Context

My kid went nuts when we couldn’t find his blue shorts. It had to be THOSE blue shorts. Both of my kids stayed up waaaaay too late. They looked ridiculous. So did I. I let them roam all over someone else’s neighborhood and talk to strangers who looked weird. They ate more sugar than their small bodies could handle and wound up literally running in circles to work some of the sugar out of their systems. Some neighbor had a scary movie playing on a projector on the outside wall and both my kids had nightmares. We went home at the obscene hour of nine o’clock, it was too late for baths,  and the whole family was in tears by ten.

It was so much fun!!!!

“It” was, of course, Halloween.

Context. It makes all the difference.

The difference between “#parentingfails” and “pretty average” is in the context. The question of  Halloween or Regular Wednesday Night has a pretty big impact on your understanding.

Context is an area where a lot of our kids struggle. We as teachers struggle with teaching context sometimes, too. It’s hard to tell the difference between context and content.  What “stuff” about history or government or economics is the important “stuff” and which is just contextual “stuff”.

If you’ve ever showed your students a throwback Thursday picture, only to have them giggle and wonder at your hair or clothes, you know how important context is.

Context is JUST as important in social studies, too.

• The Constitution did not originally give every adult citizen the right to vote, of course.  Originally, the states determined who could vote, often choosing only land-owning, white men over age 21, often about 6% of the population.

The context behind that is a powerful piece of that understanding. The context of gender, race, power, money, and language in the original electorate was essential to understanding that limited enfranchisement

• The beginnings of Buddhism as a reaction to Hinduism is a huge reason that Buddhism caught on in the first place. That context of a stratified Hindu society is what makes Buddhism stand out. It’s different. It’s a reaction to its historical context.
• The Scientific Revolution is only a “revolution” in the context of the previously religious understanding of the universe.

Without context, it’s impossible to understand an “impact” or an “effect” -- because there has to be some context, some THING to be impacted or effected.

So, every single time we bust out a document in class, kids should use some context. There are plenty of ways to do this (APPARTS, Doc Analysis Sheets, etc.) but here are the questions that SHEG (Stanford History Education Group) asks us to use ...

• When and where was the document created?
• What was different then?
• What was the same?
• How might the circumstances in which the document was created affect its content?

If you’re looking for some quick prompts to practice contextualizing documents, SHEG gives us a few to start with:

• Based on the background information, I understand this document differently because ...
• The author might have been influenced by ___ (historical context).
• This document might not give me the whole picture because...

If you read last week’s WW email, you know we talked about Sourcing. Contextualization is interwoven with sourcing as we look at the people and circumstances around the CREATION of the document to inform our understanding.

Again, this is not just a HISTORICAL Literacy Skill. It’s a Civic Literacy Skill. It’s a Citizenship Skill. It’s a Media Literacy Skill. It’s a Social Media Skill. It’s a Personal Relationship Skills.

It’s a life skill.

Looking at the context of a document is crucial to understanding it. We need to help our students use context when they read the news or a listen to a candidate or watch something online.

Let’s get them in the habit of asking those context questions every time they come across a document. I think it can be powerful in understanding history and current events.

How do you ask your kids to contextualize? Do you do it frequently? How can you tuck in these questions every time you bust out a document?

AS always, I love to hear from you. And Happy Halloween. Don’t let the Candy-Hangovers get you down tomorrow!

-Tracy

The Source

Imagine that you got a letter in the mail (with students, I pretend that they found a note in the  hall or in their lockers). Imagine that this letter or note said horrible things about you. Imagine that it accused you of doing terrible things and it called you awful names.

Now, think about who wrote it. You would deal with that letter or note differently if it was from a friend you had a disagreement with ... differently if it was from your ex ... differently if it was from your current significant other (and you thought everything was ok) ... differently if it was from your sibling ... differently if it was from a coworker  ... differently if it was from ANOTHER coworker... differently if it was from a complete stranger!

Sourcing matters.

It matters when you look to see what news outlet a Facebook link comes from. It matters which parent sent which email. It matters what author said which quote. It matters which individual made which comment on your social media. It matters what think tank funded which study. It matters which PAC paid for which ad. It matters which organization sponsors what website.

