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Free Lesson Plans for Teachers
Alpha Stage
Past Meets Present
March 5, 2007







Yesterday, the New York Times ran a feature about the Pulitzer
Prize winning author and Kennedy White House insider Arthur M.
Schlesinger entitled, "History, Written in the Present Tense."

Whereas Schlesinger died last week, this article is a statement about
his life's work.

The article explains that Schlesinger "wrote classic works that
reanimated the past even as they rummaged in it for clues to
understanding, if not solving, the most pressing political questions
of the present. As a result, new books..often generated excitement
and conveyed an urgency felt not only by other scholars but also by
the broader population of informed readers."
Read the Article!


Discussion-Starters for Younger Children

  • Ask your students what they did today between the time that
    they got out of bed and the time they got to school.
    Encourage them to be as specific as possible.
  • Consider asking them to develop skits in which they
    act out what they did.

  • Ask your students what they'd like to be doing ten minutes
    from now. What would they have to do between now and
    then so that they would be doing what they want to do?
  • Students could make a list of what they would have
    to do. The entire class could also pick something to
    be doing in ten minutes and they develop a list
    collectively.

  • Ask your students to explain the steps that somebody has to
    go through to score in their favorite sport (or accomplish
    something in their favorite activity). Encourage them to be as
    specific as possible.
  • Invite students to draw a series of pictures of what
    somebody would have to do.

  • Ask your students what they are able to do today that they
    were not able to do one year (or even several months) ago.
    What do your child(ren) think they will be able to do in
    another year (or another several months) that they cannot do
    today? Why do they think that they will be able to do this?
  • You could use these questions to celebrate your
    students' accomplishments and goals.


Discussion-Starters for Older Students

  • Vocabulary terms to discuss: Notion; Voracious; Academic;
    and, Reanimated.

  • What is the difference between history and current events?
  • Consider asking students to develop an explanation of
    the difference in groups of two or three. Tell them
    that they should write at least a fifty word explanation.

  • Ask your students to explain the purpose of writing essays,
    articles and books. Do they think that writing is important to
    a society? Why/why not?
  • Consider holding a debate in your class as to the
    importance of writing. This question asks about
    writing. Students could theoretically argue that
    everything could be audio.

  • According to the article, some accused Mr. Schlesinger of
    being a "court historian" for the Kennedy brothers. What
    does this term mean? The author of this article explains that
    Schlesinger's writings about the Kennedy brothers, contained
    "a wholeness only a professional historian could achieve."
    Ask your students what the author means by this.
  • Consider asking your students to respond to the
    following statement in a reflective essay. "It is
    impossible for somebody who has experienced an
    event "close-up" to write a history of it."
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