History and English

Summary:I read the article titled, “Historical Fiction in English and Social Studies Classrooms: Is It a Natural Marriage?” One discussion is about collaboration between ELA teachers and social studies teachers. It mentions historical empathy and thinking as if you were the person in a historical source or narrative. Another discussion is about fiction vs nonfiction and when to use each and the benefits of each type. The article finishes with the distinction of what literacy means among different content areas (English and social studies).

Connections: When I read Night by Wiesel, my 7th grade teacher also made sure to remind us of the historical context of the book and we did a short activity where we placed the events in the book along the timeline of history events that led up to and during them. Also, when we used a newspaper in social studies, it was identified as a primary source and we view the historical context. We never viewed “primary sources” in English class. 

Critique: The article talked about combining nonfiction literature with historical fiction in an effort to better understand the narrative. I would argue that although this could be helpful, it isn’t at all necessary for students to grasp historical empathy in either form of text on their own.

Use: This article highlights the troubles and confusion when it comes to literacy in English and in social studies. It is great for understanding that English literacy can be used in collaboration with social studies literacy to achieve historical empathy and better understanding of the literature itself.

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