Teaching for Historical

UnderstandingMarch 29, 2012

Quickwrite

How do you actually teach students to understand history and think like historians? Provide an example of what you will do in your own classroom.

Historical Thinking

Chronological Thinking

Historical Comprehension

Historical Analysis and Interpretation

Historical Research Capabilities

Historical Issues: Analysis and Decision Making

Essential Questions

Essential Questions: An essential question is "a question that lies at the heart of a subject or a curriculum (as opposed to being either trivial or leading) and promotes inquiry and uncoverage of a subject. Essential questions thus do not yield a single straightforward answer (as a leading question does) but produces different plausible responses, about which thoughtful and knowledgeable people may disagree." An essential question can be either overarching or topical (unit-specific) in scope.

Examples

Why do people explore?

What happens when cultures collide?

How did the movement toward revolution cause the Declaration of Independence to be written?

What factors contribute to war?

How is the Constitution a living document?

Is there such a thing as a "just" war?

Who were the "winners" and who were the "losers" in ________? (women’s movement, civil rights movement, child labor reforms)

Using Primary Sources to Teach Historical

Understanding

Political Cartoons

Cartoon analysis guide

Have students label elements of political cartoons

Symbolism

Exaggeration

Labeling

Analogy

Irony

Prints & Photographs

Zoom in

strategy

(use magnifying glasses)

Prequel/

Sequel

Continued…

Dividing the image

Continued…

Put yourself

in the image

Thought

Bubbles

30 Second

Look and Then

Dig Deeper

Analyzing Maps

The Devil is in the Details

Give students pieces of a map and have each student examine one piece of the map.

Have them record what they know on sticky notes and place on the map.

Then have them share with a partner or larger group.

Finally, have students put the map together to see the “big picture.”

Analyzing Documents

Quote MVP

Give students quotes and ask them to select their MVP (most valuable point) related to the lesson essential question.

Tampering with History

Change the document so it’s easier to read for struggling readers.

Jigsaw with cooperative learning groups

Music/ Sound Recordings

Use a song or sound recording as a class opener.

Using music to teach a certain time period in history

Example: Civil War music, Great Depression, etc.

LOC Jukebox (www.loc.gov/jukebox)

LOC Sound Recordings

Example: WPA Slave Narratives http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/

Using Art to Teach Historical Analysis

“Reading” a Portrait

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Discussion of art as a primary vs. secondary source

General Strategies

Weighing the evidence

Example: Give students 5-7 documents related to causes of the Civil War. Students have to “weigh” which documents carry more weight and answer the essential question.

Civil War Causes and Effects

http://docsteach.org/activities/3895

Sorting/categorizing primary sources

Five senses chart

Students analyze various documents and record what they hear, see, taste, feel, and smell.

Continued…

Historical Debates

Have students play the role of historical figures.

Four Corners

Pose a historical question and ask students to move to the corner of the room they agree with. Label corners agree, strongly agree, disagree, strongly disagree.

For example: Slavery was the cause of the Civil War.

Continued…

DBQs (Document Based Questions)

Check out the DBQ Project (www.dbqproject.com)

Reading Like a Historian http://sheg.stanford.edu/?q=node/45

Sourcing, Contextualizing, Corroboration, Close Reading

Wordle (www.wordle.net)

Copy and paste text to create a visual image

Great discussion starter and to compare documents

DBQ Project