World Cultures 

Pekar, H., Roberson, H., & Piskor, E. (2007). Macedonia. New York: Villard.

ISBN: 0345498992

Art: Grittily drawn black and white pictures with watercolors added.

Genre and Themes: Nonfiction, World Cultures, Politics, War

Age Range: Grades 10 - above

What the book is about: The true story of Berkeley graduate student Heather Roberson and her quest to find the causes of peace in Macedonia.  Pekar does an excellent job of depicting her exploration of all of the complications that are world politics.

Rating: P3/Q5

JMB 04/29/08

Lesson Plan

Subject: history, english

Grade Level: 10+

Time Duration: lesson, one class session; assignment, a couple of weeks or so

Objective: Critical thinking about history, historical context; creative writing

Overview: Highlight an event in the history textbook from the point of view of a minor character or the losing side

Lesson Design

Anticipatory Set (focus) – Howard Zinn has spent much of his life turning the view of American foreign policy on its head, mostly by viewing history from the point of view of the “loser” or the “defeated” sides, otherwise known as the non-American side. Other books, such as Satchel Paige, Maus and Macedonia view history from an unheard or fictional voice, giving that history meaning and identity.

Presentation – The assignment is to model a story after one of these examples. Using the information from your textbook and from such resources as Howard Zinn’s books, write a story from the point of view of either a fictional voice that would have played a minor or observational part in the event, or from the losing side.

Practice – Draw up character sketches: what is the character’s motivation; how did s/he end up in that place at that time; what is his/her background/family/culture like? Look up the details of that culture: dress, food, music. Use an outline to help add structure to the story.

Closure – Students write up the story on their own, two weeks to complete, with occasional class-time for assistance.

(sk 5.4.08)