In order to appreciate historical fiction, students need to understand the factual context and recognize how popular culture reflects the values, mores, and events of the time period. This lesson uses The Great Gatsby to study the connection between fiction and historical/social contexts.

In order to appreciate historical fiction, students need to understand the factual context and recognize how popular culture reflects the values, mores, and events of the time period. This lesson uses The Great Gatsby to study the connection between fiction and historical/social contexts. Students create their own fictional newspapers to record significant events and attitudes representative of a period. Using primary source materials available from Library of Congress collections, students locate, analyze, and evaluate images and texts, synthesize fictional events and primary source materials as they create parallel stories for their newspaper projects. While this unit is primarily designed for an eleventh grade American Literature class, the key elements of the lesson may be adapted to any American historical novel at any grade level. (Author/ncl)

This lesson has many career-technical class possibilities. In the Arts and Communication field, students can do a film study to examine the clothing styles of the times.

This lesson has many career-technical class possibilities. In the Arts and Communication field, students can do a film study to examine the clothing styles of the times. Hospitality and Tourism students can research and actually prepare food from the Gatsby era. Human Services students, particularly those studying cosmetology, can research and reproduce the hairstyles of the era. Transportation students can investigate Gatsby era cars and show how cars have evolved to current models. Also, secondary students can create a fictional newspaper from the time period and report about their research to their career-technical class. Included are examples of student newspapers and a rubric for teachers to use when scoring the student-created newspaper.