Historical View Points for the Win!

This week, I introduced 3rd-grade students to historical viewpoints by reaching historical figures. We researched a multitude of influential historical figures. Students were introduced to figures such as Bessie Coleman, Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Henry "Box" Brown, Louie Armstrong, and many, many more. They then had to write about 1 event in the person's life that influenced them to become an influential person, and they had to write about it from a first-person perspective. Talk about difficulty! For third graders to write about an event, they first had to choose one impactful event. Then, they had to take the perspective of that person.

According to The Historical Thinking Project (n.d.), taking a historical perspective means understanding the social, cultural, intellectual, and emotional settings that shaped people's lives and actions in the past. Historical perspective-taking is a difficult concept for adults to master, and we were asking third graders to take it one step further and use historical empathy. This set of third graders was up to the challenge!

We (the classroom teacher and I) started by teaching them the difference between first-person and third-person pronouns and what it meant to use them when speaking or writing. Then, we talked about empathy and inferred what historical empathy might be. We then created a shared definition of historical empathy and examined the research materials from that point of view. Students took notes and started creating a picture of what event in their person's lives they would like to write about. After discussing their idea with a partner, they created a historical postcard.

The historical postcard included an image of the person, event, or time period they were talking about. It also included a description of the event from the historical figure's point of view. Then, in true postcard fashion, students had to fill out their name and a return address - we used the school's name, our town, and zip code. You will find some examples of their work below.

(Photo Credits: Vicki's Tech Hub)

What are you waiting for? Try something new with your kiddos and see how amazing they can be!

References
The Historical Thinking Project. (n.d.). Historical perspective. https://historicalthinking.ca/historical-perspectives

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