4-12
INQUIRE - Build new knowledge by inquiring, thinking critically, identifying problems, and developing strategies for solving problems.
Reading 2.A.4
3-4 weeks
This lesson was created by by librarian Margaret Sullivan and social studies teacher Angie Steele at Rockwood Summit High School.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This lesson involves students reading a book of choice for U.S. history class and discussing one-on-one with their teacher or librarian. The book conferences last about ten minutes and are simply a conversation about the book and the historical setting/events portrayed. I love this assignment because the conferences give me (the librarian) an opportunity to get to know some of our freshmen students.
1) Students will read and discuss a historical fiction novel of choice.
2) Students will analyze a historical fiction novel of choice in relation to the historical setting depicted.
3) Students will make connections between their novel of choice and U.S. history.
Ask students to define historical fiction.
Go through the slides presentation with students. You may want to involve students a bit by asking for examples of historical fiction novels or asking what historical fiction novels they have enjoyed. You might do the same with classic novels.
After discussing the information in the slides, explain to students that each of them is going to read a historical fiction (or classic fiction) book of choice. (We tell students that the book must be set in the United States after the Civil War because that is the time period covered in our 9th grade U.S. History class.)
Review with how to look up books in your catalog and how to locate books on the shelf. (We have a resource list in Destiny that students can look at, too.)
Explain the timeline for the assignment. We usually give students 3-4 weeks to read their book. At that point, they have a two week period to conference with their teacher or librarian. They sign up for a conference time that is convenient for them: before school, at lunch, after school, or during Academic Lab.
Give students copies of the two handouts: the analysis question and the scoring guide. Explain how much time they will have to read their book on their own and when they will conference with their teacher or librarian about the book. We don’t require students to fill out the analysis sheet, but some choose to make notes on it and refer to those notes during their conference.
Make sure students know how to make an appointment for their book conference. (We allow them to make an appointment in person or via email.)
During the conference, I make sure the student briefly addresses each of the questions on the analysis sheet. I also ask students other questions like what they liked best about the book, what they liked least, why they chose that particular book, etc. These questions often lead to good conversations about books, reading, and/or history.
Assessment occurs during the student conferences with the teacher or the librarian.
Allowing students choice is differentiation by interest. The librarian can differentiate for students by ability by guiding them toward "good fit" books.
