READING, WRITING AND DETECTING

STUDENTS LEARN THE ART OF EXPRESSING HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS

Presented by Martha Battle and Trudy Delhey, Cobb County School District, Marietta, GA

http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/summer2007/Crit_Thinking.pdf

HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS IN NEW APUSH COURSE DESIGN

Thinking Skills Type Historical Thinking Skills

Crafting Historical Arguments from Historical Evidence

Historical argumentation Appropriate use of relevant historical

evidence

Chronological Reasoning Historical causation Patterns of continuity and change

over time Periodization

Comparison and Contextualization Comparison Contextualization

Historical Interpretation and Synthesis

Interpretation Synthesis

Texts, Primary Sources, Documents,

READING: A PRELIMINARY STEP TOWARD LEARNING AND INVESTIGATING

President Benjamin Harrison's declaration in honor of the four hundredth anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the New World DISCOVERY DAY 21 OCTOBER PROCLAIMED A NATIONAL HOLIDAY BY THE PRESIDENT (Washington, July 21)The following proclamation was issued this afternoon by the President:I Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America . . . do herebyappoint Friday, Oct. 21, 1892, the four hundredth anniversary of the discoveryof America by Columbus, as a general holiday for the people of the UnitedStates. On that day let the people so far as possible cease from toil and devotethemselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer andtheir appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries ofAmerican life.Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and enlightenment.The system of universal education is in our age the most prominent and salutaryfeature of the spirit of enlightenment, and it is peculiarly appropriate that theschools be made by the people the centre of the day's demonstration.Let the national flag float over every school house in the country, and theexercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of Americancitizenship.In the churches and in the other places of assembly of the people, let there beexpressions of gratitude to Divine Providence for the devout faith of the discoverer,and for the Divine care and guidance which has directed our history and soabundantly blessed our people. New York Times, July 22, 1892, p. 8

Sourcing:Before reading the document ask yourself: Who wrote this? What is the author’s point of view? Why was it written? When was it written? (A long time or short

time after the event?) Is this source believable? Why? Why not?

HISTORICAL THINKING AND OTHER UNNATURAL ACTS

HOW IS HISTORICAL THINKING “UNNATURAL?”

“Ahistorical” thinking may be the psychological condition at rest, a kind of blissful state…..

Complexities of disciplinary history needn’t get in the way of our snap judgments and facile analogies…

Surface similarities between past and present… DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT REQUIRES

EFFORT--- INTERROGATING SOURCES, PUTTING THEM

ON THE STAND AND DEMANDING THAT THEY YEILD THEIR TRUTHS OR FALSEHOODS.

From Wineberg, “Unnatural and essential: the nature of historicalThinking” Teaching History 129, Dec. 2007, The History Association

CONTEXTUALIZING: IMAGINING THE SETTING

What else was going on at the time this was written?

What was it like to be alive at this time? What things were different back then? What

things were the same? What would it look like to see this event

through the eyes of someone who lived back then?

The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening

Leaders17101720

Enlightenment is...

Enlightenment thinkers and their contributions

Diest

Ben Franklin's contributionsto the colonial Enlightenment

Philadelphia showplaces123

Enlightenment summary

PietismGerman Scots Irish Puritan

The Great Awakening

Northern religious upheaval1234

Southern religious upheaval123

Results

New Lights

MODELING HISTORICAL THINKING FOR STUDENTS We often scaffold, read primary sources together,

encourage students with meaning for words, phrases, add context, etc.

How often do we MODEL how we would read and interpret a document for them?

Are we reluctant for fear they will tune out? How do we make this valuable for them?

Do we think they are always supposed to be “learning what is in it?”

Modeling examples from the 2012 APUSH DBQ

Information from the document?

Inferences from the document?

Links to “outside information” and context?

Information from the document?

Inferences from the document?

Links to “outside information” and context?

SPECIFICATION OF IGNORANCE What new questions arise as the historian/student attempts to analyze the material?

Where are the gaps inknowledge?

What new thing can we learn?

RUBRICS: STUDENTS USE FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

http://sheg.stanford.edu/

SEE ALSO HTTP://WWW.HISTORICALTHINKINGMATTERS.ORG

ACTIVITIES THAT ELICIT PERSUASIVE WRITING RESULTS

Putting reading and writing together as history scene investigators:

BLENDING APUSH AND THE COMMON CORE LITERACY GOALS FOR READING AND PERSUASIVE WRITING

Common Core Literacy is often introduced as moving all classrooms to “look like” an AP classroom. Why?

What elements of Common Core challenge all teachers to incorporate reading and writing in more rigorous ways?

The “DBQ Project” facilitates a district’s communication and experience.

Where do we go from here?

That’s All?

