|
|
|
|
| Overview |
 Can you imagine having to participate in an arranged marriage? What if your family
had to escape from home and hide in a cellar? How would it feel to live in a
country where your beliefs were not valued? Could you fathom having to leave
your family as a child to go fight in a war against other kids your own age?
These, and other true stories of the past, are explored in historical fiction.
This lesson looks at the history in historical fiction and has the students research
the facts.
|
| From Theory to Practice |
Throughout time, disease has played a role in the lives and deaths of people.
For example, during the 1800s, there were a variety of diseases that found their
way to this soil. Once here, diseases spread across the lands sparing no one.
For example, white settlers were responsible for introducing several diseases
to the Native American population. A disease of particular concern, cholera wiped
out 50% of the Northern Cheyenne and killed many others along the wagon trails.
Students could read facts like these in a textbook or in a nonfiction book.
But, infectious diseases, illnesses, and epidemics can also be found throughout
historical fiction. As Beck et al. state, “Teachers know that these novels
focus a rich, human lens on a sometimes abstract topic. The stories and the lives
of historical characters help readers see the details of everyday life that are
not incorporated into textbooks.” Historical fiction presents a new perspective
to the students.
Further Reading
Beck, Cathy, et al. “Historical Fiction: Teaching Tool or Literary Experience?” Language
Arts 77.6 (July 2000): 546-555.
|
| Student Objectives |
Students will
- apply information from nonfiction in their literary analyses of fictional material.
- compare and cross-reference information from historical fiction and nonfiction
texts on a specific topic or theme.
- record factual research information.
- construct a reflection paper on their topic.
|
| Instructional Plan |
Resources
Preparation
Instruction and Activities
Session One
- Define communicable disease, illness, and epidemics.
- Communicable Disease
- An infectious disease transmissible
(as from person-to-person) by direct contact with an affected individual
or the individual’s discharges or by indirect means (as by a carrier)
- Illness
- Poor health resulting from disease of body or mind; sickness; a disease.
- Epidemic
- Spreading rapidly and extensively by infection and affecting many individuals
in an area or a population at the same time, as of a disease or illness.
- Brainstorm a list of communicable diseases, illnesses, and epidemics throughout
the world. These can be current health issues or items from the past. Some
answers you might receive are smallpox, polio, yellow fever, the plague,
diphtheria,
and so forth.
- When the students have created their list, ask them if they have read
about any of these illnesses in literature and what the setting is in these
books.
- Asked the students to respond to the following question, "What is it called when books are set in the past?" The answer is historical fiction.
- Remind students of the definition of historical fiction: Realistic fiction
set in the past. Readers can gain an understanding of the past and relive
past
events vicariously.
- If students have not been exposed to historical fiction before, spend some time reviewing the historical fiction definition handout.
- Introduce the historical
fiction booklist. Read through the annotations
with the students. Note any books on the list that students have mentioned.
- The teacher should decide if the students will read novels independently,
after a read aloud, or in literature circles.
- Students should select historical fiction texts and begin reading them.
Session Two
- Allow the students time to read their selected novels, either individually
or in literature circles, or read the book aloud to the class.
- As the students are reading, prompt them to think about what they are reading.
Use the Historical
Fiction Guiding Questions to guide their critical reading. They can also
write their responses in their reading response journal.
Session Three
- After students have finished reading their historical fiction novels,
share the list of nonfiction books and any additional nonfiction resources
that are available.
- Preview the available Web sites that students can use to research the background
on their novels, answering any questions that students have about the way
that the site works.
- If desired, model the process of finding facts about a disease, illness,
or epidemic for students, choosing a focus that is not covered in students’ novels.
- Ask students to find at least 10 facts about the infectious disease,
illness,
or
epidemic discussed
in
their
piece
of
historical
fiction about their topic and record the details that they find. If
desired the students can record their information on the data
collection sheet.
Session Four
- Review the definition of historical fiction: Realistic fiction
set in the past. Readers can gain an understanding of the past and relive
past
events vicariously.
- Invite students to share some verifiable facts from their reading with
the class. These can be any facts. They need not be related to the disease,
illness, or epidemic explored in the novel.
- Next, ask students to share some details from the novel that are clearly
fictional or which cannot be easily verified.
- Ask students to hypothesize about the balance between fictional and factual
information in the novels that they have read. Does the information help
them gain an understanding of the past? Do the details help them relive past
events vicariously? Did they learn something about the historical time period
by reading the novel?
