Killing Kennedy​ Ideas & Plans

Essential Standards:

1.1.EOd: Differentiate between facts and historical interpretations, recognizing that a historian’s
narrative reflects his or her own judgment about the significance of particular facts

5.1.EOf: Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar
topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts

5.1.EOe: Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation or
analysis (looking at speeches)

Essential Questions for unit:

How do we, as readers and historical thinkers, detect and determine bias, so that we can arrive at a
balanced understanding of a major historical event or time period?

How do we decide what qualifies as nonfiction vs historical fiction?

Why is it essential to be a wide and deep reader, and what are some of the lifelong benefits?

Some resources/articles/reviews of the book & TV movie to look to:

Boston Globe review of TV movie version of book

NYT Review of Killing Kennedy
How to Spot Fake News
NPR: Learning to Spot Fake News
Snopes: fact-checking

Bird’s Eye View Plan

Duration: Four weeks

Each week, students read a section of the book (each one is approximately 70 pages, 10 per day).
Students have options for keeping a record of visible thinking: 1) annotations in book, 2)
dialectical journal (plot and thought, 2-column notes), or 3) summary/response. Students choose
the option that works best for their reading experience. ​In addition, as a class during/after the
first section, we will have a class-gathered set of notes, evidence, and insights on characters featured.

On Mondays, students will be given 20 minutes of reading time, followed by some sort of reflection
writing & share-out (some possibilities are practicing reading strategies listed above as reading
options, plus twitter feeds, quote responses, best of/worst of, 3-2-1s, and more).

Once-weekly nonfiction readers’ meetings (each meeting will occur on Wednesdays). Meetings begin
with quick reading check-in/assessment, a reflective writing time to think/process what was read,
and a share-out of a 3-2-1 (comment, question, or comparison) to something from that section of the
reading. Then, group meetings will commence, roles will be delegated, and work will begin.
Week/Chapters & Pages to Read Meeting Topic Options
Week 1: Prologue through end ● PT-109 incident
of chapter four (7-69) ● Bay of Pigs
● Jackie’s White House
tour (watch actual and
compare against
O’Reilly’s depiction)
Week 2: Chapter five through ● Affair with Marilyn
end of chapter eight (70-144) Monroe
● Emmett Till
● J. Edgar Hoover’s
investigation of Oswald
● Bobby Kennedy, the
Freedom Riders, and
MLK
● Cuban Missile Crisis and
Khrushchev
● Mona Lisa in
Washington
Week 3: Chapter nine through ● Lyndon B. Johnson,
end of chapter 16 (71-216) unpopular VP
● CIA in Vietnam & Ngo
Dinh Diem (President of
Vietnam)
● Oswald’s assassination
attempt of Ted Walker
Expected Outcomes of Meeting
FOR FIRST MEETING ONLY:
Practice whole-class with one of
the events shown to the left.
Look up sources as a class and
share details, ways in which the
event is depicted, and compare
up against Bill O’Reilly’s
version of events. Then, rate it
(think Snopes), thinking about
bias, word choice, focus,
dedication to facts, sources
used/mentioned.
PRACTICE: Each group will take
the other event not used for the
teacher model/demo, and will
practice this same process as a
group.
Each group will select one of
the events shown to the left to:
a) Locate alternate sources
on the event, using
databases and sources
on the web
b) Share out information,
creating a shared
gathering grid
c) Create a comparative
analysis on the event,
using the best of the
sources found, and
doing a comparison to B.
O’R’s version
d) Present out to class on
findings on their event,
along with rating of
O’R’s depiction, plus
group’s rationale
Each group will select one of
the events shown to the left to:
a) Locate alternate sources
on the event, using
databases and sources
on the web
b) Share out information,
 ● Children’s Crusade (Civil
Rights march) and
Alabama Gov. Wallace
● Self-immolation of
Thich Quang Duc
● Meeting of MLK and JFK
on June 22, 1963
● JFK’s visit to Berlin: “Ich
bin ein Berliner” speech
● MLK’s “I Have a Dream
Speech”
● Church bombing in
Birmingham
creating a shared
gathering grid
c) Create a comparative
analysis on the event,
using the best of the
sources found, and
doing a comparison to B.
O’R’s version
d) Present out to class on
findings on their event,
along with rating of
O’R’s depiction, plus
group’s rationale

Week 4: Chapter 17 through end
of chapter 27 (217-294)
Read the Afterword, Epilogue,
and Sources as a class
● Oswald’s job at the Texas Each group will select one of
School Book Depository the events shown to the left to:
● Oswald’s attempts to go
to Cuba
● U.S. overthrow of Diem’s
government in Vietnam
● Conspiracy theories on
JFK’s killer: mafia, CIA
(for Bay of Pigs)
● JFK’s route in Dallas
● Jackie Kennedy and the
assassination of JFK
● Jack Ruby & Oswald’s
line: “I’m just a patsy”
● JFK’s funeral procession
in Washington D.C.
● Swearing in of LBJ
a) Locate alternate sources
on the event, using
databases and sources
on the web
b) Share out information,
creating a shared
gathering grid
c) Create a comparative
analysis on the event,
using the best of the
sources found, and
doing a comparison to B.
O’R’s version
d) Present out to class on
findings on their event,
along with rating of
O’R’s depiction, plus
group’s rationale

Final Outcome:​ ​ Each student will construct a comparative essay/book review on ​Killing Kennedy​ in
which they consider the authors’ biases, using information gathered from their group’s comparative
event analyses and their own notes/thinking on the book. This MAY be in-class (block period) OR as a
formal essay, outline required, TBA.