Dear Reader,
This page has been created for my elementary education class called “Culturally Relevant Materials for Diverse Learners”. Throughout this class I have read many articles about what characteristics a strong children’s book
demonstrates; these characteristics include accuracy, entertainment, dispelling stereotypes, having appropriate illustrations, and many other characteristics. This class has helped me understand that as a teacher there are many things to take into account when choosing the books that I want to share with my students. One of the most interesting units of this class was historical fiction. This unit was particularly interesting to me for two reasons; the first being that growing up my favorite genre was historical fiction, as you can guess, my favorite class was social studies. The second reason I found this unit to be interesting was because my emphasis as an elementary school teacher is on history; this emphasis motivates me to make sure I am creating lessons that help my students learn about history in an entertaining and worthwhile way, and I think that historical fiction helps history become more interesting and relevant to students.
I choose to focus on historical fiction books for this project because unfortunately, in many elementary classrooms social studies class is being “placed on the back burner” because teachers are busy teaching a million other things. Social Studies is seen as unimportant because currently there is not a standardized test that students take at the end of the year which would theoretically demonstrate what the students did and did not learn. As a devoted history lover, I think the best way to teach students about other perspectives is in the social studies curriculum. In general students are bored in social studies class, and the main reason for this is that the people are missing (Tunnell, 149). When I think back to my school years I realize that I enjoyed my social class not because I learned the exact date the War of 1812 started or because I memorized the Preamble of the Constitution but because I enjoyed learning about the time period my favorite characters from my historical fiction books lived in. In this way my love of history motivated me to read historical fiction books, which continued by love of history and social studies as a subject. Due to this realization I
plan on filling my classroom library with many historical fiction books, and if possible I would like to read aloud a book with a character from the time period my class and I are currently studying.
Since Social Studies can routinely be pushed to the side in the classroom, I plan to use historical fiction in various ways in my classroom. The first and primary way I will use this genre is to help supplement the textbook. According to Tunnell history textbooks are “not effective in helping children make meaningful personal connections with the past” (Tunnell, 148). As a pre-service teacher my experiences have taught me that if the student does not find the lesson meaningful students don’t learn as much as they could, and they didn’t enjoy the learning process. Based on what Tunnell says, and my experience I will use historical fiction books to supplement the textbook by helping
children make connections between the textbook and the characters in the story. Like me, my students will start to make connections to the history lessons if they can connect the event with a character from a book they have read.
Historical fiction can help students put a face on history.
Another way I will use historical fiction books in my classroom is to fill in the gaps from my lessons. History is vast, large and complex which inevitably means that I won’t have time to cover everything in history my students should learn. For example, as the year is drawing to a close I might find that I ran out of time to teach about the Vietnam war, but to make sure my students are at the very least exposed to the topic, I can read a story about a soldier in the war, or from the perspective of someone who was protesting the war. A strong and worthwhile historical fiction book is very capable of teaching students history lessons and facts, a valuable historical fiction book might even teach history
better than the textbook and/or teacher.
Through teaching history students are not only exposed to other cultures, but they are also exposed to other perspectives. For example, reading a book such as A Voyage from Ireland in 1849 a student learns about what
immigrants entering the United States experienced. Students will also be able to imagine themselves as experiencing the events along with character which will leave a bigger impact on the student. Through reading a book from someone else’s perspective students will develop empathy for others who are treated unfairly. As they grow up the empathy they experience will help them promote equal treatment for all. In addition, this empathy will assist the teacher in creating a welcoming environment in the classroom because the students will understand that everyone deserves to be treated equally.
A few last things to leave you with, if after viewing this website you have a deeper understanding of the benefits of reading aloud and stocking your classroom shelves with historical fiction books, there a few things to keep in mind while choosing the books one will expose the class to. The first and most important characteristic of a historical fiction book is the accuracy; if the book is inaccurate then it will fail to teach your students about the historical event. In addition, children are able to connect with characters that they share things with, for this reason it is important to choose historical fiction books in which the main character is also a child. When choosing books for younger
elementary grade children, one might be tempted to choose books that don’t make history seem as bad it was, however, sugar coating history can render the entire story inaccurate. Also, the best type of historical fiction book will
contain some historical facts, but they won’t overshadow the story. By exploring the tabs a teacher will find online resources, professional readings on the importance of historical fiction, and a booklist of historical fiction novels.
