interest. The young people with whom I have worked, from kindergartners to college students, will tell you a word I detest is BORING; a word I love is WONDER. It was my dream that the NCBLA create a book that promoted literacy and historical literacy, but it was also my dream that we create a book that used art, literature, the humanities, and science to instill in young people a sense of wonder.
• You will find many things in Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out that will inspire students of all ages. The intended audience for the book is ages ten through to adult—it was created for middle-graders, teens, and adults to read and discuss together—but many of the illustrations, stories, and poems can be understood and appreciated by preschoolers, kindergartners, and primary grade students. Although some of the pieces in the book are written with an elevated vocabulary in a style more appropriate for older students, information within those pieces may be of interest to your younger students or pertinent to your curriculum needs. We know that talented teachers can easily take the information and ideas they find useful and convey that information to their students in a manner that is age suitable.
• We have included written pieces of various lengths in the book because we understand that sometimes you have time to read a longer piece aloud to your students, but sometimes you only have time to read something short and snappy.
• We thought one of the best ways to make history “come alive” for today’s visually-oriented kids and teens was to include original vibrant and exciting art throughout Our White House. A great variety of illustration styles are represented in the book and range from Bagram Ibatoulline’s romantic landscape painting of George Washington overlooking the Potomac River Valley to Petra Mathers’ wonderful folk-style portraits of John and Abigail Adams to Steven Johnson’s and Lou Fancher’s illustration of the Kennedy oval office, an illustration that brings to mind the work of contemporary artist Robert Rauschenberg. We are continually expanding ourwhitehouse.org and will be adding art history information, critical observations about specific Our White House illustrations, additional historic information, activity suggestions, and discussion questions—all inspired by the art in Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out. For an example of this expanded information and art history information go to: www.ourwhitehouse.org/beyondtheillus.html.
• We purposely included historical fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and personal essays in Our White House because we know that kids, tweens, and teens are as different inside as they are outside. Some hate reading novels; others might never pick a biography or information book off the bookshelf. It is our hope that in observing your students’ reactions to different genres and topics in the book, you can build on their expressed interests and entice them into further reading. For example, if a student reacts enthusiastically to Patricia McLachlan’s fictional story “Hands” about First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, you can then work with your school librarian to find a variety of quality historical fiction books concerning related topics and historical eras to keep that student interested and reading. You might also use a student’s interest in “Hands” as a bridge to nonfiction and biographies, introducing your student to books like Russell Freedman’s Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery, a fascinating biography of Eleanor Roosevelt—a book your student might not otherwise choose from a library shelf.
• We know how important the inclusion of primary source materials is to any study of history. We have interspersed pertinent primary source materials throughout Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out so that you and your students can read firsthand accounts of history. We will continue to add vital primary sources to www.ourwhitehouse.org as we expand the site.
• In Our White House contradictory primary and secondary sources are juxtaposed so that young people can experience what historians often discover in their search for objective truth—multiple perspectives representing different points of view. It is our hope that this provides vital learning opportunities for your students. The multiple perspectives presented in the War of 1812 section in the book can be used to teach young people critical thinking skills, asking Is history only the story of the aggressors, the winners, the dominant? Why do we often prefer to believe the “legend” rather than the actual factual account of a historic event? Why are some voices silenced through the ages? Do you need to seek multiple perspectives in seeking the truth? And on the deepest level, what is “the truth”? In the Our White House section on September 11th, an event that is a contemporary bookend to the War of 1812 devastation, we also present contradictory sources. We hope that you can use this section to inspire young people, in their search for objective truth, to seek multiple, reliable, contemporary information sources that represent a wide variety of perspectives. We hope your students will reflect on these sections in the book with a critical eye and ear, then discuss their thoughts and opinions with you.
• Building on our interdisciplinary approach, we wanted to introduce science topics into Our White House to help young people understand that many great leaders, especially those who are intellectually curious, are often people who are interested in the full range of human achievements. Great leaders understand that in an innovative society and culture, the interplay of the arts, humanities, and sciences is essential not only to the creative development of a nation, but also to its overall progress and commercial success. Throughout the book and the website, you will find content related to botany, paleontology, natural science, environmental science, aeronautics, and space.
• In the coming months we will be expanding the site, providing more historical information, primary sources, activity ideas, discussion questions, and book and website resources inspired by the prose and art from Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out. Eventually, in the Our White House Plus (OWH Plus) section of this site we hope to have added materials for every topic covered in Our White House. This website gives us the opportunity to continue to expand on or cover topics that could not be included in the book. You will find that new content in the Web Exclusives and Civic Education sections of this site.
• We have kept the www.ourwhite house.org site design simple, with a white background throughout, so that you can download and print anything on the site with economy and ease—we know how expensive those ink cartridges are! The NCBLA collectively retains the copyright to all written materials. The art on our site is from the book Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out and is copyrighted by individual artists who have generously donated its use. The site writers and illustrators are aware that their work will be downloaded and printed for educational use only.
• In creating www.ourwhitehouse.org we chose not to create a website for kids because we knew we couldn’t successfully construct a website that would be attractive and interesting to all grade levels. Instead we chose to create a website for the adults who live with and work for young people, filling it with expanded information, resources, ideas, and activities that can be used or shaped to meet the needs of the young people in your life. You know best your curriculum and your students’ interests and needs. You can peruse the site, taking whatever ideas and information intrigue you, and enhance what we offer with your own experience and creativity. You can then share what you deem pertinent with your students, whatever their ages.
• On this website, we have made an attempt to write in an informal manner and we’ve included information we hope will amuse and entertain you. We don’t want to bore you! Although the site has been written with an adult readership in mind, you may very well have students in middle or high school who may find the site of interest. We hope that you encourage them to use it and all of its resources.
• The American History and Literacy Resources section of the site provides an annotated bibliography, field trip ideas and guides, comprehensive presidential and first lady fact files, links to helpful historic websites, search tips for students, and literacy links. The Civic Education site is filled with presidential election information as well as web links to great civic education sites and pertinent documents. We will start work in the Media Literacy section of the site in the Spring of 2009.
• We need your expert help! If there are topics we should be covering let us know. If you know of resources, traditional or electronic, or web site links that should be in our resource section but are not, please inform us and tell us why you value that resource. You can send your suggestions to: info@thencbla.org.
Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out and www.ourwhitehouse.org have been created with your educational needs in mind. We hope that the information, ideas, activities, and discussion questions we offer in the Web Exclusives, Our White House Plus, American History and Literacy Resources, and Civic Education sections of this website will help you ignite young people’s interest in our nation’s past as well as provoke them to thoughtfully consider our nation’s future. We would also love to hear from you, the experts! Please email us at info@thencbla.org to let us know how you are using Our White House with your students!