Story Power: Breathing Life into History

(Paperback)

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Description

Not every teacher loves history and the same can be said about students. It doesn't have to be that way. People love a good story. History is a collection of stories that trace the path people, famous and little known, took as they faced the challenges of life. The choices they made teach us about human nature and help us better understand the world, each other, and ourselves.

When students hear something interesting, something they connect to personally, they pay attention and want to know more. The stories in primary materials - a diary, letter, census record, photograph, official report - breathe life into history and invite critical thinking and conceptual understanding.

Story Power! teaches us where to find stories, to assess the quality of sources, and to go past shallow summaries to the complicated story below the surface. Readers share in the author's personal journey beginning with discovery of Civil War letters, to piecing together the true story of the soldier's lives, and to a more complete understanding of America during the Civil War.

Reviews

Liz Manvell's writing style will draw people in and keep them reading. The overview she provides of various websites will be useful to beginning teachers who know they want to use primary sources but who may not have easy access to materials. -- Sarah Drake-Brown, Ph.D Assistant Professor of History Direc, assistant professor of History and director of Social Studies Education, Ball State University, Indiana
Liz Manvell challenges us to teach history to our students by utilizing the stories and artifacts that bring the past alive and which make history personal. She does so by example, interweaving her own personal research into the life of a Civil War soldier throughout the book. Once we have our students motivated, Manvell shows us where to find a multitude of primary sources on the Internet that flesh out the lives of those who came before us. This is a book that belongs on every teacher's bookshelf one that we will refer to again and again. -- Dr. Joan Bouza Koster, Civil War historian, author of Growing Artists, and cofounder of TeachPeaceNow.org

Author Bio

Elizabeth Cervini Manvell has spent her career in education focused on creating a positive and productive classroom climate through respect and engaging teaching. She lives in California with her husband and pets, where she continues to be inspired by what compassion and energized teaching can achieve for students and for teachers.