Historical Fiction

Overview

In this unit, five to eight books are prepared ahead of time for students to choose from and make an informed selection for the unit ahead. Their selections inform their book club groups. Their book club groups work together by reading, analyzing, and discussing the novel and later, a more in-depth investigation of the historical period and event their novel focused on. Students work to make connections to characters, their experiences, and their responses to often tricky situations. Students also work to make connections and parallels between historical events and current-day issues to gain a deeper understanding of how the past informs the present.

Rationale

Historical fiction tells the stories of ordinary people living in extraordinary times, and extraordinary people living in ordinary times. It is like a time machine; you get to be there as events unfold, seeing them through the eyes of a character for whom this time is not “history” — it is just everyday life. By reading and discussing the events and themes in historical fiction novels, we foster students’ ability to build empathy and compassion for people around the world who they otherwise would feel no connection to or understanding. As a human race, we have to continue to do the work to rid ourselves of the idea of “otherness” and foster an understanding of people’s connection to each other and the world around us. One of the first steps to doing this is building background knowledge through reading and discussing.

Furthermore, students build a deeper understanding of the character trait of courage. In novels of this genre, there is often war, oppression, and moments of shocking violence and cruelty. There are always opportunities for characters to display courage, honour, and integrity as these otherwise ordinary people (and teenagers), may be called upon to show extraordinary courage. Lastly, students are encouraged to dig deeper into the past through inquiry, as the more they question the past, the more they are prepared to be citizens of the future — a future they will create, where they can make a difference, and maybe change “the way things have always been.”

Unit Goals & Essential Questions

For this unit, which was created specifically for distance learning during the 2020 COVID 19 Pandemic, students we are all asked to read the novel Refugee by Alan Gratz. Steering away from the typical approach to this unit, a single novel was chosen for the entire class to read together. The novel Refugee tells three different child refugee stories from three different countries at three different historical periods. This novel was selected as the variety of characters (two males, one female character) and historical events (WWII, Post-Cuban Revolution Crisis, Syrian War) would hopefully provide opportunities for my all students to connect to the stories and the characters.

• How does reading historical fiction novels like Refugee help you, the reader, build a more profound sense of empathy?
• What does it mean to “humanize” a cause?
• How can you respond, reflect, and connect to the storyline and characters while independently reading?

Content

The Refugee historical fiction unit was organized into four separate sections:

• Pre Reading: build background knowledge and understanding of the novel and the topics we will discuss.
• Reading: a reading schedule was created for the students to help them stay on track, and a variety of activities and reflections opportunities were provided to students to complete while reading the novel.
• Post Reading: the historical study component of the unit.
• Final Assessment: the historical timeline component of the unit.

An additional and on-going component students were required to complete was the “Isolation Journals.” In a class conversation about the current global pandemic, we had the realization that we are currently living through history. This realization led to a deeper conversation about Anne Frank’s life and the diary she kept in hiding during WWII and the importance of primary sources to provide future generations factual and relatable historical accounts. Thus, we decided to embark on a journey of documenting life during COVID as a middle school student. Students were asked to write about anything from what they are learning and understanding about the virus and pandemic itself to everyday musings of life in isolation, distance learning, and all of the emotions, fears, and hopes that arise in the given situation. Below you can view what the students shared over the twelve weeks of distance learning.