Hamilton, Mary Poppins, and Literacy

As I began reading this chapter, I could think of one content area reading that has drawn my interest, especially after the book referenced one of the events contained in the reading on page 70: Hamilton. 

I know that the musical isn’t exactly reading material and it isn’t exactly 100% historically accurate, but I have multiple friends that have picked up Ron Chernow’s biography Alexander Hamilton that Lin Manuel Miranda based the incredibly addictive musical on. An increasingly large number of students now know more information about a founding father than anyone would have expected prior to the show’s opening. We need more materials like this that have the opportunity to pique students’ interests in the classroom, to push the door open a crack.

Looking back, I became more interested in the classes that I personally connected to in school. That personal connection usually came from a reading. I read Night by Elie Weisel in middle school simply because my teacher offered us her copy to check out, but I tuned in after I devoured it in one night. The Book Thief by Makus Zusak pulled me back in to a different side of the Holocaust. My 9^th grade biology teacher assigned us to find a current event in the science world each week and reflect on it. While this was not exciting at the beginning of the year, by the end we were bringing in articles that we were passionate about and we fought over who got to present to the class.

While nonfiction is full of useful information that students have direct access too, they might not always use it unless they are hooked. I know that I am personally more inclined to learn about Bonnie and Clyde and the Great Depression or the Suffragette movement in England simply because I have had musicals and content reading to pique my interests.