Telling the Story: The Four Genres of Zionist History
This lesson explores the nature of historical narrative: the ways in which we interpret historical events. We will learn a four-genre model of literary style, and use this model to look at the key events from Zionist history through 4 different different prisms.
Click here for the printable pdf.
Goals:
- The students will be challenged to ascribe multiple interpretations to events in Zionist history
- The students will be exposed to the multi-voiced nature of interpreting historical events
- The students, with their newly acquired perspective on Israel’s history, will understand both the wonder, and the complexity of Israel’s reality
- The students will learn about some of the key events in Zionist history
- The students will learn Frye’s 4-genre model of literature
Outline of the activity:
- Stage 1: Introduction: In the first stage of this lesson, the teacher will introduce Northrop Frye’s literary model to the class
- Stage 2: Creating: In the second stage of the lesson, the students will be divided into groups and assigned a genre. They will have to write a skit telling the Jewish Zionist story through the lens of their genre.
- Stage 3: Performance: In the third stage, the students will perform their skits
- Stage 4: Discussion: In the fourth stage, the students will analyze the performances they saw, and begin to appreciate the need for all four genres
- Stage 5: Revision: In the fifth stage, the stories will be edited, revised, etc. to include elements from each genre
- Stage 6: Performance: Finally, in the last stage, the re-worked skits will be performed
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