Teaching Historical Narrative
Much of the literature on how to teach students using historical narrative, particularly biography and autobiography, centers on teaching students to write historical narratives and/or conducting research projects to write biographies and autobiographies (see http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/from-object-to-story/). The literature, and consequently the associated strategies, on reading historical narratives is much more limited and may suggest why teachers and students struggle to adequately address the genre.
To begin to unearth some questions that students might be asked to consider when reading a piece of historical fiction click here.
One of the key questions to consider when having students read historical fiction as historical narrative is how true should it be? Here is an interesting blog on the nature of historical accuracy in historical fiction.
A helpful online resource with several ideas for using (reading) biography in the classroom can be found here.
Of course you can’t teach biography without having access to a variety of biographies and you can find more than 25,000 biographies here.
Finally, Smith and Watson (2001) present 20 strategies for reading life narratives (autobiographies) in their definitive work Reading Autobiography. By presenting sets of questions in twenty categories like “What kinds of historical knowledge can be brought to bear when reading life narrative?”, Smith and Watson offer starting points for addressing the wide span of works under the “autobiography” umbrella (p.165).
To begin to unearth some questions that students might be asked to consider when reading a piece of historical fiction click here.
One of the key questions to consider when having students read historical fiction as historical narrative is how true should it be? Here is an interesting blog on the nature of historical accuracy in historical fiction.
A helpful online resource with several ideas for using (reading) biography in the classroom can be found here.
Of course you can’t teach biography without having access to a variety of biographies and you can find more than 25,000 biographies here.
Finally, Smith and Watson (2001) present 20 strategies for reading life narratives (autobiographies) in their definitive work Reading Autobiography. By presenting sets of questions in twenty categories like “What kinds of historical knowledge can be brought to bear when reading life narrative?”, Smith and Watson offer starting points for addressing the wide span of works under the “autobiography” umbrella (p.165).
Teaching Historical Narrative (biography/autobiography) in History Using Burke's Pentad
In order for a strategy to meet all the demands of addressing a historical narrative, and particularly a historical narrative as biography or autobiography, it must attend to a few elements:
An instructional strategy that can help students extract information, motivation, and meaning from a historical narrative (biography/autobiography) is the Historical Narrative Analysis: Burke’s Pentad found here. Remember, “instructional strategies are techniques teachers use to help students become independent, strategic learners. These strategies become learning strategies when students independently select the appropriate ones and use them effectively to accomplish tasks or meet goals. Instructional strategies can:
Steps for using the Historical Narrative Analysis: Burke’s Pentad with a biographical text:
- Provide a structure for formatting historical information (Barton & Levstik, 2004)
- Build on students’ prior experience to make sense of human behavior (Barton & Levstik, 2004)
- Allow students to identify the motivations of the participants (Burke, 1969)
- Require students to see the roles of collective action and societal institutions, as well as individuals and their motivations and achievements, in the shaping of history (Barton & Levstik, 2004; Brophy & VanSledright, 1997; McDiarmid, 1994)
An instructional strategy that can help students extract information, motivation, and meaning from a historical narrative (biography/autobiography) is the Historical Narrative Analysis: Burke’s Pentad found here. Remember, “instructional strategies are techniques teachers use to help students become independent, strategic learners. These strategies become learning strategies when students independently select the appropriate ones and use them effectively to accomplish tasks or meet goals. Instructional strategies can:
- motivate students and help them focus attention
- organize information for understanding and remembering
- monitor and assess learning.” (quote taken from https://education.alberta.ca/media/352984/is.pdf)
Steps for using the Historical Narrative Analysis: Burke’s Pentad with a biographical text:
- Choose a biographical text that engages students in Bordwell and Thompson’s (1990) elements of narrative: (a) Begins with a situation or condition in one’s life; (b) Advances through a series of changes in the individual’s life based on cause and effect; (c) Culminates in a new situation or condition that brings an end to the narrative
- Provide historical context for the biography taking care to introduce cause- effect relationships related to the events surrounding the individual’s life.
- Have students skim read the text to identify additional contextual elements including: chronology; major life events; significant others and contemporaries (both protagonists and antagonists); perceived legacy or importance.
- Present students with the Historical Narrative Analysis: Burke’s Pentad worksheet and discuss each element of the pentad with particular attention to the guiding questions that define each element of the pentad. Be sure to delineate between those actions and purposes of the individual in the biography and others (individuals or groups) represented through the life narrative.
- Present a sample, short (1-2 paragraph) biography to students and walk through the Historical Narrative Analysis: Burke’s Pentad elements together with the students taking care to model how to record the differences between individual and collective actions.
- Have students close read the biographical text and begin to record responses to the guiding questions on the Historical Narrative Analysis: Burke’s Pentad worksheet.
- Once students have completed the Historical Narrative Analysis: Burke’s Pentad worksheet, facilitate a discussion around the two questions: (a) What motivated [person featured in biography] to [historical action]? and (b) “How significant was [person featured in biography] during [historical period or action] when compared to other individuals or groups of that time?”
- From this discussion, generate a class list of “Persons of interest or importance.”
- Have students participate in a consensogram activity where they identify the most significant individual or group influencing the historical period or action.
- Close the activity by having students defend their position on the most significant “Person(s) of interest or importance”, first orally in a whole class discussion and finally as a one paragraph argumentative writing exercise.