http://teachcoal.org/lesson-plan-coal-camps-and-mining-towns
http://teachcoal.org/lesson-plan-cookie-mining
http://teachcoal.org/lesson-plan-coal-flowers
http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/coalmountain
What one can say about Mark Nowak book is that it is a book of education. However, I could not place it under a specific genre, or subject. This book is an amalgam of storytelling, professional lessons plans, manual that can be used in laboratory experimentation. So, is it a book of literature, science, or instruction for teachers? One more thing is that I could not decide if he succeeded in gathering all these things in this book. He deploys three lesson plans dedicated for students aiming at exploring a material and real phenomenon, coal mining. He also incorporated different stories of different people showing some the tragic events that take place in relation to coal mining. These stories seem to be factual that are derived from real incidents happened to coal miners and their families in China. He also incorporates his own story. So, the question now is how to relate all these components of the book to come up with an argument that Nowak is trying to reveal to the reader. As shocking and surprising thing in this book that it exemplifies a premeditated plagiarism. As the attached links will tell you, the title of the book is taken from a name of a kindergarten school located in the State of Georgia. Furthermore, all the three lesson plans are copied and pasted from the American Coal Foundation website with minor changes that Nowak in the layouts of the plans.
I tried to look up coal mining accidents for my creative post, and it was hard to find anything recent in the news with just a simple search for coal mining accidents. I think the mining industry has done a good job of whitewashing some of its dirtier sides in order to make huge profits at the expense of safety. There’s a little bit of that in the lesson plans, trying to get kids sympathetic to coal at a young age.
We kind of have an ephemeral relationship to these industrial accidents and catastrophes. We hear about them one day and forget the next. And so I think by placing the Chinese death tolls, combined with poignant personal anecdotes right next to each other, we get a picture of mining that grips us and won’t let us walk away.
I totally agree with Jed, the impact and the feelings the story creates are so strong that it “won’t let us walk away”
Issam, for me the blending of genres is what makes this book so interesting. I don’t think it’s easy for a writer to employ the three genres that you mentioned in one book, and Nowak did it beautifully. Also, since you brought up the issue of argument, I think that Nowak from a humanistic concern wanted to voice the sufferings of the poor miners, and take this issue to the classrooms.
thanks for your comments, colleagues. it seems that you all agree that Nowak wanted to implement what we call a life-long durable learning, that is to make mining coals incidents memorable to the readers, especially kids. but again, do you feel that the stories all also dedicated for kids readers? if yes, this would mean that the whole work is dedicated to kids and exclude other potential readers.
So, Issam, do you think making his work as a lesson plan makes it more effective? Can we call it an educational work?