"It doesn't matter how much you know. It matters what you can do.”

"It doesn't matter how much you know. It matters what you can do.” -- Thomas Gaffney, HS Math Teacher from Philadelphia

From Wineburg, “Thinking Like a Historian” http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/1002/article.html “What about thinking? Does that have anything to do with history?” “Nope. It's all pretty simple. Stuff happened a long time ago. People wrote it down. Others copied it and put it in a book. History!”

What is “historical thinking”? Five core components of historical thinking teachinghistory.org • Multiple Accounts & Perspectives • Analysis of Primary Documents • Sourcing • Understanding Historical Context • Claim-Evidence Connection

Dimensions of Historical Thinking National Center for History in the Schools, UCLA • Chronological Thinking • Historical Comprehension • Historical Analysis and Interpretation • Historical Research Capabilities • Historical Issues-Analysis and Decision-Making

Thinking Like a Historian Sam Wineburg “treat with skepticism any account that claims to present a full story of the past” • Sourcing: Think about a document's author and its creation • Contextualizing: Situate the document and its events in time and place • Close reading: Carefully consider what the document says and the language used to say it • Using Background Knowledge: Use historical information and knowledge to read and understand the document • Reading the Silences: Identify what has been left out or is missing from the document by asking questions of its account • Corroborating: Ask questions about important details across multiple sources to determine points of agreement and disagreement

Strategies Strategies for using primary sources in the classroom: PAPER KWL Political cartoons Memorials & Monuments Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/langwitches/3557894144/

Patrick Rael, Bowdoin College How to Read a Primary Source • Purpose of the author in preparing the document • Argument and strategy she or he uses to achieve those goals • Presuppositions and values (in the text, and our own) • Epistemology (evaluating truth content) • Relate to other texts (compare and contrast)

KWL Chart what do I know what do I want to know what have I learned Consider four ways that primary sources enhance history learning: • Motivate historical inquiry • Supply evidence for historical accounts • Convey information about the past • Provide insight into the thoughts and experiences of people in the past

Political Cartoons Tool for understanding, interpreting, and engaging with the past

How to read a political cartoon • Symbol and Metaphor • Visual Distortion • Irony in Words & Images • Stereotype & Caricature • An Argument Not a Slogan • The Uses & Misuses of Political Cartoons

Monuments and Memorials Living pieces of history How events are memorialized Who erected them Who designed them How they've been related to and used by the community since their creation

Monuments have stories embedded within them Vietnam War Slavery

Resources TAH list: http://www.diigo.com/list/cdworrell/tah

"It doesn't matter how much you know. It matters what you can do.”