1
Teachers College Reading and Writing Project
Reading Curricular Calendar Centers, Middle School, 2015- 2016
Historical Fiction Center:
Motifs & Symbols
Task options
Enclosed your team will find nine cards, each with a famous picture from the American era
between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Pick two images that remind you of
your book and choose one of the following two options:
Task 1:
Fan Fiction! Use the two images to write a short (1 -2 page) scene where a character from
your book or the read aloud sees, or reacts to the images. Be sure the setting takes place
from the time period and includes the images and perhaps some elements from your text.
Task 2:
Historical Research! Research one of the images depicted using a computer, tablet or
phone. How was the image used to sway public opinion to a cause? Make sure you jot down
what you’ve discovered in a few sentences with a clear claim. For example, “ The
_______Image was used to stir the public to rise up against the English. It was used in the
newspaper with the heading ________________”. Teach your club members, and compare how
these images were persuasive or important historically.
Materials:
1800s - An escaped slave shows
scars from being whipped on the
plantation
1600s - 1865 - Ankle shackles
used to prevent slaves from
running away
1864 - A member of the
Massachusetts 54th, the first
black USA Regiment,
poses for a picture
Duplicate with permission only.
Please contact permissions@readingandwritingproject.com
DRAFT 2015-2016©
2
Teachers College Reading and Writing Project
Reading Curricular Calendar Centers, Middle School, 2015- 2016
1860s - An ad attempts to convey a
slave boy’s transformation after
joining the US Army
1754 - A colonial newspaper
argues for uniting the colonies
against Great Britain
1788 - A drawing of the Slave ship
‘Brookes’ and it’s “cargo”. It fit 454
slaves with new regulations, but
crammed up to 740 before
regulations were enforced to limit
on board diseases and therefore
profit from selling the slaves.
1776 - A painting depicts the
secret crossing of the Delaware
to launch an attack that would
turn around the Revolutionary
War for the Colonies
1770 - Colonist Paul Revere
illustrates (and exaggerates) the
Boston Massacre to stir antiEnglish sentiment in the colonies
1862 - A line of killed Union
soldiers at the battle of Antietam.
214,938 would be killed by the
war’s end
Duplicate with permission only.
Please contact permissions@readingandwritingproject.com
DRAFT 2015-2016©