http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2008/05/08/domain-understanding-helps-duh/ Closing the Achievement Gap: Teaching Content Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:20:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2008/05/08/domain-understanding-helps-duh/#comment-4015 babbie Sat, 10 May 2008 21:56:20 +0000 http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/?p=389#comment-4015 As a high-school English teacher in a middle-class Catholic school, I must incorporate "domain knowledge" into reading, even of American literature. Simple facts can throw students who otherwise would understand the readings. For example, in their reading "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," it became clear that students did not know what a "camp meeting" was. In reading a selection from Giants in the Earth, they learned that some homesteaders were Norwegian immigrants and that Norway is part of Scandinavia (and where Scandinavia is). I could provide examples ad nauseam. Trust me--I support any teaching of Core Knowledge in the earlier grades! As a high-school English teacher in a middle-class Catholic school, I must incorporate “domain knowledge” into reading, even of American literature. Simple facts can throw students who otherwise would understand the readings. For example, in their reading “The Outcasts of Poker Flat,” it became clear that students did not know what a “camp meeting” was. In reading a selection from Giants in the Earth, they learned that some homesteaders were Norwegian immigrants and that Norway is part of Scandinavia (and where Scandinavia is). I could provide examples ad nauseam. Trust me–I support any teaching of Core Knowledge in the earlier grades!

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