ALCA Members PLC Domains Data Standards Map Plan Curriculum Assessment Strategies

History Frames


Here is one of the strategies that we ought to be using in history and social studies classes because it lets us take advantage of a tool that students probably already possess ... namely, the story maps they've been using in English and Language Arts and Literature for years and years. 

  1. What are We Looking At?

    When looking at stories and novels, students are often asked to focus on the "elements" of story: setting, characters, plot, and theme, among others. When we look at historical events, we're interested in the same things:
    • Where and when did the event take place?
    • Who was involved?
    • What was the problem or goal that set events in motion?
    • What were the key events?
    • How was it resolved?
    • For theme, so what? What's the universal truth, the reason this matters? 

  2. How Do These Frames & Maps Work?

    1. Characters

      Who are the people who were involved in this? Which ones played major roles, and which ones were minor? 

    2. Settings

      Where and when did this event take place? Over what period of time? 

    3. Plot

      This section is broken into three parts: 

      1. Problem/Goal

        What set events in motion? What problem arose, or what were the key players after? 

      2. Events/Episodes

        This is to get students to focus on summarizing...they focus on the key steps or events that capture the progress of the situation. 

      3. Resolution/Outcome

        How was the problem solved? Was the goal attained? (It's probably pretty important to stress to students that they should go back to the problem or goal they identified in order to say how it was resolved or whether it was met.) 

    4. Theme

      I think of this as the "so what?" of a history frame or story map. You might think of it as the universal truth or revelation, the larger meaning or importance, the moral, the "what we've learned from this," and so on. The theme ought to be the way that a student relates the event to his own life, and the Theme can be divided into two components: 
      • a universal truth
      • a personal truth

  3. Graphic Organizer

    Use links to access graphic organizers for this activity.

  4. Source: Reading Quest: Making Sense in Social Studies

Please enter a Registration Key to continue.