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"As the common core is brought to life in classrooms this year, some English/language arts teachers are finding themselves caught in a swirl of debate about whether the new standards require them to cut back on prized pieces of the literary canon to make room for nonfiction."

"As states across the country implement broad changes in curriculum from kindergarten through high school, English teachers worry that they will have to replace the dog-eared novels they love with historical documents and nonfiction texts."

"The Common Core's "six shifts in literacy," or the big ways in which the standards aim to overhaul teaching, can be boiled down a la Michael Pollan: Read complex texts. Mostly nonfiction. Very closely. Through that close reading, teachers get clear opportunities to foster critical thinking. Attempting to help students access texts, previous standards and curricula in many states have focused on previewing the material, skimming it, and connecting it to the outside world, the self, and other texts - at best, achieving a rich holistic understanding, and at worst, dancing around the challenges posed by the author's actual words."

"We must end the absurd notion that balanced literacy is somehow at odds with the Common Core. The best balanced literacy practices have advocated for some of the smartest and most rigorous work around nonfiction reading and writing, and other crucial Common Core practices, long before anyone heard the words "Common Core." Are there some schools that practice balanced literacy at the expense of rigor? Of course, but that is a flaw in the implementation, not the idea. "

" FINALmyON.jpg Through myON, Oregon students have access to about 4,100 books for free until September 15. Print Laura Frazier, The Oregonian By Laura Frazier, The Oregonian Email the author | Follow on Twitter on July 04, 2013 at 9:00 AM, updated July 04, 2013 at 9:06 AM Email For the first time this summer, all Oregon students have free access to more than 4,100 digital children's books through a partnership with the Oregon Department of Education and myON, an online library collection geared toward students. "