During our 4th class, I really enjoyed the timeline exercise where we took various documents related to Dr. Stohr’s dad’s life and tried to put them in order and see how they connected with the historical events of the time. I think the students would really enjoy this type of exercise as well, and I think that it would draw some reluctant learners into the lesson with some high interest items and the chance to discuss in a small group with peers prior to discussing as a whole class. I also loved the Antiques Roadshow: Show and Tell video. I think kids would really get into this kind of assignment. I thought it was so neat to see the necklace beads that the student had with an old picture of his grandmother wearing the same beads as a child. What a neat way to teach students about history and things of the past at a young age! My children are 10 and 13 years old, and this has me thinking about activities they could do with their paternal grandfather that served in Vietnam. Now, I am curious to ask him and find out what types of primary source documents that he had from the war that he could share with me, the kids, and possibly a future classroom.
Our classes, textbook, and readings/videos have been very helpful, but I still have various questions circling in my mind:
- Do most schools have many primary documents available for use at the school or do teachers generally collect these on their own for their lesson plans?
- Is it pretty easy to find instructional aids for primary and secondary sources to guide the teacher in interpreting more complex primary documents (Ex: political cartoons, symbolism in paintings)? I think I could usually interpret them on my own, but it would be nice to check and make sure that I am not misinterpreting or missing any key points.
- Are most schools supportive of using historical fiction, as in our class literature circles, in our guided reading groups for upper elementary? Do parents ever complain that this type of content is too mature for an elementary reader? It is very helpful to start with the books that we are doing in our class as recommended historical fiction choices. My son also read and enjoyed Making Bombs for Hitler in his 5th grade class. Do you have a list of recommended upper elementary historical fiction books that you could share?
- How do you find balance between use of social studies textbooks, primary and secondary documents and historical fiction novels? Is there an ideal breakdown of how much time should be dedicated to each?