Techniques for Analyzing Primary Sources (aligned to Common Core)

TPS-Barat (Primary Source Nexus Teaching Resource Blog) has great stuff--including a "Thinking Triangle" Graphic Organizer that I often use for photo analysis. 

Here are two articles they published that I thought were particularly interesting and could be widely adapted.

For Middle School and High School Students

In "Determining the Main Idea of a Text," high school teacher Glen Jensen, outlines his technique for having students analyze complex primary sources (in his case, President Franklin Roosevelt’s first inauguration speech).  It's worth reading his description, but here's a summary:

• I gave them time to re-read the text and underline the five most important words. (If students are having a hard time selecting five words, you may suggest that they look for words that will answer the five Ws.)
• Through class discussion, they chose the best five words. 
• Then students write a sentence that tells the main idea of the passage using the five words they chose or the five circled words the class agreed were best.
• As a class, they chose the best sentence. 
• Then students rewrite that sentence using informal or street language. Creating these slang sentences allow students to relate historical texts to contemporary times while requiring them to climb to the top of the cognitive thinking ladder. The students also find this activity to be engaging and fun. 
• 
  

For Elementary Students

In Analyzing Primary Sources: Sensory Exploration, TPS-Barat introduces its Sensory Exploration Graphic Organizer. 

"The sensory exploration graphic organizer is a great way to introduce students, especially younger ones, to primary source analysis. It also helps with vocabulary development. Encourage students to write to fill in each column for each sense. After, you may have students create a poem of their choice using the words they brainstormed; they may choose to write the poem from the point of view of someone outside the image or from a person, animal, or thing inside the image. If students drew images, have them combine their images into a pictograph to which they will add spoken word."

For National History Day

TPS-Barat has also created a number of really useful posts on National History Day, including several that provide primary source sets relating to specific topics that fit this year's theme (Leadership and Legacy in History); one that details the difference between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources; and one that reviews tech tools for creating citations. Find them all here. 

Useful Facebook Pages

Facebook is great for cute baby pictures, recipes and political rants--all of which I enjoy on my feed. But more and more I find Facebook useful for work related material. My Facebook reading isn't systematic--it is recreational--but I'm finding a lot of great recreational content related to teaching, history, and primary sources--some of which I pull out and feature here, but most of which I enjoy privately.

If you are on Facebook, here are a few history oriented pages you might want to check out and like/follow:

Montana Memory Project: https://www.facebook.com/MontanaStateLibrary.MMP

• For almost daily posts featuring really cool Montana primary sources 

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian: https://www.facebook.com/NationalMuseumoftheAmericanIndianinDC  

• For links to articles on contemporary Indian issues and artists, cool artifact photos, and even your Mayan horoscope

U.S. National Archives: https://www.facebook.com/usnationalarchives

• For "Documents of the Day"from the serious (Rosa Parks' fingerprint card from her arrest) to the frivolous (a picture of President Harry Truman pardoning a Thanksgiving turkey). Also for info re online professional development opportunities.

Library of Congress: https://www.facebook.com/libraryofcongress 

• For photos and other featured items from their collections

Montana Historical Society: https://www.facebook.com/MontanaHistoricalSociety

• For tidbits about Montana history, pictures of cool artifacts, documents, and historic buildings, and interesting links.

Montana Women's History Matters: https://www.facebook.com/montanawomenshistory

• For short posts on Montana women's history with links to longer essays

What are your favorite work-related Facebook pages? 

Richest Hills: Mining in the Far West and Other Summer PD from the NEH

It's cold outside (-9 this morning in Helena)--so what better time to start thinking about summer!

Next July, the Montana Historical Society is once again offering an NEH  Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops for School Teachers workshop: “The Richest Hills: Mining in the Far West, 1862-1920.”

Teachers (scholars, in NEH parlance) will travel to Montana  from across the country to spend a week visiting Bannack, Virginia City, Butte, Anaconda, and Helena to learn about  the mining West and ways to better teach with historic places and primary sources.  Instruction and materials are free and NEH provides a $1,200 stipend to help pay travel expenses, including hotel rooms, meals during the week, and travel to and from Helena. 

