8. Exploring History
"If you don't tell your stories and write down your histories, then someone else will." ~ Fong Tran
The Lesson
History can be explored through multiple lenses. Whether through fiction or non-fiction, studying events from the past can help disrupt the future. And while non-fiction can capture the events, fiction can capture the story. For this lesson, you will read TWO books--one non-fiction and one fiction. Both books focus on the same event in history, but each tell a slightly different version of the event. As you are reading, think about how the books speak to each other, how they support and contradict each other.
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The Challenge
To help you disrupt your thinking about how to teach about historical events, you will create a graphic organizer using Canva that compares and contrasts the two novels. Design the top portion of your graphic organizer like a T-Chart, dividing it into two columns. On the left, label the column "Events and Details from the Book." Then, you list the major events that occurred in the historical fiction novel. On the right, label the column "Reader Inferences." Here, list the inferences the reader might make about each of the events and details on the left. Underneath this portion of the organizer, analyze the message of the historical fiction novel by comparing the information found in the non-fiction book with the inferences made from the novel.
Include answers to the following questions:
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What aspects of the novel have been fictionalized and do not stand true when looking at a more factual representation of the event in history?
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What aspects of the novel represent actual historical events in a fairly factual manner?
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How can you use the novel to teach about the event and what misconceptions will you need to correct?
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Post your response to your portfolio by 4:00pm on March 20th.