Historical Thinking
Historical Thinking
What is History?
History is an account of the past.
• Accounts/narratives differ depending on
one’s perspective.
• We rely on evidence to construct our
accounts of the past.
• We must question the reliability of each
piece of evidence.
• Any single piece of evidence is insufficient.
• We must consult multiple pieces of
evidence in order to build a plausible account.
Sourcing
Before reading the document ask yourself:
• Who wrote this?
• What is the author’s point of view?
• Why was it written?
• When was it written? (A long time or
short time after the event?)
• Is this source believable? Why? Why not?
Imagine the Setting
(Contextualizing)
• What else was going on at the time this
was written?
• What was it like to be alive at this time?
• What things were different back then?
What things were the same?
• What would it look like to see this event
through the eyes of someone who lived
back then?
Cross-Checking
(Corroboration)
• What do other pieces of evidence say?
• Am I finding the same information
everywhere?
• Am I finding different versions of the
story? (If yes, why might that be?)
• Where else could I look to find out about
this?
• What pieces of evidence are most
believable?
Close Reading
• What claims does the author make?
• What evidence does the author use to
support those claims?
• How is this document supposed to make
me feel?
• What words or phrases does the author
use to convince me that he/she is right?
• What information does the author leave
out ?
Historical Reading
Skills
Sourcing
(Before reading
document
Questions Students
• What is the author’s point of view?
should be able to . . .
• Identify author's position on historical
event
• Why was it written?
• When was it written?
• Is this source believable? Why? Why not?
• Predict what author will say BEFORE
reading document
Based on the sourcing
information, I predict this author
will…
I do/don’t trust this document
because…
• What else was going on at the time this was
written?
• Use context/background information to
draw more meaning from document
I already know that ____ is
happening at this time…
• What was it like to be alive at this time?
• Infer historical context from document(s)
• What things were different back then? What
things were the same?
• Recognize that document reflects one
moment in changing past
From this document I would guess
that people at this time were
feeling…
• Understand that words must be
Close Reading
This author probably believes…
I think the audience is…
• Identify and evaluate author's purpose in
producing document
• Evaluate source's believability/
trustworthiness by considering genre,
audience, and author's purpose.
Contextualization
Prompts
• What claims does the author make?
• Identify author’s claims about event
• What evidence does the author use to support
those claims?
• Evaluate evidence/reasoning author uses to
support claims
• How is this document make me feel?
• Evaluate author’s word choice; understand
that language is used deliberately
This document might not give me
the whole picture because …
I think the author chose these
words because they make me
feel…
The author is trying to convince
me…(by using/saying…)
• What words or phrases does the author use to
convince me that he/she is right?
• What information does the author leave out?
Corroboration
• What do other pieces of evidence say?
• Am I finding different versions of the story? Why
or why not?
• What pieces of evidence are most believable?
• Establish what is true by comparing
documents to each other
This author agrees/ disagrees
with…
• Recognize disparities between two
Accounts
This document was written
earlier/later than the other, so…
Lunchroom Fight
Imagine that you are the principal of a school
and you just found out that there was a fight in
the lunchroom during lunch. You’ve asked many
students and teachers who witnessed the fight
to write down what they saw and who they
think started the fight. Unfortunately, you have
received many conflicting accounts that
disagree not only as to who started the fight,
but also as to who was involved and when the
fight even started. It’s important to remember
that NO ONE is just plain lying.
Partner Up & Answer
1. Why would there be different stories of the event
if no one is just plain lying?
2. What are the different types of people who
might have seen this fight? (e.g., friends of those
involved versus people who don’t know the kids
who were fighting; those who were fighting versus
those who were witnesses; adults versus kids)
3. What might make one person’s story more
believable or plausible than another person’s?
a. Why might people see or remember things differently?
b. Who has an interest in one kid getting in trouble instead of
another kid? Who was standing where? Could they see the whole
event?
c. The plausibility of the stories themselves (e.g., issues of
exaggeration and how the stories fit into what is known about the
students’ prior histories). Is the story believable, trustworthy?
d. Time: Do stories change over time? How might what we
remember right after the event differ from what we remember a
week later? Does time make the way someone remembers
something more or less trustworthy?
e. Physical Evidence: what kinds might have an effect on what you
believe: bruises, missing objects, etc.
Why???
All of these things apply to history: How events
are interpreted, remembered, explained, and
judged to be trustworthy.
Studying history involves considering people’s
perspectives and biases; evidence;
trustworthiness. Similar to the principal,
historians trying to figure out what happened in
the past.
Ticket Out the Door
• What are some of the skills we
covered that you already practice
everyday?
Why Study History????
Day 2
Snapshot Autobiography
1) Take an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper and fold it “accordion” style (like a
letter you’d mail), so that it forms 3 panels, or counting front and back,
you should have 6 panels.
2) The first panel is the cover for your Snapshot Autobiography.
• Give your autobiography a title (for example, “Snapshots from
the life of Kathy”)
• You need to illustrate. (Color & no stick figures)
3) On the back panel write a brief “About the Author” section: include
your name, place and date of birth, and anything else you want people
of know about you. You may include a self-portrait if you like.
4) This leaves four panels. In the first of these panels, write about your
birth. In the other three panels, you are going to write about important
events that have shaped you as a person. This means that you are
selecting a total of three
important events (besides your birth) from your life.