“The Richest Hills” offered an amazing week of learning last time around (you can read what past scholars have said about the experience here and see some of the lesson plans they created here). Each time we offer the workshop we fine tune it, and we expect that 2015 will be the best year yet. 

We encourage applications from Montana teachers—but you should know that the application process is very competitive (we had 250 applicants for 80 slots last time). Additionally, NEH requires that equal access be given to applicants coming from out of state and encourages projects to consider geographic diversity as part of their selection process. The good news is that there are LOTS of really cool, free offerings this summer in addition to “The Richest Hills.”

Through various NEH summer programs for teachers, you can spend a week in Atlanta studying the Civil Rights movement or in New York City studying the Gilded Age. There are longer programs too: imagine spending five weeks in Madrid, Spain, learning about Spanish art and literature (stipends are higher for longer programs to help cover costs.) Programs that include Indian Education for All content include

• From Mesa Verde to Santa Fe: Pueblo Identity in the Southwest (a three-week course in Cortez, CO)
• Following in Ancient Footsteps: The Hopewell in Ohio (Columbus, Ohio)
• Literatures of Indigenous Peoples (a three-week course in Missoula)
• Mesoamerican Cultures and Their Histories: Focus on Oaxaca (a four-week course in Oaxaca, Mexico)
• Native Americans of New England: A Historical Overview (a three-week course in Amherst, MA)

Please help us spread the word about “The Richest Hills” and take a look at all the other NEH workshops available. 

Applications are due March 2, 2015.

A full list of summer 2015 courses is available here. 

Indian Ed for All through Photo Analysis Activity plus a Poster Contest

What a pleasant surprise to open my TPS Western Region newsletter and see the article, Primary Sources in Action with Ruth Ferris. A Billings elementary librarian who has collaborated with us on many lesson plans, including Thinking Like a Historian and Montana’s State Flower: A Lesson in Civic Engagement, Ruth was featured for a Gallery Walk she created for Chief Plenty Coups State Park's Day of Honor. For the walk, she chose pictures from several different reservations to show the differences and similarities of the horse culture in Montana.  

According to Ruth, "The pictures selected were all taken during the late 1800s to early 1900s. They represent many of the tribes and reservations in Montana. I then put together a lesson that dealt with photo analysis, and could be completed independently by participants. This lesson met Essential Understanding #1 for Indian Education for All [“There is great diversity among the 12 tribal Nations of Montana in their languages, cultures, histories and governments.  Each Nation has a distinct and unique cultural heritage that contributes to modern Montana.”].  


Ruth also took a map of Montana that shows the Montana reservations, identified each picture by tribe and posted it near that reservation. "When I used the lesson with my younger students I provided greater scaffolding." 

Friends of Chief Plenty Coups Association has posted Ruth's lesson, "Hoofprints and Heartbeats," as she modified it for elementary students on its site. In addition to the photographs and resources for scaffolding are links to a variety of primary source analysis tools and a tutorial on the why and how of "Gallery Walks."

On a related note: The Indian Education Division of the Office of Public Instruction is conducting a poster contest for middle school students (grades 6, 7, and 8) regarding What Does Indian Education for All Mean to you.  Submissions are due Dec. 22, 2014. Find out more here.

9th Annual Indian Education For All Best Practices Conference and IEFA Resources

When my son was four he announced to me that “Indians only live in museums.” You can imagine my horror as I rushed to supply him with examples of contemporary American Indian life.

According to this article in Indian Country Today, most children still think that “All Indians Are Dead.” I don’t think study accurately reflects the reality on the ground in Montana because the researcher only coded state mandated history standards, and thus ignored Montana’s influential Essential Understandings Regarding MontanaIndians, which increasingly have guided classroom instruction since their adoption in 2001. Nevertheless—the article impressed upon me how important and transformative Indian Education for All has been—and how important it is to maintain momentum.

