Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, “Writing History: Truth and Lessons in the Past” (7th-8th)
Today, we recapped Frederick Douglass’s July 4th speech by making a poster of the points of the argument against slavery in the speech. We generated questions about context, such as who invited Frederick Douglass, why he was selected to speak, what the response was, and brainstormed the format the response could take (newspapers, letters, diaries, etc.). In addition, we analyzed the preface of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass written by William Lloyd Garrison. Students generated areas of interest centered around why Garrison was selected to write the preface, what was the significance, the series of events leading up to, and the outcome of the Daniel Connell experiment mentioned in the preface. Students who find the Frederick Douglass topic of interest may take their lab time to further investigate as they begin to write.
We introduced Emily Dickinson by reading an overview of her life written in The New Yorker about the book White Heat by Brenda Wineapple. We experimented with analyzing one of her poems: “Much Madness is Divinest Sense”. Students generated questions of interest or research, such as:
- How many poems were found and numbered?
- Why was she a poet?
- Why did she not use correct grammar?
- Why did she hide?
- Who found her bundled poetry?
- Why was she a recluse?
Students who find Dickinson of interest may choose to take their lab time to further investigate before they begin to write.
We examined the notes section of White Heat to demonstrate how authors must cite and catalogue resources in a manner that is easy for the reader to understand and locate information. Most students are familiar with bibliographies or works cited formats, but the process changes when writing historically.
Students are not required to write about every topic (quality over quantity). The topic selected by a student is one they choose because it is the most interesting to them. The product of the class is to leave with a “work in progress” of a historical piece of writing. Some used their lab time to continue the topic on the burning of the capital, and others were inspired by Frederick Douglass or Emily Dickinson.
Questions to ask:
- What are you writing about?
- What perspective are you taking with your piece?
- What have you discovered so far about your topic?
- Are you still writing about your original selection? If not, what did you choose and why?
~ Heather Jett