Using Informational Text to Teach A Raisin in the Sun

The Common Core State Standards mean major changes for language arts teachers, particularly the emphasis on “informational text.” How do we shift attention toward informational texts without taking away from the teaching of literature?

The key is informational texts deeply connected to the literary texts you are teaching.

Preparing informational texts for classroom use, however, requires time and effort. Using Informational Text to Teach Literature is designed to help.

In this second volume (the first volume is on To Kill a Mockingbird), we offer informational texts connected to Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Readings range in genre (commencement address, historical and cultural analysis, government report, socioeconomic research study, and Supreme Court decision) and topic (housing discrimination past and present, abortion, the racial and cultural politics of hair, socioeconomic mobility and inequality, the violence associated with housing desegregation, and the struggle against the legacy of systemic racism).

Each informational text is part of a student-friendly unit, with reading strategies and vocabulary, writing, and discussion activities.

Teachers need to incorporate nonfiction in ways that enhance their teaching of literature.The Using Informational Text to Teach Literature series is an invaluable supportive tool.

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. She has published a wide variety of academic work (including books with Cambridge and Oxford University Presses, numerous scholarly articles, and writing about teaching) and has worked as a curriculum consultant and professional development provider for K-12 districts in New Jersey.

Susan Chenelle has taught English and journalism for seven years at University Academy Charter High School in Jersey City, New Jersey, where she serves as English department lead and peer coach for humanities. She holds a master’s degree in education from New Jersey City University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Kenyon College.