teaching for historical understanding
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Teaching for Historical Understanding. March 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 - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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