It also matters whether the document is from the Egyptian pharaoh or the Egyptian slave or the Kushite trader or the Israelite slave in Egypt or the British historian or the Greek enemy.

Sourcing matters.

For every document, we always ask:

• Who wrote this?
• What is the author’s perspective?
• Why was it written?
• When was it written?
• Where was it written?
• Is it reliable? Why or why not?

The way we read and understand a document (or even a secondary source, really) depends on sourcing. Just as in the letter/note example, you would deal with that mean and nasty letter differently if it was your ex than you would if it was a coworker.

How would you react if it was your ex that wrote that letter (for some of us it might have been a long time ago and we might be surprised that they even remembered that we exist!)

How would you react if it was your sibling that wrote that letter? (it probably depends on how that relationship with your sibling is these days)

How would you react if it was your significant other wrote that letter? (assuming that things were generally good between you)

It depends on what you know about the author -- or about his time period or about her culture about his location or about her group/organization.

Sourcing matters.

It is the first step in our historical thinking skills AND it is a crucial piece in the civic literacy -- AND it is the a big part of the ELA/LAFS standards.

If I can challenge you this week to do one thing it’s this:

Have your kids dig into the sourcing information of EVERYTHING THEY READ.

They need to be in the habit of looking at the source for Social Studies, for ELA, and for Civic Life.

Teach them how to look at the source of current events, historical documents -- even textbooks!

Did  you read the article a few years ago about the Texas textbook that said that enslaved persons fought FOR the South in the Civil War?

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/10/20/130693482/va-textbook-claims-blacks-fought-for-south-in-civil-war-source-the-internet

Uhhhhh ....  No.

That textbook writer (OMG that was a textbook writer!!!) pulled info off a Sons of the Confederacy website that has no evidence to support its claim.

It can happen anywhere that people are not careful. If we don’t look at the sourcing information, we don’t understand the author’s point of view.

That doesn’t mean we’re sourcing documents to see if they’re RIGHT or not, TRUTHFUL or not. It means we’re sourcing them to see where the author is coming from.

If you have never seen the SHEG Lunchroom fight lesson on sourcing, it will make this sourcing stuff make MUCH more sense. https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons/lunchroom-fight . You need a login, but it’s free and some of the highest quality Historical Thinking stuff out there!

Goal for the week: Be more intentional about sourcing everything with kids -- including secondary sources! If you make it a good habit, kids will get in that habit too!

Questions? Thoughts? Awesome ways you source documents? As always, email me. I want to hear all about it!! newmantr@pscb.org

Cut. It. Out.

Doc Strips.

No, this blog hasn’t gone “blue”. This is not about a person named “Doc” who does anything NSFW (not suitable for work). Instead, this is a strategy for digging into a document. It’s not like Chicken Strips.

So, there are a lot of ways to get kids to dig into a historical document. We can use Doc Analysis Sheets, we can use PERSIA, we can do “I See I Think I Wonder”, we can use “Looking 10x2”, and on and on.

Well, here’s another tool for your tool box and it’s great for struggling readers or high achieving readers.

It’s called Document Strips.  And it’s fairly simple to prep for.

Just Cut. It. Out.

The papers, I mean. Cut out the papers.

Strategy: Doc Strips

Why? To get kids to dig further into a text, to pique student curiosity, to help them read more closely.

What? Simply cut your documents into sentence (or phrase) strips. Then, have the kids use context clues to assemble the document back together!

How?  

1.      Choose a document that the kids can tackle (mostly) by themselves. Be sure to define or pre-teach any terms that might give the kids too much struggle. We don’t want them to give up because they come across an indecipherable word.

2.      Then, split the document into sentences (or phrases), one per line. Cut the strips and put each set in an envelope. Try not to give them clues!

3.      Give each group of students (partners work best, but 3s or 4s are ok) an envelope and instruct the groups to try to read the sentences and put them in order.

4.      Go around to the groups and check to see if they got the sentence (or phrase) strips in the correct order. If not, ask them WHY they put the sentences in that order. Often, they will either find their mistakes or they will have compelling evidence that shows solid thinking.

Why would this help? Well, it helps struggling readers to have to dig into the text and work to make sense of what they’re reading. It also helps to slow down your speed readers and keep them really understanding the text (as opposed to the strategy of scanning for answers that many readers have mastered). It also is a little more fun than reading without Doc Strips or than writing. It “looks” easy (even if it isn’t).

