This fall, the 10th grade classes have come to the library to explore world history issues by taking a closer look at primary sources. So far, their teachers and I have tried three different techniques to help students understand and analyze the information in a primary source.
Working together in small groups, students reviewed an unfamiliar source to see if they could answer the following questions:
Students often wrestled with these sources. Items written in cursive were difficult for students to decipher (we did not include a translation). Items from newspapers were sometimes confusing as they were a second hand report of an event. Each group had one piece of a larger puzzle which students began to discover when we discussed all the documents as a larger group.
Currently, students are beginning their research into the time between the wars. Some classes entered the research process by reviewing three primary source articles from a prepared "Primary Source Starter Kit." Every possible topic had one corresponding primary source, and students looked at the documents for their top three choices.
Having tracked what they Observe, Reflect, and Question about each source, we hope each students final research choice will most pique their interest and that they are more authentically invested in their research.
Another group of researching 10th graders began their research by using a provided primary source as an entry point into their subject matter. While this group used a similar "Primary Source Starter Kit" as those who did the tasting, this group only explored one document. They used the digital version of the Library of Congress' Primary Source Analysis Tool to track their notetaking at the same time as their reading. The hope here is that students will not only uncover their own research questions but also their next steps for further investigation.
1. Close Reading as a Group
- Is this a primary source?
- Who are the people involved in this source?
- What is happening in this document/artifact?
- How might you use this source if you were doing research?
Students often wrestled with these sources. Items written in cursive were difficult for students to decipher (we did not include a translation). Items from newspapers were sometimes confusing as they were a second hand report of an event. Each group had one piece of a larger puzzle which students began to discover when we discussed all the documents as a larger group.
2. Primary Source Tasting
Having tracked what they Observe, Reflect, and Question about each source, we hope each students final research choice will most pique their interest and that they are more authentically invested in their research.
3. Entry Point into Deeper Research
Primary sources provide context to a time and place and experience. At their best, they help young history students become young historians.