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?
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
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