Pro Tip:  Keep an “answer key” uncut for yourself  to quickly check answers as you walk around the room.

How do I know if they got it? Have them do a quick formative assessment to check whether they understood the document. Ask them to tweet the doc, hashtag it, summarize it, illustrate it, etc. Let them put what they learned in a different format to show you that they “got it”.

All you have to do is Cut. It. Out.

This is an oldie but a goodie! Do you use it? Will you try it? As always, I love to hear from you! Email me at newmantr@pcsb.org

Oh, Crop!

Do you ever show your kids an image, political cartoon, map, chart graph, etc., and find that kids focus on the One Thing in the image and then miss all the “small stuff” and the details?

Oooorrrrr .....

Do you ever find a great image (or map or graph or chart or painting or photo or ....) in your book or somewhere and ask your kids, “Can you look at the small bottom left corner”, “do you see the thing near the top”? “Look at the third column on the graph” ...

And then take 10 minutes trying to get everyone to see what you’re trying to show them?

Oooorrrrrr ....

Do you ever struggle with fitting in multiple perspectives into some lessons?

I like to say,”Oh Crop!” when that happens.

(not really. But it sounds funny)

If you’d like to use more visuals in your class (paintings, sculptures, photographs, maps, charts, graphs, political cartoons, etc.), but you find it annoying and frustrating, check out this “Crop It” strategy!

Here it goes!

What is it? “Crop It” is a hands-on learning routine where teachers pose questions and students use paper cropping tools to deeply explore a visual primary source.

Why Use it?  Life moves pretty fast. We see thousands of images a day and we don’t give many of them more than a second or two of our attention. “Crop It” slows us down to provide time for students to think  and to examine the details that they might otherwise miss. It also helps them “get into the head” of the artist (or creator) of the visual.

Prep:

1. Print and cut a bunch of “Crop It” tools https://www.teachinghistory.org/sites/default/files/2018-08/crop_it_tools.pdf
2. Choose multiple images for your kids to dig into. Consider some such as:
1. Various sources like cartoons, propaganda, advertisements, newspaper articles, etc.
2. Sources that represent multiple perspectives on a topic
3. Sources depicting the different people, places, events within a unit.
4. Sources representing perspectives missing from the textbook.
3. Print enough so that every kid (or pair of kids) have an image and a set of Crop It Tools. Multiple kids can have the same image. You don’t need thirty different images. You can have 5 or 6.
4. Prepare some higher order thinking questions to accompany the images on the board or screen.

Step One:  Ask kids to choose an image that either:

1. Connects to an experience they have had
2. Relates to something they know about
3. Leaves them with questions
4. Evokes their curiosity

Step Two: Explore the Image

1. Pass out two “Crop It” tools to each student.
2. Demonstrate how to use the “Crop It” tools to focus on a particular piece of a source. Students can make various sizes of triangles, rectangles, and lines of “crop” to focus attention on an important part of the source.
3. Invite students to carefully explore their image by using the tools. Pose a question and ask students to look carefully and “crop” to show an answer.  Some example questions might include:
1. Crop to show what first caught your eye. Think: Why did you notice this part?
2. Crop to show who or what this image is mainly about. Think: Why is this person or thing important?
3. Crop to a clue where this takes place. Think: What has happened at this place?
4. Invite kids to use divergent thinking. Where ELSE could you crop to answer the question?

4. Let kids look at other students’ crops, to see what their images showed and what they focused on.

Step Three: Collect evidence.

1. Collect evidence that students cropped on the board or on chart paper by asking them recall the details they cropped and list that evidence. These charts encourage students to notice details that can be used later.
2. Relate the evidence back to your Learning Goal (benchmark) or LEarning targets or Essential Questions.

Be careful of ...

• Asking too many questions during Step Two, Keep it moving quickly so kids don’t get off  task and so they stay focused on their primary source.

What do you think? Is it worth a try?  Do you have enough copies left this month to make a class set of “crop it” tools? Remember -- download them from here and make copies https://www.teachinghistory.org/sites/default/files/2018-08/crop_it_tools.pdf