Dramatic Narratives: Capturing the Human Side of World War II Anita Perna Bohn and Penny Britton Kolloff Ernie Pyle: The Foot Soldier’s Reporter Sandra B. Oldendorf Teenage Witnesses to the Holocaust (Book Review) Tom Kolbe The Back Page Censorship in Times of War Supplement to National Council for the Social Studies Publications A Greek soldier holding his daughter. (ca. 1941) Number 27 courtesy of the Library of Congress September 2006 www.socialstudies.org Middle Level Learning 27, pp. M2–M5 ©2006 National Council for the Social Studies Dramatic Narratives: Capturing the Human Side of World War II Anita Perna Bohn and Penny Britton Kolloff The atmosphere in the fifth grade classroom was electric as students dressed Developing the Unit of Study in World War II-era costumes waited in turn to tell their stories. A dignified young Using the chronological story of World “Eleanor Roosevelt,” in long skirt and high-collared blouse, with her hair in a bun, War II presented in the students’ text- looked over photos of refugee children. A German-Jewish schoolgirl, with her hair book as a framework, the authors began in braids, tied and retied the bow to the apron she wore over her simple dress. Beside the process of identifying the essential her sat a sprawling, confident soldier in army fatigues and helmet, his face smudged individuals or groups of people along with the grit of the battlefield. These fifth graders were engaged in the culminating the war’s timeline who had witnessed activity of a three-week unit on World War II that emphasized the human impact of or participated in key events. Although the war. state and national history standards place a strong emphasis on U.S. history The World War II dramatic narra- skills, we could give the kids what they at the elementary level, we also wanted tives project was designed to capture needed and deserved in both areas of to underscore the impact of the war on the social, political, and emotional sig- the curriculum.” people around the world. We developed nificance of historical events through World War II, a topic for study in the a list of potential characters, some real- intensive literary and dramatic explora- fifth grade, seemed an ideal subject with life personages and others “composite tions of first-person accounts, integrating which to test the project. A wealth of characters” who represented a social social studies, literacy, and the fine and first person accounts from World War group that lived through World War II. performing arts. II and supplementary materials offered About half of the characters were female, Shelly Upperman, a fifth grade class- great potential for breadth and depth and many were from other countries, room teacher at Maroa Grade School of coverage. The extraordinary diver- since the war was fought primarily on in Maroa, Illinois, agreed to help in sity of people whose stories reveal the foreign soil. Our criteria for selection of developing such a unit, and asked the human dimension of World War II pro- characters included the accessibility of school’s reading specialist, Debbie vided endless possibilities for character information for any one character that Johnson, to help in the teaching. “I study and dramatic interpretation. Such was age-appropriate, and an overall know in my heart we are short-chang- accounts offered powerful opportuni- representation of diversity of perspec- ing students when we don’t give them ties to investigate issues related to social tives and life experience among the the social studies tools and knowledge class, race/ethnicity, gender, nationality, group to flesh out the complex picture they’ll need as citizens,” Shelly stated, religion, and age. The reading and writ- of wartime. “but the district goals stress reading and ing processes and the development of A wide selection of nonfiction texts math scores as our number one prior- dramatic narratives could be creatively and photo essays were identified to ity. I also believe that literature can be interwoven with students’ growing his- elaborate the textbook treatment of the an engaging venue for exploring social torical thinking skills: chronological causes and chronology of World War studies issues. I thought that if we could thinking, comprehension, interpreta- II. In addition, a variety of high-quality approach important social studies top- tion, research capabilities, issues analy- children’s historical fiction, including ics in ways that also developed literacy sis, and decision-making .1 picture books, was selected that would September 2006 allow children to identify with engag- ing and realistic younger characters. (Recommended books and videos are listed at the end of this article.) These Library of Congress materials represented a range of reading levels to accommodate the diverse com- position of the classroom, and presented a balance between factual accounts and historical fiction.2 We also selected a number of video documentaries and dramatizations appropriate for young audiences. A few World War II-era poster reproductions, readily available from social studies sup- pliers, helped set the tone in the class- room. With regard to internet resources, we pre-screened websites and identified a few appropriate ones for each character (listed at the end of this article). These sites offer engaging personal accounts of World War II events at a level of reading difficulty, emotional intensity, and detail Private Henry F. Rourke shows a rosary to a wounded Japanese soldier. Later Pvt. Rourke appropriate for young readers. learns that the soldier is a Buddhist. (ca. 194) Additional Teaching Tools We created a biographical sheet to guide research and writing difficulty with the “There was a large range in students’ the students through the process of col- interests and abilities of the students, to abilities. Those who used the internet at lecting and organizing information from distribute the available characters fairly, home generally were more at ease work- their various Internet and book sources, and to ensure a good representation of ing their way through electronic texts and for preparing their dramatic historic World War II personages. Characters than those who did not.” The students narratives. Questions posed on this form were assigned before the students read also made selections from the wide range help the young learner see the charac- any text materials so that they could of fictional and non-fictional books ter as a three-dimensional human being begin immediately to look at events related to the war, with Debbie’s help, with a childhood and a personality, and from the perspective of their historical and used them to enhance their under- as a product of a certain time and place. figures. standing of their characters and the reali- (Handout: Biography of a World Number the Stars by Lois Lowry ties of the times in which they lived. This War II Survivor, p.6). was selected as a common initial read- allowed for significant instructional dif- Guidelines for dramatic presentations ing assignment in language arts class, so ferentiation, as the strongest readers took include appropriate styles of speech, that students could discuss how to relate several novels and non-fictional works body language, props, and types of and extract textual content they could during this unit, while weaker readers clothing that would reflect the characters later use to create portraits of people liv- could read a picture book or two and and the time in which they lived. Tips for ing during World War II.3 Discussions of still obtain useful information. The vid- embellishing the presentations with dra- this book provided a foundation for see- eotapes were also utilized during this matic elements, as well as general public ing how time and place in history work period. The whole class viewed some of speaking techniques, were included in to shape people’s lives. them, while others were checked out by these guidelines. Students then began to research their students interested in a specific topic. own characters using the internet sources Students used their biography hand- Teaching the Unit provided (See the lists at the end of this outs to cull information from all of these Shelly distributed the list of the histori- article). Debbie guided students through resources and answer the questions or cal figures and allowed each student to the process of skimming and taking notes respond to the prompts. For some of narrow his or her choice down to four, from online sources. She also worked the students, this meant creating a “back but Shelly made the final selection. This to find additional appropriate sites for story,” as actors call the background his- process allowed her to match degrees of students when needed. She commented: tory for their fictitious characters, while Middle Level Learning others collected key factual that enhanced their under- information they could piece standing of the characters’ together about their charac- circumstances. Everyone’s ter’s biographies. Work time attention was riveted on for the research and writing the speakers. Eleanor phases of the project lasted Roosevelt showed pho- 1–2 hours a day. Most inter- Holocaust U.S. Memorial Museum tos of her beloved parents net research was conducted who both died young, and during class time, but the another of her boarding reading of related literature school days at Allenswood was done either during free School in England. She time or for homework. talked about meeting and marrying Franklin, and Writing told of her strong desire As the writing began, students to ease people’s suffering took biographical information that led her on many good- and created webs or outlines will missions throughout from which they wrote their World War II. A young first drafts. During the draft- man talked of being a Jew ing stage, students worked hidden in a root cellar to integrate materials from by a non-Jewish Belgian several sources in order to farmer and his family.