- After your group discussion which touches on how these books are historical
fiction, ask students to more closely examine the novels they've read by
writing a reflection paper that addresses the following questions:
- What makes your original text historical fiction?
- Is your text fiction because of inaccuracies (which are proved by
your nonfiction research) or is it historical fiction because it is set
in
a particular
time period?
- Did the author do his or her homework regarding the portrayal of the
disease, illness, or epidemic? In other words, is it presented accurately?
- Are there any stereotypes or is the information presented without bias?
Session Five
- At this point, present project choices to the students and allow them
the remainder of the session to work on the projects that they choose. A
variety of options are listed below:
- Students may write a literary analysis of one of the historical fiction novels using the information they gathered in their research as their guide.
- Students may want to outline the plot from the historical fiction
novel and then use the structure to rewrite the story set in the
present day. How would the illness be
treated? How would the afflicted person be treated by society? This option
also allows students to incorporate the nonfiction research and resources
as needed.
Students
can
use the Plot
Diagram Tool as a prewriting guide.
- Compare a contemporary disease (West Nile, SARS) to one of the past
(yellow fever, diphtheria). Students can use a Venn
Diagram or they can write a report documenting the similarities and
differences.
- Using the information from their research, students can write an article
for a medical journal. Students can
write the article from the perspective of a doctor who has been following
the progression of their assigned disease in a fictitious patient. Alternately,
the information can be published using the Printing
Press as brochure on the topic. The brochure can include an
introduction of the disease researched, background information (populations
affected, historical outbreaks, etc.), and general data about disease
(typical symptoms, progression, and details that are not specific to
the patient).
- Working in small groups, students can discuss a recent outbreak of
an infectious disease, where the outbreak occurred, what led to the outbreak,
and how it was contained. Finally, students can predict where they
believe the next outbreak may occur, why they have chosen the location,
and what they recommend that people can do in order to prevent the outbreak
from happening.
- Students can create a disease prevention poster that
includes a tip on how to avoid getting or spreading an infectious
disease. (For example, people washing their hands with soap and warm
water, or people covering their mouths as they sneeze) Students can use
the Printing
Press to publish their flyers.
- Create a timeline of the illness, using the Timeline Tool.
Extensions
- Students could perform scenes from the historical fiction books they have read. Refer to this lesson on Readers Theater.
- Invite students to read more than one historical fiction novel about the
same topic (e.g., yellow fever). The students could compare the presentation
of the illnesses and their implications. To discuss the format with students,
use the Compare
and Contrast Guide to present information about how comparison/contrast
papers are usually structured.
Web Resources
- healthfinder
http://www.healthfinder.gov/
- A searchable site sponsored by the US Department of Health and Human Services.
- Infectious Diseases Information
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/index.htm
- Alphabetical list of diseases from the Central for Disease Control.
- Parallels to the AIDS Epidemic
http://whyfiles.org/159aids3/3.html
- A comparison of illnesses from history and contemporary epidemics, such as
AIDS and Ebola.
- Dictionary.com
http://www.dictionary.com
- An online dictionary resource.
|
| Student Assessment/Reflections |
As students discuss the novels, listen for comments that indicate that students
see the ways that fictional and nonfictional details intersect in historical
fiction. Provide supportive feedback for observations that show students are
identifying the ways that scientific and historical data in the story add to
the
fictional
scenario
that the novel focuses on.
Additionally, monitor student interaction and progress during class discussion
to
assess
social skills
and assist any students having problems with the project. Look for evidence in
students’ contributions to the discussion as well as in their individual
work in response to the guided questions and the data collection sheet
that they have engaged in the research process (searching for and recording
facts about the illness) and made connections between the fiction and nonfiction
resources that they explore.
The reflective writing that concludes this activity will allow you to see
which students are gaining a deeper understanding of the ways that fact and
fiction intersect in historical fiction. Read the responses to the Reflection
Questions and
comment on the important
observations that students make and asking provoking questions
where they need to think more deeply. To more formally respond to students,
share the reflection paper rubric with students before they write their
responses and then use the rubric to shape your feedback.
As students
begin working on their projects, ask students to collaborate to create a rubric
that
the
performances or presentations will be evaluated on. They might want to include
whether or not the information or presentation includes fictional and nonfictional
information as well as how the presentation ties to the genre of historical fiction.
Other aspects that could be included in the rubric include whether or not there
was
sufficient information and ideas presented. Also, what resources were used?
|
1 - Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
3 - Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
5 - Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
6 - Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
7 - Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
8 - Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
11 - Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
12 - Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
|
|
|
