National Council for
History Education

Reading the Past:
Literature and Literacy in History
Kansas City, MO
March 22-24, 2012
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Deborah L. Johns
American History Grant
Freedom Project – Rockford, Illinois
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Teaching History

Thinking chronologically
vrs.
Thinking historically

Using Literature to Help
Build Historical
Thinking
Confession
Memoir
Autobiography
My Tree of Life

The Autobiography of
Benjamin Franklin

“The life of a nobody who became a
somebody”
“A poor boy who made it good.. And
advised other to do the same"
William F. Andrews
University of Kansas
Reading #1

 Our humble family early
embraced the Reformation. Our
forefathers continued Protestants
through the reign of Mary, when
they were sometimes in danger of
persecution on account of their
zeal against popery.
The Reformation
Making Connections
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

17th Century American History
18th Century American History
19th Century American History
20th Century American History
21st Century American History
Reading #2

 A question was once, somehow or
other, started between Collins and
me of the propriety of educating the
female sex in learning, and of their
ability for study
Making Connections

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17th Century American History
18th Century American History
19th Century American History
20th Century American History
21st Century American History
Reading #3

My brother had, in 1720 or ‘21,
begun to print a newspaper. It was
the second that appeared in America
and was called The New England
Courant……
Franklin the Printer

Making Connections

17th Century American History
18th Century American History
19th Century American History
20th Century American History
21st Century American History
Benjamin’s Reading List

Plutarch Parallel Lives 46-120 A.D.
 Daniel DeFoe
Essay on Projects 1697

Robinson Crusoe

Mol Flander
Samuel Richardson – Pamela – or Virtue

Rewarded
Cotton Mather – Essays to Do Good
The Spectator
The List (cont.)

James Greenwood – English Grammar
John Locke – On Human Understanding
Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole
Logic or the Art of Thinking

1711
Xenophon – The Memorable Things of

Socrates (trans. 1711)
John Bunyan – Pilgrim’s Progress 1678
The Narrative of the Life
of Frederick Douglass

It was as once deeply impressed upon
my mind , that if Mr. Douglass could be
persuaded to consecrate his time and
talents to the promotion of the antislavery enterprise, a powerful impetus
would be given to it, and a stunning
blow at the same time inflicted on
northern prejudice against a colored
complexion.
Wm. Lloyd Garrison
Reading #1

I have no accurate
knowledge of my age….
Discussion Questions #1

1.
For what three reasons, according to
Frederick, would his master not want him to
find out his age?
2.Why would Peter, Isaac, Rich, and Jake
have been so highly respected by other slaves
on the plantation?
Inquiry Projects

Why Inquiry?
Students identify and choose
Ex.
English History /Literature
Women’s Suffrage/ America and the
World
Evolution of Print
Technology - Communication
Reading #2

Colonel Lloyd kept three to
four hundred slaves on his
home plantation, and owned
a large number more on the
neighboring farms that
belonged to him.
Discussion Questions #2

1. Why were slaves who committed
“high misdemeanors” sent to the slave
auctions to be sold?
2.Do you think the name of this
 overseer was Mr. Severe?
3. Write a summary paragraph of one
of the two passages in this reading
Reading #3

My feet have been so cracked with
frost that the pen with which I am
writing might be laid in the gashes.
Writing your Narrative

Write a narrative of your
life using your “Tree of
Life” organizer
National History Standards

Culture and Cultural Diversity
Time, Continuity, and Change
People, Places and Environments
Common Core Standards

English Language Arts
Standards
 History/Social Studies

 Deborah L. Johns NBCT
Washington Academy
Rockford, Illinois 61103
deb.johns@rps205.com
windows to the past.wikispaces.com