• For each these three events, write a narrative (story)
describing what happened. Make sure you describe it from start to
finish: pretend that someone who doesn’t know you will be reading
your story and trying to understand it. Be sure to include details!
• Illustrate each event with a small, hand-written picture.
1. Why did you choose certain events and not
others? What made some events more
important, or memorable than others?
2. Was it difficult to select events? Why or Why
not?
3. What types of evidence would be necessary to
“prove” that your selected event actually
happened?
Why Study History????
This is exactly what history is like.
History is what happened in the past, just like
the events in your life.
Our work this session is to figure out how we can
gather enough evidence to get the clearest
picture possible of what happened in the past.
Why Study History????
Day 3
Evaluating Sources
Who should you believe??
What makes one account more trustworthy than
another?
Historical Question #1 Who was present at the
signing of the Declaration of Independence?
Source #1: Hollywood movie about the American
Revolution made in 2001.
Source #2: Book written by a famous historian who
is an expert on the American Revolution, published
in 1999.
Which do you trust more? Why?
Historical Question #2 What was slavery like in
South Carolina?
Source #1: Interview with former slave in 1936. The
interviewer is a black man collecting oral histories
for the Federal Writers’ Project.
Source #2: Interview with former slave in 1936. The
interviewer is a black man collecting oral histories
for the Federal Writers’ Project.
Which do you trust more? Why?
Historical Question #3 What was the layout of
the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz?
Source #1: Interview with 80 year-old Holocaust
survivor in 1985.
Source #2: Map of concentration camp found in
Nazi files.
Which do you trust more? Why?
Historical Question #4 Why were the Japanese
Americans put in internment camps during
WWII?
Source #1: Government film explaining internment
from 1942.
Source #2: Government report on Japanese
Internment from 1983 based on declassified
government documents.
Which do you trust more? Why?
Historical Question #5 Did American soldiers
commit atrocities during the Vietnam War in
1969?
Source #1: Sworn testimony by American Sergeant
in Congressional hearings in 1969.
Source #2: Speech by American General touring the
United States in 1969.
Which do you trust more? Why?
Historical Question #6 What happened at the
Battle of Little Bighorn?
Source #1: High school history textbook from 1985.
Source #2: Newspaper account from the day after
the battle in June 1876.
Which do you trust more? Why?
Answers*
*Though you were asked to choose one source over
the other in this lesson, you would ultimately need
to corroborate their sources with additional
evidence in order to adequately answer these
historical questions.
Historical Question #1 Who was present at the
signing of the Declaration of Independence?
Source #1: Hollywood movie about the American
Revolution made in 2001.
Source #2: Book written by a famous historian who is
an expert on the American Revolution, published in
1999.
Which do you trust more? Why?
Source 2: Historians base their accounts on multiple
primary and secondary documents and extensive
research. Hollywood films have no standards for
historical accuracy.
Historical Question #2 What was slavery like in
South Carolina?
Source #1: Interview with former slave in 1936. The
interviewer is a black man collecting oral histories for the
Federal Writers’ Project.
Source #2: Interview with former slave in 1936. The
interviewer is a black man collecting oral histories for the
Federal Writers’ Project.
Which do you trust more? Why?
Source 1: Audience shapes the stories we tell. We can
imagine that even in 1936, a former slave would be wary of
criticizing slavery to a white government official. That is not
to say that Source 1 is necessarily accurate; we can imagine
a former slave might exaggerate accounts or possibly not
remember details so well. Of the two sources, however,
Source 1 will probably be more trustworthy.
Historical Question #3 What was the layout of
the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz?
Source #1: Interview with 80 year-old Holocaust
survivor in 1985.
Source #2: Map of concentration camp found in Nazi
files.
Which do you trust more? Why?
Source 2: Human memory is notoriously unreliable. A
map of a concentration is technically an “objective”
source. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that
the map perfectly mirrored the layout of the camp.
Historical Question #4 Why were the Japanese
Americans put in internment camps during
WWII?
Source #1: Government film explaining internment
from 1942.
Source #2: Government report on Japanese Internment
from 1983 based on declassified government
documents.
Which do you trust more? Why?
Source 2: Any government film created in 1942 to
explain internment would be propaganda. The
declassified evidence in the Congressional report
makes Source 2 more reliable.
Historical Question #5 Did American soldiers
commit atrocities during the Vietnam War in
1969?
Source #1: Sworn testimony by American Sergeant in
Congressional hearings in 1969.
Source #2: Speech by American General touring the
United States in 1969.
Which do you trust more? Why?
Source 1: Sworn testimony is the gold standard of
evidence. Although testimony can be corrupted by
lying, coercion, and the shakiness of human memory,
in this instance Source 1 is more reliable than a public
speech by a General whose reputation is on the line.
Historical Question #6 What happened at the
Battle of Little Bighorn?
Source #1: High school history textbook from 1985.
Source #2: Newspaper account from the day after
the battle in June 1876.
Which do you trust more? Why?
Neither: Textbooks from the 1980s tended to overlook
and/or neglect the experiences and accounts of Native
Americans. On the other hand, a newspaper account
from 1876 would likely have lacked credible evidence
about the battle and/or have been biased towards
Custer and his men.