Enjoy,
Clare Nuss
This page has been created for my elementary education class called “Culturally Relevant Materials for Diverse Learners”. Throughout this class I have read many articles about what characteristics a strong children’s book
demonstrates; these characteristics include accuracy, entertainment, dispelling stereotypes, having appropriate illustrations, and many other characteristics. This class has helped me understand that as a teacher there are many things to take into account when choosing the books that I want to share with my students. One of the most interesting units of this class was historical fiction. This unit was particularly interesting to me for two reasons; the first being that growing up my favorite genre was historical fiction, as you can guess, my favorite class was social studies. The second reason I found this unit to be interesting was because my emphasis as an elementary school teacher is on history; this emphasis motivates me to make sure I am creating lessons that help my students learn about history in an entertaining and worthwhile way, and I think that historical fiction helps history become more interesting and relevant to students.
I choose to focus on historical fiction books for this project because unfortunately, in many elementary classrooms social studies class is being “placed on the back burner” because teachers are busy teaching a million other things. Social Studies is seen as unimportant because currently there is not a standardized test that students take at the end of the year which would theoretically demonstrate what the students did and did not learn. As a devoted history lover, I think the best way to teach students about other perspectives is in the social studies curriculum. In general students are bored in social studies class, and the main reason for this is that the people are missing (Tunnell, 149). When I think back to my school years I realize that I enjoyed my social class not because I learned the exact date the War of 1812 started or because I memorized the Preamble of the Constitution but because I enjoyed learning about the time period my favorite characters from my historical fiction books lived in. In this way my love of history motivated me to read historical fiction books, which continued by love of history and social studies as a subject. Due to this realization I
plan on filling my classroom library with many historical fiction books, and if possible I would like to read aloud a book with a character from the time period my class and I are currently studying.
Since Social Studies can routinely be pushed to the side in the classroom, I plan to use historical fiction in various ways in my classroom. The first and primary way I will use this genre is to help supplement the textbook. According to Tunnell history textbooks are “not effective in helping children make meaningful personal connections with the past” (Tunnell, 148). As a pre-service teacher my experiences have taught me that if the student does not find the lesson meaningful students don’t learn as much as they could, and they didn’t enjoy the learning process. Based on what Tunnell says, and my experience I will use historical fiction books to supplement the textbook by helping
children make connections between the textbook and the characters in the story. Like me, my students will start to make connections to the history lessons if they can connect the event with a character from a book they have read.
Historical fiction can help students put a face on history.
Another way I will use historical fiction books in my classroom is to fill in the gaps from my lessons. History is vast, large and complex which inevitably means that I won’t have time to cover everything in history my students should learn. For example, as the year is drawing to a close I might find that I ran out of time to teach about the Vietnam war, but to make sure my students are at the very least exposed to the topic, I can read a story about a soldier in the war, or from the perspective of someone who was protesting the war. A strong and worthwhile historical fiction book is very capable of teaching students history lessons and facts, a valuable historical fiction book might even teach history
better than the textbook and/or teacher.
Through teaching history students are not only exposed to other cultures, but they are also exposed to other perspectives. For example, reading a book such as A Voyage from Ireland in 1849 a student learns about what
immigrants entering the United States experienced. Students will also be able to imagine themselves as experiencing the events along with character which will leave a bigger impact on the student. Through reading a book from someone else’s perspective students will develop empathy for others who are treated unfairly. As they grow up the empathy they experience will help them promote equal treatment for all. In addition, this empathy will assist the teacher in creating a welcoming environment in the classroom because the students will understand that everyone deserves to be treated equally.
A few last things to leave you with, if after viewing this website you have a deeper understanding of the benefits of reading aloud and stocking your classroom shelves with historical fiction books, there a few things to keep in mind while choosing the books one will expose the class to. The first and most important characteristic of a historical fiction book is the accuracy; if the book is inaccurate then it will fail to teach your students about the historical event. In addition, children are able to connect with characters that they share things with, for this reason it is important to choose historical fiction books in which the main character is also a child. When choosing books for younger
elementary grade children, one might be tempted to choose books that don’t make history seem as bad it was, however, sugar coating history can render the entire story inaccurate. Also, the best type of historical fiction book will
contain some historical facts, but they won’t overshadow the story. By exploring the tabs a teacher will find online resources, professional readings on the importance of historical fiction, and a booklist of historical fiction novels.
Enjoy,
Clare Nuss