Chapter 10
Ever since I was in elementary school, anything that revolved around history was already something I disliked. I have never enjoyed reading history, and it wasn’t until recently, in college, that I came to find out historical fiction as a fiction story set in the past. As the chapter points out, depending on the student’s age, the word “history” can mean very different things. For example, it wasn’t until I started teaching that I realized September 11th is now considered a part of history. For me, that was a more-recent event that happened when I was in elementary school. However, last year, I came to realize that the majority of my students weren’t born until 2010/2011, a decade after September 11th occurred. Therefore, 9/11 is an unfamiliar event that is taught to them as history. To keep my students from developing a sort of dislike towards history, I will keep the five questions used to evaluate historical fiction in mind so that I can be sure to show my students books that they will enjoy and that are accurate. Accuracy is one aspect of history that I struggle with. I wouldn’t call myself gullible, but if something is written in a book, I usually assume that it must be correct. That, of course, should not be my mentality, so I am glad to now know that I can turn to the Council on Book for Children or the National Council on Social Studies to be sure I am showing my students valuable and accurate information. After taking my children’s literature course, I came to find out that I actually enjoy reading historical fiction when I read One Crazy Summer and Turtle In Paradise. When I think of those two stories and look at the criteria used to evaluate historical fiction, I enjoyed reading these stories because they were able to blend history into a story while immersing me into that time in life.
Comments
Post a Comment