Lois Rudnick

When I was invited to guest-edit this issue on the theme of "Using Literature to Teach History," I immediately reached out to the many secondary school teachers across the nation with whom I have been in contact over the past several years, all of whom are involved, for at least part of their teaching responsibilities, in American studies or integrated humanities courses and programs. The contributions to this issue are from these teachers, and from university faculty who have been involved in developing curriculum and anthologies that serve secondary school--as well as university--constituencies.

The majority of these teachers have had decades of experience working with literature that illuminates historical events and themes. When I asked them to send me their ideas about the kinds of literature they found most compelling for teaching history, most of them responded with texts related to immigration, the frontier, race, and ethnicity. Thus the majority of the essays and lesson plans you will read here pertain to these subjects, and to the ways in which literature can help increase students' interest in and understanding of the variety of geographic, gender, class, ethnic, and racial boundaries and boundary crossings that are part of the history of our nation.

Many of this issue's contributors have the good fortune to be working in teams with teachers from other disciplines and have experienced the benefits to both teachers and students that accrue from an integrated, team approach to the study of American literature and history. Such arrangements are undoubtedly more demanding and time-consuming because of the need for administrative support, peer collaboration, and extra preparation for planning and evaluation. When they work well, however, students show the results by demonstrating higher-order thinking skills, a more holistic and complex understanding of culture, and a greater ability to negotiate the relationship between academic study and "real life" problem solving (1).

Although I have spent years evangelizing the benefits of interdisciplinary teaching, I recognize that the vast majority of teachers do not work in such contexts. Nevertheless, one agenda of this issue is to remonstrate that an integrated approach to teaching American literature and history is not a luxury affordable only to teachers from upper income communities, and that such teaching is of at least as great a benefit to students from the most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. The main goal of the issue is, of course, to provide you with reasons and ideas for using literature in the teaching of history, along with recommendations of literary texts that have proven to be effective vehicles for teaching history.

My underlying assumption is that using literature to teach history does not necessarily require team teaching or specialized training in literature in order to be useful or effective. As the contributors make clear, good literature can be a powerful tool for teaching history for a variety of reasons, perhaps most importantly in its ability to stimulate students' historical imaginations.

1. Because it "enacts" life through the characters, plot, and setting, literature captures students' interest in an affective way that contributes to a greater investment in historical issues and ideas.

2. As both source and artifact, literature engages students in varied and complex understandings of the "consciousness" of an era.

3. Because of the multiple perspectives embedded in literary texts, literature is an effective vehicle for teaching point of view, one of the most important facets of historical analysis.

4. Attention to language and style in literature moves students toward a clearer understanding of the importance of these factors in constructing interpretations of historical documents.

Some of the most impressive assignments included in this issue are ones that involve students in doing what I would call "authentic research": research projects that derive from students being personally invested in the subjects they undertake to explore. In a number of instances, the genesis for longer term projects, which require analysis of historical issues and events, comes from students' initial captivation with a particular literary text assigned in their course.

Where the lesson plans included here may be too elaborate to meet the time constraints of some teachers, the contributors suggest alternative adaptations. Along with suggestions for resource materials related to particular texts and assignments, many of the contributors include web sites that they and their students have found particularly helpful in doing short- and long-term historical research. We hope that you find the many uses for and types of literature recommended in this issue a helpful addition to your history and social studies classroom teaching.

Endnotes

1. See Deborah Schmalholz, "A Descriptive Study of Selected American Studies Programs at the Secondary School Level" (Ph.D. diss., Northern Illinois University, August 1996); and Lois Rudnick, ed., The National Resource Guide to American Studies in the Secondary School (Washington D.C.: American Studies Association, 1997). Part I of the guide contains seven essays by teachers describing how to put an American studies or integrated humanities course or program together, along with an outline of their year-long curriculum in American literature/American history. The guide contains curriculum outlines by three of the contributors to this issue: Marsha Ehlers, Dan Swainbank, and Deborah Schmalholz. Part II of the guide provides a state-by-state listing of teachers in secondary schools that have such programs. The guide is available for $10.00 from the American Studies Association, 1120 Nineteenth St., N.W., Suite 301, Washington, D.C. 20036. It can also be downloaded at no cost from the Association's "Crossroads" web site www.georgetown.edu/crossroads/. In the summer of 1998, the ASA instituted a listserv for secondary school teachers interested in trading curriculum ideas. Many of the queries and suggestions have been related to appropriate literary texts to use with history curricula. Those interested in learning about the web site, including how to join, can find it at www.georgetown.edu/ crossroads/highroads/. The web site moderator is Steve Hilsabeck, from New Trier High School.

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Lois Rudnick is Professor of English and American studies and Director of the American Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is the 1997 co-winner of the American Studies Association Marie C. Turpie Award for outstanding teaching, advising, and program development in American studies.