Synthesizing Historical Significance –

Responding to TextThe BLaST IU 17 Liberty Fellowship

November 15, 2012

Fran Macko, Ph.D.fmacko@aihe.info

Framing the Session

• What historical events, people, themes and issues are important to remember?

• How do historians determine historical significance?

• What strategies can history teachers use to help their students understand and reflect historical significance?

What is Historical Significance?

• The concept of historical significance is a variable, not a fixed one.

• Historians select and emphasize certain facts and information and de-emphasize others.

• The resources that historians value the most become the basis for their accounts of an event.

What are the criteria for determining historical significance?

• Contemporary significance– How important was it to

the people of the time?

• Profundity– How deeply were

people affected?

• Quantity– How many people were

affected?

• Durability– How long lasting were

the effects?

• Relevance– How does it help us

understand current issues and events?

How does understanding historical significance support learning?

• Central to the critical reading and analysis of history is an understanding of historical significance.

• Understanding historical significance:– supports students in making connections across texts.– supports students in moving beyond the memorization of

facts and dates.– supports students in thinking critically about content.

• Once students have acquired new content information and concepts they can use the framework of historical significance to rework, apply, and extend their understandings.

Historical Significance and the Common Core State Standards

• Embedded in the CCSS for Literary in grades 6-12 are standards for literacy in history/ social studies.

• These standards:– are based on teachers using their content area expertise

to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their content area.

– are not meant to replace content standards but rather to supplement them. States may incorporate these standards into their standards for those subjects or adopt them as content area literacy standards.

– focus on the reading, comprehension and analysis of increasingly complex informational text.

• The standards are divided into three broad categories:– Key Ideas and Details– Craft and Structure– Integration of

Knowledge and Ideas

• Each category is further divided into three specific skills.

• We have added a fourth category: Contextualization

The Common Core Learning Framework

• Contextualization– Establishing time, scope

and Sequence– Understanding the big

picture– Establishing the values

and beliefs of the time• Craft and Structure

– Identifying and defining key terms

– Determining the main idea– Identifying the author’s

bias or point of view

• Key Ideas and Details– Assessing the reliability of

the information– Evaluation of argument

and reasoning– Comparing ideas within

and across texts• Integration of Knowledge

and Ideas– Analysis of multiple

sources and perspectives– Understanding multiple

perspectives– Assessing different

interpretations over time

• The Common Core reflect the skills for reading and thinking like an historian.

• Determining historical significance supports both sets of skills.

What are some strategies for teaching historical significance?

• Popular strategies for understanding historical significance are:– Fact Pyramid– SPAWN– Timelines– RAFT

What is SPAWN?

• SPAWN is a reading comprehension and content writing strategy that:– gives students the opportunity to project

themselves into unique roles and look at content from unique perspectives.

– gives students the opportunity to move beyond literal level thinking to larger issues in history.

– helps connect reading, writing, and higher-level thinking skills.

– can be used for assessment or small group work.– supports differentiation.

• SPAWN is best used during reading to allow students to respond to text, taking into account their own experiences.

• The acronym stands for:• S- Special Powers: Students are given the power to

change some aspect of the text or topic. Their writing should explain what was changed, why, and the effects of the change.

• P- Problem Solving: Students are asked to write possible solutions to problems posed or suggested by the texts being read or material being studied.

• A- Alternative Viewpoints: Students write about a topic from a unique perspective.

• W- What If?: Students are asked to respond to a counterfactual situation.

• N- Next: Students are asked to consider the next steps or implications of an event.

• Scaffold the strategy by beginning with a prescribed SPAWN based on a document or other text to model the process.

• Have students read the text and pause at a predetermined point to respond.

• Options:– ask students to respond

to a particular event, character, or quote

– encourage students to select an event or individual on their own

• Introduce the 5 SPAWN writing prompts to the students and briefly explain what each prompt is asking.

• Give students 5-10 minutes to choose a prompt and respond to it in writing.

• Have students share their responses with the class.

What types of sources can be used as prompts for SPAWN?

• SPAWN is a flexible strategy that can be used with a variety of sources.

• These sources can be used as prompts for SPAWN writing.

• Primary Sources• Non-Fiction• Fiction• Interviews• Videos• Periodicals• Poetry• Music

The SPAWN Graphic Organizer

Modeling the Strategy The Spanish American War

Modeling the Strategy: The Spanish American War

• Read the excerpt from The New York Times account of the Sinking of the Maine, February 15, 1898.

• Select one of the SPAWN writing prompts and respond to it.

• What decisions regarding historical significance did you make to respond to the prompt?

Prescribed SPAWN Assignment

• S- You have been granted special powers. You use them to prevent the sinking of the USS Maine on February 15, 1898. How is history different as a result?

• P- President McKinley chose to declare war against Spain. How would you have solved the problem differently?

• A- You are a journalist in Havana Harbor when the Maine is attacked. What kinds of things are you seeing? What are Cubans saying? Spaniards? Americans?

• W- What if Spain had won the war. How might history have been different?

• N- You are a Spanish citizen living in Cuba. What do you and your family do next?

On Your Own

• Select one of the following sources:– Account of The Battle

of Cusco Hill” by Stephen Crane

– Black Participation in The Spanish-American War

– Native Americans in the Spanish American War

• Develop a SPAWN assignment for the text.

• Discuss your selection and the SPAWN prompts with your table.

• What decisions would students need to make regarding what information is significant to complete the assignment?

Adapting SPAWN to Your Classroom

• How might you use SPAWN in your social studies classroom?

• What adaptations to the strategy would you make?

Extension and Differentiation

• Students develop SPAWN prompts for a specific text.

• Students respond to a SPAWN prompt in small groups.

• Students develop or respond to SPAWN prompts for historical fiction or film.

• PAWN prompts can be used as pre-writing activity before a small group, class discussion or as a “do now”.

• What other extensions or differentiations can you think of?