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.
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI love that you address the importance of co-curricular teaching. I am really interested in co-teaching, and I think that for English, social studies and history are the easiest to do that with. I hope that I will be hired on at a job that promotes co-teaching and collaboration across subjects. Is this something that happened in the school that you attended? Do you have an insight into how it works from a student perspective?
I experienced co-curricular courses in college, and I loved them! I took two that were particularly interesting: a bio/history course called Diseases in History and a humanities/bio called Food and Science. For the first course, we learned about how a particular disease effected the body and how it effected society. The second course (my favorite from college) taught us how various substances worked together in food to create deliciousness and then we made said deliciousness. I think co-curricular courses in middle and high school would be invaluable because it would show how the disciplines are interrelated.
ReplyDeleteI experienced co-curricular courses in college, and I loved them! I took two that were particularly interesting: a bio/history course called Diseases in History and a humanities/bio called Food and Science. For the first course, we learned about how a particular disease effected the body and how it effected society. The second course (my favorite from college) taught us how various substances worked together in food to create deliciousness and then we made said deliciousness. I think co-curricular courses in middle and high school would be invaluable because it would show how the disciplines are interrelated.
ReplyDeleteI have tried to time the reading of a novel, such as Elie Wiesel's Night, with World History instruction. It is always a better read when the students have first covered the holocaust. The background knowledge is there, for one, and also the students get to apply what they've learned to the text and make judgments about human behaviors--both Jew and Nazi. The only drawback I have found with co-curricular classes is the pacing. In high school, history courses cover a vast amount of information in a short amount of time. Typically, it is best to pick a few key historical events to work together on than to try to keep pace for the entire year. I would imagine that science would be the same way.
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