Interview with a Classroom Teacher

I interviewed a 6th grade science and social studies teacher at my school who, while he does not use literature everyday in his class has an unique perspective on how and why it should be used even in subject matter courses.

What role does literature play in the classroom curriculum?
I am a social studies and science teacher so as far as social studies goes, I think there is a difference between the ideal role and the actual. Ideally, literature is one of the ideal ways to teach social studies. In terms of science, it is useful as well but less applicable. In reality however, I am not able to use literature because I do have literature that ties into our standards but I do try to tie in what they are currently studying in English.

What kinds of books are chosen? Why and how?
For social studies, I would ideally choose books that specifically tie into the issues we are studying. For example, when teaching world geometry I could tie in fables from different countries we are studying to give students an idea of the cultural differences that exist between themselves and students in different countries.

Who decides on what books are used in the classroom?
I do. There is little to no pressure to use literature or books for teaching or reinforcing science and social studies at my school. While I would like to choose and tie in more books resources and time restraints make that difficult.

What is your theoretical perspective on teaching or specifically on using children's literature in the curriculum?
I think that stories are a fundamental part of human culture and all children no matter how disconnected they are from the subject matter can connect to good stories. For me it is more about incorporating good stories into the curriculum then finding a story for every part (or every standard/strand/unit) in the curriculum.