Teaching Strategies
Teach Historical Thinking by “Boxing” Primary Sources
Due to the current pandemic crisis, I decided to modify the physical boxes of primary sources into virtual sharing documents for students to collect images and hyperlinks. When in-person instructions safely return, students can physically collaborate in collecting primary sources. For remote learning, primary sources don’t need to be printed on paper literally and made physically. Teachers can easily set up web-based shared documents on Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Jamboard, Pear Deck or other online sharing platforms; this approach will allow each group to work synchronously or asynchronously as they search, copy and paste images or hyperlinks of primary sources. Remotely, students can still categorize, interpret, interact with each primary source as they engage in group decisions. This type of collaborative and interactive activity demands group interpretations and supports learner-led inquiry as students critically discuss biases, contextual meanings, evidence of certainties or ambiguities, different points of view, etc. The goal is to encourage students to use historical thinking, research-based inquiry and fact checking as they analyze the primary sources online.
Organization and preparation are keys in preparing students for a positive learning experience. I have designed the first 4 boxes for students to work collaboratively in small groups. (Please note: The 5th box labelled #5 Boxing the Problem is designed for a whole group inquiry.) For the small group activities with the first 4 boxes, divide the class into 4 small groups (6 to 8 students) and pair each group with a labelled shared document. For instance, Group 1 is responsible for document #1 Boxing Hair, Group 2 is responsible for document #2 Boxing Race, Group 3 is responsible for document #3 Boxing Gender, Group 4 is responsible for document #4 Boxing Hate. Each shared document should be clearly labelled. For instance, teachers can set up a 6-page document on Google Slide for Group 1 (who is responsible for collecting primary sources for hair discrimination) with Page 1: Things People Make Relating to Queue. Page 2: Things People Say about Queue. Page 3: Things People Write about Queue. Page 4: Things People Make Relating to Dredlocs. Page 5: Things People Say about Dredlocs. Page 6: Things People Write about Dredlocs. For suggestions and ideas of primary sources, please refer to Classroom Activities, Lessons for Social Issues #1 to #5, Google Search Suggestions.
Timelines as Visual Reference Points
A timeline is an effective teaching strategy to help students understand sequence of events over a time period in an organized and chronological order. For in-person learning, create a clothesline timeline by marking some well-known events as points of reference (See Timeline #1). Post the clothesline timeline horizontally or vertically in a classroom wall to serve as a visual tool throughout the year. For remote learning, students can make a class and/or individual virtual timeline on Google Jamboard, Excel (Gantt Chart), Padlet, and Microsoft Word (insert SmartArt). A few software comes with historical photographs and images, as well as the ability to import images from the Web, add movies and sounds, and convert timelines into a slide show. Office Timeline is an interactive timeline maker for professionals who need to build stunning visual project plans, schedules and Gantt charts.
Present students with two timelines similar to those below: one with major events (See Timeline #1), and one with focused events based on social issues like race chosen by teachers or researched by students (See Timeline #2). Use a line format with tick marks to get students to integrate all the events to make a composite timeline by decades or centuries. Have students debated on the exact dates of these events and the limitations of timelines.
Timeline #1 (Textbook American History Events)
1607 English settlers arrive in Virginia
1616-1699 Jamestown serves as the colonial capital
1776 Declaration of Independence
1848 Gold Rush in California
1861-1865 Civil War, Emancipation Declaration (1863)
1865 Reconstruction
1869 First transcontinental railroad completed
1882-1892 Chinese Exclusion Act, extended multiple times until 1943
1907 Gentleman’s Agreement between U.S. and Japan
1917 U.S. enters WWI
1920 19thAmendment ratified
1920’s Immigration Act of 1924 (2% quota per nationality excluding people from Asia)
1929-1938 Great Depression
1941 U.S. enters WWII
1943 The Magnuson Act permits a quota of 105 Chinese immigrants annually.
1965 Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 changed the ethnic makeup of the U.S. with increased numbers of immigrants from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the West Indies.
1980 The Refugee Act define created a policy with the United Nations’ definition of refugees and raised the limitation from 17,400 to 50,000 refugees admitted each fiscal year
2010 or 2011 the year 4thgrade students were born
2019 COVID-19 pandemic gains global attention
2020 Philadelphia public schools resume remotely in September
Timeline #2 (Boxing Asian American History)
1834 (Gender) Afong Moy’s arrival to the U.S.
