I just watched The Greatest Showman, upon the recommendation of some of my students. While watching the movie, I wondered how accurate it is in portraying the life of P. T. Barnum and the creation of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. I checked and discovered that our school library has several biographies about P. T. Barnum and one about Tom Thumb. Since the movie is fairly new and of interest to tweens, it is prime time to familiarize myself with these biographies so that I can promote them to young readers.
I remember a high school history teacher using Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" as a springboard to learning about controversial people and events. Five years later that same teacher used the Academy Award-winning Forrest Gump as a catalyst to inspire students to learn about historical events. In both cases, students were able to choose a topic, research it, and present their research to their classmates. (Note: Forrest Gump is rated R and not appropriate for young audiences.)
Other fairly recent pop culture pieces that my students have shown an interest in include the viral 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and the Broadway musical Hamilton. In the fall of 2014, I asked students how many had participated in the challenge. Many had, yet most did now know what ALS was or who Lou Gehrig was. It provided an opportunity to share nonfiction books with them. Last fall, Alexander Hamilton and our other Founding Fathers became of great interest because of the Broadway play and its soundtrack. Of course, I pointed readers to The Duel: The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton & Aaron Burr by Judith St. George and purchased some up-to-date biographies.
What events are trending with your students? Might any of their interests lead to a book that you can recommend?
By Teach Daily
This article was a combined effort by multiple team members.
