Co-Curricular Integration

History is a wonderful part of literature. Both historical fiction and non-fiction play a key role in readers understanding of the past and the present. Since I majored in English and history during my undergraduate studies, I really relate to historical fiction as a major genre of literature. Students need to be exposed to both the facts of events and relatable stories about the same events. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene is a text that confronts racism in the coming of age story of Patty during World War II. The text is a first person narrative, giving readers Patty’s unique point of view of a German prisoner of war (POW). Summer of My German Soldier would be an excellent text to use for an integrated, cross-curricular unit because it is easy to read and briefly touches on controversial United States military practices.

            The first section of this cross-curricular unit would focus on the text itself. Patty, the protagonist of the story, is a young Jewish girl living in Arkansas. She meets Anton, a young, German POW in her father’s store one afternoon. His English is clear and easy to understand. Soon thereafter, Anton runs away from the prison camp and Patty fixes up her special hideout for him to stay in. One morning, Patty reads an advertisement in the paper warning citizens to not aid or abet Nazis. The advertisement further explained that the Nazis that had already been captured for sabotage would be tried for treason, a crime punishable by death. Patty thinks to herself “I’m no spy! I’m not giving information to the Germans. But then again I suppose the Justice Department wouldn’t stand up and applaud me for hiding a Nazi? He’s not a Nazi!” (Greene 87). Patty becomes conflicted about her involvement with Anton. She is unsure of his motives and her motives. Eventually she is found out and arrested by the FBI. Her punishment is that Patty must attend a reformatory school for up to six months. The text discusses not only US treatment of POWs and citizens but also family issues. Patty’s parents are neglectful and sometimes almost verbally abusive to her.

As a cross-curricular text, I would coordinate the discussion of Summer of My German Solider with the social studies teachers that would be discussing World War II. I would do this for two reasons: first, students need to see the value of literature in multiple disciplines; second, the social studies unit would help me scaffold learning. The most important portion of this unit would be non-fiction pairing. Students would be asked to find primary source material from US newspapers or other print sources that discuss the POW camps in the US. Students would be asked to discuss in small groups the information they found and how accurate the text portrays the prisoners, the camps, and the social issues discussed in the text. We would also watch a short film from youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkPQjsw5-KU that discusses POW camps in Texas. While the setting of the text is Arkansas and Tennessee, many of the camps in the US were very similar.

In addition to our own in-class activities, I would coordinate assignments and activities with the social studies teachers. The assignments would be group presentations on prison camps within the US and in other countries as well as punishments given to US citizens caught aiding POWs or Nazis. I think it is extremely important to develop and implement integrated units. It not only allows teachers to engage in collaboration but also allows students to collaborate in several classes, across the curriculum. Comparing and contrasting a historical fiction piece with primary source material also will fulfill the Common Core State Standards requirements for using non-fiction source material.

This unit would not only be fun because of the text itself, but it would be exciting to work with teachers across the curriculum and to watch students do the same. Not only will the integrated unit provide an opportunity to engage in literary analysis but also primary source research. It will also provide an avenue to discuss how POWs were treated in the United States. Summer of My German Soldier is a story that provides a link between historical fact and fiction. It will allow for a wide range of literary and co-curricular activities that engage and question student perspectives. This text is an important work that can easily be integrated into a unit on World War II and World War II literature.