1849 (Gender) Henry Box Brown’s escape
1879 (Hair) Ho Ah Kow v. Nunan
1885 (Race) Saum Song Bo’s letter
1955 (Race) Robert Leon Bacon’s letter
1982 (Hate) Murder of Vincent Chin
2018 (Hair) Wrestler Andrew Johnson’s viral video
2020 (Hate) Murder of George Floyd
Graphic Organizer(s) to Analyze Each Social Issue
For each boxing topic (social issue such as race): Have students use a KWHL Chart to generate ideas and questions for the following categories: K stands for what students already KNOW about race, W stands for what students WANT to know, H stands for HOW students will get their questions answered, L stands for what students LEARNED after their research. Other graphic organizers to consider include: concept web or cluster diagram for brainstorming, mind map to capture a flow of relating thoughts, and top-down web to organize main ideas and details.
How to Analyze Primary Sources: Things People Make, Say and Write:92
For “Things People Make” primary sources such as photos, drawings and videos: Have students use a basic graphic organizer called “I Notice & I Wonder” chart. Fold a piece of paper in halves. Label “I Notice” for what students notice as they observe a primary source, and “I Wonder” for questions students may have about that primary source.
For “Things People Say” primary sources such as audio or written transcripts of speeches, testimonials and interviews, make sure to listen to the recordings or read aloud the written transcript multiple times, use the following list of questions to help students to analyze: 1) Who is the speaker? Is the speaker reliable? 2) Who is the key audience (students, parents, teachers, experts)? How many people listen to this? Why are people listening to the speaker? 3) What is the message or theme? What is the speaker’s purpose? To entertain, motivate, persuade, inform, narrate a story? 4) When and where did the speaker deliver this? What is the historical content and context? 5) How does the speaker make you feel? 6) What are some rhetorical devices? 7) What is the overarching tone of the speaker? Humorous, serious, positive, negative? 8) Did the speaker visual aids like charts and maps? 9) Did the speaker use gestures and eye contact? 10) Is the speaker effective?
For “Things People Write” primary sources such as letters, autobiography, and poetry, use close reading. This strategy will guide students to read a complex text multiple times to uncover deeper meanings and understanding, the kind of careful reading the Common Core State Standards demand in order to be college and career ready. Close reading is meant for all types of classrooms with ALL students from kindergarten to high school and college. There are many ways to conduct a close reading; it can be done in one day or a week. Most teachers like to reread with some elapsed time between each reading of the same text. What is most important is for students and teachers to read a little, then critically think, talk and write about the text. When students actively interact with difficult text with teacher’s support, they understand better what the author is saying, the author’s craft and how to interpret precise meanings with textual evidence. Support students with additional and intentional teaching of academic vocabulary, annotation, textual dependent analysis, and other research-based strategies will increase the impact of the close reading method. Textual dependent questions will guide students to decipher multiple meaning words, difficult sentences, and complex ideas from its literal meaning to the subtext, symbolism, bias, and values.
The order of these steps may be switched based on teacher knowledge of their student needs. There are no right set of steps to conduct for a close reading. In general, most close readings begin as a cold read without a great deal of background knowledge. Students read independently in silence. Then the teacher read aloud the text to demonstrate fluency as students listen and follow along. During the next reading, the teacher can focus on a single question at a time as students collaboratively or independently search the text for evidence to support their answers. Teachers may want to gather the whole class to share their answers, and probe students to provide sufficient supporting details from the text for each answer. Questions are intended to build knowledge over the course of the reading.
Writer’s Workshops for Narrative, Informational and Opinion Writings
Use writing assignments before, during and after each close reading. Writing allows the teacher to assess individual student understanding, and formatively diagnose the literacy gains and needs of students. From my experience, even struggling readers perform well with close reading because they can find evidence directly in the text rather than depending heavily on their prior knowledge and experiences. It is essential that students engage in writing about the text throughout each lesson and also as a culminating activity. Student writing can vary in length, with the expectation that all students are learning and practicing their writing skills with textual evidence. Beside textual dependent analysis, teachers might afford students the opportunity to revise their papers after classroom discussion or teacher feedback. This will allow students to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Whole Group Discussion: Socratic Seminar, Philosopher’s Chair and Mock Trial
To add complexity to each social issue, include claim statements (opinions, biases, stereotypes) for students to practice their argumentative skills. Discussion is essential in helping students to decipher primary sources, and construct their own interpretations. In a Socratic Seminar, students help each other understand the difficult ideas, issues and values reflected. Philosopher’s Chair is a strategy to force students to asset their opinions to come to a “majority rules” consent about an opinion or a fact. Primary sources like a court decision are great roadmaps for mock trials.
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