Transcript Revisiting Primary & Secondary Sources, the 4 Cs

TEACHING AMERICAN
HISTORY GRANT PROGRAM
University of California, Irvine History Project in
partnership with Saddleback Valley Unified School District
UCI History Project and Grant Goals
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Increase teachers’ mastery of U.S. history using
primary sources
Improve teachers’ content knowledge and
pedagogy skills
 Increase
and enrich students’ knowledge of American
history
 Increase student appreciation of American history
Review: Primary and Secondary
Source Identification
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To develop an inquiry-based classroom, students
should have experience reading, analyzing, and
questioning source material
Students need to be explicitly taught the difference
between primary and secondary sources
Definition
According to the Library of Congress, primary
sources are the raw materials of history —
documents and objects which were created at the
time under study. They are different from secondary
sources - accounts or interpretations of events
created by someone without firsthand experience.
Primary sources
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Primary sources are materials produced by people or
groups directly involved in the event or topic under
consideration. Think of them as first-hand information.
Examples of primary sources include eyewitness accounts,
speeches, letters and diaries, newspapers and magazines,
tax and census data, marriage, birth and death records,
works of art, and interviews.
Secondary sources
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Secondary sources construct an explanation of the
past based on primary sources and usually in
consultation with other secondary sources.
The best secondary sources will both report on events
in the past as well as generalize, analyze, interpret
and/or evaluate.
Discussion
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Have teachers explicitly taught the difference
between primary and secondary sources to their
students this year?
How have you implemented this into the classroom?
How do you intend to implement this into the
classroom?
Teaching with Primary Sources
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What primary sources have you used/are you
planning to use in your classroom?
What are the big ideas you want to develop
among your students using primary sources?
4 C’s of Primary Source Analysis
4 C’s
Textual Sources
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Content
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What is the text about?
What is the main idea?
What are important phrases/words?
Connections
Communication
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Visual Sources
How does this text express bias/
point-of-view?
What type of text is it? What is the
purpose of the text?
Who is the audience?
What is the message?
What words are repeated,
emphasized, or used as adjectives
and why?
Conclusions
Content
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Connections
Communication
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What is pictured or represented in
the image?
How is the image organized? What is
the focal point?
If there is text, what does it say?
How does this image express bias/
point-of-view?
What is the purpose of the image?
Who is the audience?
What is the message?
What colors/ visual clues are
important and why?
Conclusions
Communication
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Communication
 How
does this text express bias/ point-of-view?
 What type of text is it? What is the purpose of the
text?
 Who is the audience?
 What is the message?
 What words are repeated, emphasized, or used as
adjectives and why?
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How do you teach point-of-view?
Women’s Indenture Contracts
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Why is the work different for the different women?
What do you note about the names?
Why provide clothing to indentured servants?
How are the terms different for the African
American woman than the other women?