Why Historical Fiction Writing? Helping Students Think Rigorously and Creatively

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) lays out "a vision of what it means to be a literate person in the twenty-first century." Among educators, conversations about reading and writing have shifted to reflect the CCSS emphasis on informational, technical, opinion, and other non-narrative forms. Yet, these standards also demand that students at the elementary school level write increasingly sophisticated narratives. Many teachers meet the writing standards by having their elementary students produce personal narratives or fictional stories, such as fairy tales, but historical fiction writing projects also satisfy the narrative writing standards. Crafting historical fiction narratives also provides an opportunity for students to think rigorously about the past. Through the process of writing historical fiction, students can develop and refine their historical thinking capabilities in many dimensions. Namely, writing historical fiction allows students to: (1) Engage their imaginations; (2) Humanize history; (3) Think empathetically; (4) Demonstrate historical causation; (5) Consider multiple viewpoints; and (6) Engage in historical inquiry. In order for students to produce high-quality historical fiction, they must be immersed in learning about a specific time period, event, or era. Ryan Hughes teaches second and third grades, and he knew that he needed to select a historical topic that had a wide array of print, photo, and film resources that third graders could read and analyze for the lesson described in this article. The civil rights movement met this initial requirement, and there were also dozens of relevant historical fiction picture books available for reference. Furthermore, much of the history the class covered would fulfill the third grade History-Social Studies Content Standards for California.