Columbus: Friend or Foe?

Encounter written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by David Shannon is a book that gives a different way of thinking about Columbus. Most students grow up hearing about Christopher Columbus every year in school come October 12th, but Yolen takes the reader into the initial visit of the Spanish explorers with a Taino tribe as seen through the eyes of a young Taino boy. The language in this text, alone, is sufficient to use it to teach writing.

I used it to start students writing a persuasive piece and to incorporate what they had been learning about explorers in Social Studies. Before reading the story, students paired up to talk about what they thought about the explorers' arrival in the New World. After some whole group sharing, I asked them to listen to what this Taino young boy thought. As we read, we stopped often to make inferences about what the boy was describing.

After reading the story, students paired up again to discuss what they thought now. I posted the question on the board: Columbus: Friend or Foe?, and I let students talk to each other for a while. Again, we had some whole group sharing. Then I told students they would be writing a piece to state their opinion, including reasons why. We reviewed what it means to persuade and that it should clearly show an opinion supported by reasons.

I am curious to see what these students write. In the past, I have done this lesson with a class of ESOL students, with the majority being Hispanic. They had very strong feelings and saw connections to their own lives as they realized they may not have spoken Spanish if it weren't for those explorers. I wonder what this new group of diverse students will have to say. We'll see. I may have to post some samples.