Historical Fiction Only the First Step

 

by Gregory Edgar, author and school presenter

 

Using historical fiction in the classroom can be an effective way to make history come alive for your students. Good storylines, and characters with whom your students can identify, can make history enjoyable. Your students will learn about history and be entertained at the same time. And it just might inspire some to do their own independent pleasure reading, and start a life long love of history.

 

When you are ready to discuss with your students what they’ve read, or test them on it, do not restrict the scope of your questions to the content of the book. Challenge them with questions and exercises slightly beyond the scope of the book.   Force them to apply the insight about the past that they gained from their reading. Let me illustrate, using my novel, Patriots, a Story of Bunker Hill. You can also use this technique with whatever novel or story you currently use.

 

Present your students with scenarios that are not described in the book. Think of it as a “You are there, what would you do?” approach. Following are two examples. In the first scenario, it’s three weeks since the battle of Bunker Hill, and George Washington has just arrived on the scene. He’d been appointed by the Continental Congress to go to Massachusetts and take control. Upon arriving, he discovers that the “army” opposing the British consists only of unruly, undisciplined “Yankees” (New Englanders). After being told the details of the recent battle, he orders courts martial for several Massachusetts officers who fled the battlefield instead of staying with their troops and facing the enemy.

 

Ask part of your class to prepare and present one such court martial. The trial arguments should reflect some of the provincial and prejudicial attitudes that the people from one colony had toward those from another. Officers from Massachusetts felt justified in ignoring orders from General Israel Putnam, simply because Putnam was from Connecticut. This was a common attitude that Washington would struggle with throughout the war. Nationalistic sentiment would not be common until many years after the war; this is an important point to emphasize when teaching the Revolution and Constitution periods.

 

The second scenario is acted out by a few students, and has two scenes. Scene 1 takes place one week after the battle. Several farmers, who have not yet heard of the battle, meet at a crossroads in rural Pennsylvania. They discuss the predicament that those radical New Englanders (with their extremist political views, and their abhorrent “social leveling”) have brought down upon all the colonies. A recruiter rides up and gives them a sales pitch, telling them that each colony is raising regiments for a new “continental” army to fight the British. The farmers listen and talk to the recruiter, offer prejudicial opinions about the Yankees, and tell him to be on his way.

 

Scene 2 is the next day. The farmers meet again at the same crossroads, and renew their discussion. Suddenly, an express rider arrives and throws a newspaper sheet at them while riding by. Hot off the press, it is a reprint of a letter (written by students) from either a Yankee soldier or a citizen who observed the battle. In vivid language, it describes how the Yankees stood their ground against the redcoats. One of the farmers reads it aloud to the others. Then they again discuss the idea of enlisting, more animated this time, and each one makes a decision whether to “list” in this new army, and march all the way to Boston to “go meet the British. ”This role playing will bring out the main idea students should remember from studying the Bunker Hill event – that it truly was a turning point in the revolutionary movement. The colonists, especially the “Southerners” (anyone outside New England), were reluctant to commit to a war that many perceived as having been started by Yankee extremists. As a friend in London wrote to Benjamin Franklin years after the war, there would not have been a war if the Yankees had not stood their ground that June day in 1775.

Using historical fiction can make learning history more fun. But, don’t stop with the final page of the story. Take your students to the next step. Place them in the past, and challenge them to decide how they would act. Help them bring history to life!

 

Note: Gregory Edgar is the author of six books on the Revolutionary War, including two for children. You can email him at GandREdgar@gmailcom or visit his author’s s page on amazon.com and there see the links to Patriots and the sequel coming by March, 2010, Gone to Meet the British.

 

The 5

th Annual Cushing Memorial Civil War CampFredonia N.Y.. Schools throughout

Western New York are invited to bring

their 7

students to come for an entire day of

activities at a Civil War encampment

on the grounds of Fredonia High

School. Over the last four years, over

1,500 students have visited the camp

representing most of the schools in

Chautauqua County.

The camp is aimed at teaching students about the Civil War period through

interactions with some of the best reenactors in the country.

are The Life of a Soldier, Women of the Civil War Period, Civil War Medicine, School of

Artillery, Infantry Tactics, The Story of Alonzo Cushing (our camp's namesake), The

Confederacy and the Abolitionist Movement.

th, 8th or 11th grade U.S. HistorySome of the topics included

Schedules are tailor-made to your particular school so that we can accommodate your

travel time to and from the camp. A lunch break is included in your schedule, during which

time you can visit one of the many fast food

restaurants nearby or simply have your

students bring their lunch to eat on the

grounds.

The cost per student is $ 5.00, which

covers the entire day of activities. The cost of

the camp can be covered through your

BOCES

Each school will also receive a

War TEACHING KIT

Arts in Education COSER funds.FREE Civilcourtesy of the

Teaching American History

Chautauqua County. Kits are provided to

new schools only, so if you have attended

the camp in the past you will not be able to

receive a new kit.

All schools who wish to attend must contact the Camp Director as soon as possible to

reserve your space for this fantastic experience in the Civil War era.

group here in

The deadline to register will be March 30th, 2010.

To reserve your spot please contact :

Todd Langworthy, Camp Director

18 Johnson St.

Fredonia, NY 14063

tlangworthy@forestville.wnyric.org

Please contact the Camp Director with any questions

regarding the camp at the above Email address, or

evenings at (716) 679-9436.