REACHING OUR GOALSLesson Plan: (title) Lesson designer (s): School Lesson Origin: (web site, modified from, original) Georgia Performance Standard: Essential Question: (Learning Question) Materials: (include at least one primary source)  Common Core Historical Literacy Standards/Skills (LDC Module) What Task? What Skills? What Instruction? What results?

ARGUMENTATION TEMPLATE TASKS (LDC)

Task 1 Template: After researching ________ (informational texts) on ________ (content), write a/an ________ (essay or substitute) that argues your position on ________ (content). Support your position with evidence from your research. L2 Be sure to acknowledge competing views. L3 Give examples from past or current events or issues to illustrate and clarify your position. (Argumentation/Analysis)

Task 1 Social Studies Example: After researching academic articles on censorship, write an editorial that argues your position on the use of filters by schools. Support your position with evidence from your research. L2 Be sure to acknowledge competing views. L3 Give examples from past or current events or issues to illustrate and clarify your position. (Argumentation/Analysis)

http://www.literacydesigncollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/LDCTemplateTasks.pdf

WHY DID THE MOLASSES TOWER COLLAPSE? 1. Investigate the reason for the collapse. Read the

document(s) assigned to your group. 2. Working with partners or individually, construct

a written defense of the reason the tower collapsed. Be sure to use evidence from the documents and background story.

3. What additional things would you like to know about the collapse of the tower? Might any further knowledge change your mind?

DIFFERENTIATION NEEDED? AP Vertical Teams Guide Exercises in Thesis

Development, Topical Organization, Topic Sentences, Use of Evidence and Conclusion using the 1993 “Compare New England and the Chesapeake” DBQ.

DESIGNING ACTIVITIES THAT IMBED HISTORICAL THINKING

Students need practice and repetition to make historical investigation more “natural.”

LESSON ACTIVITIES EMPHASIZING HISTORICAL THINKING

Example: “Two Points of View on the Homestead Act.” 1. Alvin Coffey Finds Success in California

by Sue Bailey Thurman 2. George Lagergren

Native American Tribe: Chinook

The Newberry Library

Questions to Consider1. What major eras of U.S. History did Alvin Coffey’s long life span? How was his life intertwined with these major events?2. Describe the tone of the article about Alvin Coffey, published in 1952. Does the author seem to be describing Alvin Coffey in admiring terms?3. How does the article about Alvin Coffey persuade the reader that his success in establishing his family in the West was a positive experience? What words are used to help persuade?4. Another context for the establishment of families new in the West after the Homestead Act was passed in 1862 is expressed by the Native American George Lagergren. What opinion does he express about the Homestead Act? What was government policy toward Native Americans at that time?5. While some groups of people can benefit from government actions, others can be negatively impacted. How do the accounts of these two people illustrate that problem?6. What do the two points of view illustrate about the problems faced by historians in telling a full picture of events?

TWO POINTS OF VIEW ON THE HOMESTEAD ACT

Alvin Aaron Coffeyb. July 14, 1822 Madison County, KYd. Oct. 28, 1902 Oakland, CAOnly black member of the CA Society of Pioneershttp://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11746945

By 1934, 10% of all U.S. lands were owned by individuals that had been granted homesteads.http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/his1005fall2010/tag/homestead-act/

http://www.sfmuseum.org/bio/coffey.html

PUTTING HISTORICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES IN DAILY PRACTICE Use one of the sets of documents provided in the packet,

one of the Literacy Design Collaborative models and the lesson activity sheet.

Create an activity “investigation” for whatever duration of class time you need.

Identify some Historical Thinking Skills imbedded in the activity.

Be sure to incorporate a written component. Share your proposal with another group or individual.

RESOURCES FOR THE CLASSROOM

Using Historiography to Analyze the Mexican-American War http://teachinghistory.org/best-practices/teaching-with-textbooks/2042

Would your students need a graphic organizer or other scaffolding to make an effective comparison?

In what ways does this exercise fit the CCGPS Historical Literacy Standards?

…..the teaching of history serves three functions at once. One, obviously, is intellectual. History is the grandest vehicle for vicarious experience: it truly educates (“leads outward” in the Latin) provincial young minds and obliges them to reason, wonder, and brood about the vastness, richness, and tragedy of the human condition. If taught well, it trains young minds in the rules of evidence and logic, teaches them how to approximate truth through the patient exposure of falsehood, and gives them the mental trellis they need to place themselves in time and space and organize every other sort of knowledge they acquire in the humanities and sciences. To deny students history, therefore, is to alienate them from their community, nation, culture, and species. The Three Reasons We Teach Historyby Walter A. McDougall, FPRI Newsletter, February, 1998.

WWW.COBBLEARNING.NET/MBATTLE

THANKS FOR COMING. ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR CONFERENCE.

Martha and Trudy