IB History of the Americas
Summer Homework for Incoming Juniors
Carrie Dixon
dixonc@edmonds.wednet.edu
http://teacher.edmonds.wednet.edu/edmonds
woodway/cdixon/index.php
Teresa Cairns
cairnst@edmonds.wednet.edu
http://teacher.edmonds.wednet.edu/edmonds
woodway/tcairns/index.php
During your junior year in IB History of the Americas, you will be learning about developments
in both North and South America. You will be considering history from the points of view of
people who were alive at the time (primary sources) and a variety of historians (secondary
sources). To get you started on this journey, we have designed this summer assignment to
introduce some of the themes and habits of mind that you will explore throughout the year.
Please read the following, making sure to read the author’s background information before
reading their article.
First, read the information about and article by Sam Wineburg:
1. Sam Wineburg background information: https://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/wineburg
2. Wineburg’s “On the Reading of Historical Texts”
Answer these questions (100 words max for each question)
 What differences does Wineburg identify in how students and historians evaluate
texts? How might this inform your own reading going forward?
 What does it mean to ask “what does a text do”? Why is it important to understand
what a text does?
Then, read the excerpts by Ronald Takaki and Howard Zinn.
3. Takaki’s “Author’s Note: Epistemology and Epiphany.”
4. Takaki Chapter 1 “A Different Mirror.”
5. Zinn’s background http://zinnedproject.org/about/howard-zinn
6. Zinn Chapter 1 “Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress.”
These readings are available on Ms. Dixon’s website. The password is “historyrocks”. You may
print copies if it helps you, but you are not required to.
1. Historians’ works are always informed by their own experiences. How do you think that the
life experiences of Zinn and Takaki impacted their writing? Write no more than 100 words for
each author.
2. For each chapter excerpt, create a t-chart. In one column, list 5-10 facts from the article. In
the other column, locate specific text where you can clearly tell that the historian is showing his
perspective on your chosen facts. What words (diction) clearly indicate their perspective? Write
these down in the opinion column.
3. What is your personal reaction to each of these historians? How is their writing similar to or
different from what or how you have learned about history in the past? Do you agree with their
points of view? Why or why not? Write no more than 250 words for each historian.
4. Choose a favorite reading (or perhaps all) from the above list and invite your
parents/guardians to read the selection as well. Using the questions from numbers 2 and 3,
solicit their responses and arrive to the first day of class ready to share your conversation. Write
a paragraph synopsis of your conversation (150-250 words).
Please arrive to the first day of class with printed copies of the above work, and be prepared to
discuss it.