Strategies
Doing History
The process of teaching history is fraught with peril: Whose stories do we tell? Where do those stories begin and end? What are the best resources? We run the risk of marginalizing, oversimplifying, and misrepresenting. Rather than presenting history and being vulnerable to these risks, we can lead students to inquire, to explore multiple stories and come to their own critical conclusions. Sam Wineburg suggests that historical expertise is knowing what to ask. Jeff Strickland writes about teaching the WPA slave narratives with activities that encourage debate about their validity. Students are set up to question primary sources, put them in context with secondary sources, and come up with their own interpretations. He calls his activities “doing history.”21 Strickland and Cynthia Lyerly point out that there are likely problems, as with the WPA slave narratives, about the legitimacy of any passed down narratives, especially transcribed ones. Are interviews edited or revised? Are the storytellers of advanced age? Are they representative of many experiences of just that of a few? Does the voice seem true to the subject? Are there contradictions? For several activities, students will be presented a selection of primary and/or secondary sources and asked to answer the questions above.
Text and Image Annotation
Many of the critical reading skills necessary for reading historical documents and primary sources are skills that are already in regular use in the English classroom, where we regularly annotate, question sources and language, and look for other clues within the text. Wineburg, who influenced much of our seminar cited Nancy Boyles: “Close reading exhorts students to ‘read and reread deliberately,’ enabling them to ‘reflect on the meanings of individual words and sentences; the order in which the sentences unfold; and the development of ideas over the course of a text, which ultimately leads students to arrive at an understanding of the text as a whole.’”22
English teachers know the importance of teaching their students to annotate texts, especially those challenged with literacy or critical reading skills. More advanced readers still benefit from the process as it encourages them to do more with challenging texts or find subtleties in their usual reading practice. Whether the documents are literary or historical, the same close reading exercises are essential. Whenever possible I give my students a copy they can write on and keep to refer back to. When I teach my students to annotate a text, I pull out examples from my shelves and files, where I have asked questions, illustrated something, agreed or disagreed with the author or text. I might find an exclamation point or angry face. Different colors of ink may have significance in a text I find especially challenging. There are endless possibilities for the ways in which a reader may interact with a text. To begin, I tell them to mark key words or terms; write brief definitions for words they don’t know; react emotionally; seek patterns (especially in poetry or argument) and discrepancies; ask and answer questions of the text; trace lists or processes. What they should not do is use one single highlighter to mark a text. When they have systems, such as circling and underlining for separate purposes or creating their own notations systems, they have to make critical decisions about the text using additional parts of the brain, making them far more likely not only to recall but to make sense and meaning of what they have read.
The same processes may be used to annotate an image. Because I have small classes, I can print color copies of images we use. A larger class or group could also do this activity with an interactive smartboard though intimate, personal interaction with the text would be lessened.
With pencil—or whatever—in hand, students can study an image with the same intensity as a text, by asking questions, making lists, identifying objects, contemplating color—or lack of it, questioning facial expressions, style, or empty space. Facing an image with the intention of interacting physically with it almost forces the viewer to seek details he/she would have missed otherwise.
Understanding Primary and Secondary Sources
For this unit—and any other study of history—students should know the difference between primary and secondary sources of information. The content of textbooks can be polluted by politics or oversimplification and are limited to a single perspective in most cases. Primary sources of are the people, time, and place of an event or situation. The study of biography or history is incomplete without support—or contradiction—from primary sources. Personal letters, newspaper articles, photographs, videos, interviews, original research, and autobiographies are examples of primary sources. Secondary sources are one step removed and include analysis, books, documentaries, biographies. They may include primary sources, such as photographs. I generally give students several selections of documents and have them sort them into the two groups, followed by a discussion about their conclusions. There are other questions to ask of both primary and secondary sources, though? Whose perspective do they represent? Is there bias, as in a political cartoon? An excellent source for both primary sources and resources for teaching them is the Library of Congress. I use their printable handout called Using Primary Sources in their section for teachers. The first questions on the page are under 1. Engage students with primary sources. The second is 2. Promote student inquiry. The third is 3. Assess how students apply critical thinking and analysis skills to primary sources. The questions under each heading are excellent.
Online Engagement Platforms
At the time of this unit’s creation, most of our school districts are going to be practicing distance learning. These applications might be helpful in engaging students in discussion and critical thinking about content. The first is the Google app/extension Jamboard. This is an interactive whiteboard with pen, laser, and sticky notes. Students can interact from their own computers, and the result is a whiteboard or poster board that looks just like something they could brainstorm alone or collaboratively on at school. Lino is similar to Jamboard. Both can be used during the class or as exit ticket activities at the end. Another is Flipgrid. It allows students to upload short original videos to a topic I select. The design is on the young side for my students, but it is easy to use and engaging—and they love seeing and recording themselves. Dotstorming is another interactive application. Students can vote and a grid shows their answers in dot-on-grid form that shows priorities and trends. Pear Deck is another interactive site that allows student to interact or give feedback with a variety of formats from dot-grid voting to TKW charts. Also more elementary in style, it is an easy way for my high school students to engage in a non-threatening way.
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