History

Literacy in History class?

Facing History advocates using the study of the humanities to help us navigate different histories to create a moral and vically minded, engaged student. This is the foundation of democracy.

Giving the tools of language is a very empowering endeavor.

Literacy ideas from Facing History and Ourselves:

1. Create a headline - This is a quick way to get into & summarize a document; students read a passage and then create a headline for a newspaper; great way to teach HOOK, main idea and provocative titles; Always consider whose point of view the title represents!
2. Analyze media literacy - look for bias, C: #1 - is the headline accurate?
3. Glossary - when you share vocabulary words on a "think sheet," call it a glossary instead of word bank or vocab list!
4. Pull 3 - Read a passage, pull out 3 lines that made you think (ahas, what?, you want to dig into it more), discuss those lines with partner and/or group
5. Role Play - students read a passage written about a figure in history; they become that person and tell the story they just read - they must use "I" while telling the story; Make sure you have a variety of different points of view
6. Read a variety of text and identify perspectives, what is revealed, themes, what you can related to or identify with; Connections and Reflections, How can I connect this to today?; Write connections and reflections in Historian's Notebook.
7. Use stories to anchor ourselves in history: primary sources - journals, picture books, short stories, newspaper articles, biographies, historical fiction
8. Letters Home - read a law, amendment, bill, speech, etc and then write a letter home sharing what you predict will be the consequence. (Cause and Effect, Problem - Solution) Share letters to find common predictions.
9. Watch a film, stop and journal, share. Watch a film, stop and journal based on questions (habits of mind or text structures). Ex: What will be the effect of this move? What will happen next? What is the directors point of view or bias?
10. Build on an Idea - look at documents and share: what surprised you? What did you learn? What questions do you have? (Record all questions that come from documents. Determine what habits of the mind students are using or need to use.)
11. ABC - when studying a topic, fill in an ABC chart of facts or ideas learned. Ex: Civil War: A is for anti-slavery, B is for bayonet, ... S is for Sherman's March...
12. Heads Down game - all students are looking down, they cannot signal to each other in any way, the order of answers must be random: they must recite the (Civilization Flow Chart in order, battle in the Civil War in order, etc) without having two people speak at the same time! If two people speak, they must start over.
13. Written Conversations - sit in a group of 4, write for 2 minutes, trade papers, read first entry and write for 2 minutes, trade papers, read first two entries and write for 2 minutes...
14. Create Identity Charts - compare self to leaders and characters
15. Write about what you remember about _____ C: to topic or theme of topic Ex: write about someone who moved away. (C: Pilgrims leaving England).
16. Analyze a picture. Whom would you want to ask a question? What would you ask? P his/her answer.

Writing Ideas from Kyle Heilman:

Writing Ideas:

• How would the world be different if....
• Ask students, "How did this get broken? bent? destroyed?"
• Now that you know the real story, write you own.
• Tell me about when the button was shiney, lost, broken, or its best/worst day....
• Tell me about the day....why .... emotions.....why......
• Camera: what are 12 shots you would take from this day? from this pov? from this window or position? If you had one pictures from American History, which one would you choose? why?
  
• Artifacts can be Story starters AND Memory triggers
• Make your own Textbook: write articles, summaries of what was learned, timelines, pictures, and 10 facts learned about each topic. (oral exam each Friday)
• Research the history of dog tags (new tatooing information)
• Interview people continually - use flip phones to interview; review the big nos (uncomfortable topics for the time period: Did you kill anyone?) Remember, "What is seen connot be unseen."
• Write a caption for your artifact
• Tell me where this came from? (small nail?)
• What if one more/less person had....? (Good for tight elections!)