The 9^th Annual Indian Education For All Best Practices Conference will be held in Bozeman this year on Feb. 22-24. Up to 14 CEUs will be available. At the heart of the conference will be “Tribal Culture Immersion Sessions” led by well-respected members of tribal culture committees, tribal college faculty and other cultural experts. Space is limited for what looks to be an incredible learning opportunity so I recommend registering early. Learn more here. 

Looking for some plug-and-play IEFA lesson plans? Here are ones we’ve created—almost all of which are primary source based. 

Of course, OPI has an even larger number of lesson plans, searchable by subject matter, grade level and topic. 

Share Tour Story of Youth Agricultural Education with the Smithsonian

This came in at the end of last year. It’s another great crowd-sourcing project that your high school students could become involved in. More crowd-sourcing project ideas here and here. The Library of Congress Veterans Project also encourages community participation--including work by students 10th grade and above.

By the way, the Montana Women's History Matters blog featured an article about 4-H in Montana: "Head, Hearts, Hands, and Health: Montana's Women and Girls in the 4-H Movement."  

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ★ ★ ★ AMERICAN HISTORY Share your story of childhood agricultural education, whether with FFA, 4-H, or another organization, with the Smithsonian.   If you were a member of FFA, 4-H, or other agricultural education program as a kid, you know just how powerful these experiences can be. Some still remember lessons learned in these organizations as adults: "We're in this enormous coliseum and you look around and it's all blue jackets," said Smithsonian Gardens Supervisory Horticulturist Brett McNish, who was a student FFA member in Illinois. "It was a pretty powerful moment, as a teenager, to stop and really recognize that you're part of something great and important." Brett was first to add his story to the National Museum of American History's Agriculture Innovation and Heritage Archive, an online archive where anyone can explore American agricultural history shared by people like you. Check out Brett's story and add your own. Sincerely, Curator Peter Liebhold

Tying Primary Sources to Literature

In a quick note thanking me for the links to post on the 1964 Civil Rights Act anniversary, Browning teacher Brenda Johnston mentioned that her students were going to start To Kill a Mockingbird soon, and that she liked to include Civil Rights material to provide context.

Especially with the Common Core's emphasis on including informational texts and helping students learn to interpret primary sources, using literature as a jump off point to investigate the historical events makes good sense. (Actually--I always thought this made good sense and am glad to be able to reference the Common Core to back the practice.)

We've worked with literature teachers at Helena High School to gather resources for Fools Crow and The Grapes of Wrath--and I'd be delighted to work to develop resource sets relating to other commonly taught novels. I've talked about both of these projects before--but here's a quick recap:

Fools Crow/Marias Massacre project

We created this project with 10th grade honors English teacher Jill Van Alstyne. After her students read Fools Crow, she has them look at the Marias Massacre, an event that occurs at the end of James Welch’s novel.

After completing the MHS lesson plan: “Blood on the Marias: Understanding Different Points of View Related to the Baker Massacre of 1870,”  and reviewing the difference (and different uses for) primary and secondary sources, she assigns a research paper focused on the Marias Massacre. Students are asked to answer one of the following questions: “Why did Baker attack Heavy Runner's band?” “How did attitudes to the event change over time?” or “How did geography and/or ethnicity influence perspective?”

They also came into the historical society to find a photograph that  illustrated one way non-Indian immigration to Montana changed the world that Montana Indians knew. That part of the project is discussed in Using Historic Photographs to Complement the Study of Literature. 

Grapes of Wrath project

Helena High School Junior Honors American Literature teacher Jean O’Connor worked with us to develop this project, which will have students conducting research in the Governors Records to gain a deeper understanding of what life was like in Montana during the Great Depression. Although “Governors Records” sounds deadly, the collection actually contains heartrending letters from farmers and others detailing their struggles on drought stricken farms. (You can view some of those letters here. Jean also asks her students to read the first chapter of Mary Murphy's book on FSA photographers in Montana during the Great Depression: Hope in Hard Times, which we digitized for teachers to use with their students. And, she has students analyze photographs in the Library of Congress's Farm Security Administration photo collection. Details of her project are here.

Do you have a historical novel you'd like to tie to Montana history resources? Let us know and we'll see what we can find.