If you love historical fiction and share this love with others, you are a teacher, whether you are in the classroom, school or public library!
Hopefully you've read how you can find good historical fiction books by our very own blogger, Chris Eboch, on this site. Her recent post, Back to School: Historical Fiction Resources for the Classroom, is a good resource.
One of the best ways to teach history is for the teacher to keep learning. Make it easy on yourself and read the best books! Study the lists of award trade books from various years put out by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) in cooperation by the Children's Book Council (CBC).
By now, your room is set up and you're teaching your students basic classroom management skills. Before you start teaching with those great historical fiction stories, there are a couple more items you might consider getting or making to help you set the stage for teaching history.
1. Globes and Maps
About 50% of what is learned is through sight. Children learn so much by seeing where in the world they are going to visit—even in a story. In my school, maps were already hanging on classroom walls, but the teachers went to the school library to check out globes. If your school doesn't have any, or they are out of date, mention this to your principal. The Social Studies curriculum committees in your district should periodically update globes and maps. Ask for a time line of when these necessary and updated items are purchased.
Historical maps are a bonus! You can access some at:
Library of Congress
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin
One of the best ways to teach history is for the teacher to keep learning. Make it easy on yourself and read the best books! Study the lists of award trade books from various years put out by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) in cooperation by the Children's Book Council (CBC).
By now, your room is set up and you're teaching your students basic classroom management skills. Before you start teaching with those great historical fiction stories, there are a couple more items you might consider getting or making to help you set the stage for teaching history.
1. Globes and Maps
About 50% of what is learned is through sight. Children learn so much by seeing where in the world they are going to visit—even in a story. In my school, maps were already hanging on classroom walls, but the teachers went to the school library to check out globes. If your school doesn't have any, or they are out of date, mention this to your principal. The Social Studies curriculum committees in your district should periodically update globes and maps. Ask for a time line of when these necessary and updated items are purchased.
Historical maps are a bonus! You can access some at:
Library of Congress
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin
2. Primary Sources
Students are expected to analyze these documents. There are many websites at your fingertips that will give you access to many primary sources so that your students can peer over a historian's shoulder.
The Library of Congress provides help on using primary sources and even lesson plans .
3. Timeline
Again, this is a visual that can help students learn relationships in time and chronology. While the laminator is still smoking hot in your schools, make a long timeline which can be laminated and be prominently posted in your classroom for learning experiences. I made one with dot matrix paper that was used in old printers in the 1980s. Your school may still have some of this paper in storage or ask the art teacher if he/she took it!
You could also use regular paper and write on it in the landscape view, then lay it out on the reverse side to tape together. This should make it easy to laminate a continuous timeline. Another option would be to purchase craft paper in rolls, in the width you prefer.
I divided my timeline into century increments. Each century was one one half of a landscape page of paper. As the years progressed on the timeline, I even labeled decades on a page. I started my timeline with Pre-historic dates and events, which could be helpful if you are teaching in a religious school. Make the dates readable from afar and use color to highlight periods of history ie. Pre-Historic Era; Roman Empire; Renaissance; Colonial Period; WWII, etc. Don't forget to add the present decade.
Also have students cut out pictures of historical events, important people, and important events from various disciplines and paste them next to the correct time period on the timeline.
On the timeline, I always showed when in history our story took place in relation to the time period we were living in. This simple concept helps students make connections.
Students can also make their own timelines about themselves or for their curricular study of history.
Timelines are invaluable tools to help connect individual events to larger movements in history and to see how they overlap.
4. Laser Pointer
I was able to sit in my chair as I pointed out the time period settings of various books to students.Students are expected to analyze these documents. There are many websites at your fingertips that will give you access to many primary sources so that your students can peer over a historian's shoulder.
The Library of Congress provides help on using primary sources and even lesson plans .
3. Timeline
Again, this is a visual that can help students learn relationships in time and chronology. While the laminator is still smoking hot in your schools, make a long timeline which can be laminated and be prominently posted in your classroom for learning experiences. I made one with dot matrix paper that was used in old printers in the 1980s. Your school may still have some of this paper in storage or ask the art teacher if he/she took it!
You could also use regular paper and write on it in the landscape view, then lay it out on the reverse side to tape together. This should make it easy to laminate a continuous timeline. Another option would be to purchase craft paper in rolls, in the width you prefer.
I divided my timeline into century increments. Each century was one one half of a landscape page of paper. As the years progressed on the timeline, I even labeled decades on a page. I started my timeline with Pre-historic dates and events, which could be helpful if you are teaching in a religious school. Make the dates readable from afar and use color to highlight periods of history ie. Pre-Historic Era; Roman Empire; Renaissance; Colonial Period; WWII, etc. Don't forget to add the present decade.
Also have students cut out pictures of historical events, important people, and important events from various disciplines and paste them next to the correct time period on the timeline.
On the timeline, I always showed when in history our story took place in relation to the time period we were living in. This simple concept helps students make connections.
Students can also make their own timelines about themselves or for their curricular study of history.
Timelines are invaluable tools to help connect individual events to larger movements in history and to see how they overlap.
4. Laser Pointer
I believe these little strategies can help set the stage for teaching history and will engage your students. Be sure to also provide information about the context of the historical events your are teaching. If you are introducing Number the Stars, you could point to the WWII era on your timeline and note how your students' great grandfathers may have fought in this war, This would certainly pique their interest.
I hope you can implement some of these tips to help make history come alive for your students. What helpful tools can you share?
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