Thank you for such a fantastic semester in Historical Research class! I am so unbelievably impressed by your critical thinking, collaboration, and hard work throughout the entire semester. I am proud to say that I think you have become the Junior Historians you sought to become. Whether you chose to take this elective or your parents chose it for you : ) I hope that you are happy with the outcome.
For your final blog post, please tell your followers (your classmates and me) how you think the semester went overall. Reflect upon how you've grown as a researcher, writer, and "historian". How will this class help you in the future? Tell us what you enjoyed about the class and also what you wish had been different.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Alternative Perspectives
With all claims, comes a counter-claim. A counter-claim is an opposing argument, an alternative perspective.
Let's think about how counter claims and alternative perspectives apply to your topic. Not everyone thought your leader was the most wonderful person. Who were the skeptics, the challengers to his or her leadership? Why? Not everyone benefited from the impacts or legacy left behind by him or her? Who? Why? The role of your counter claim is to identify those beliefs or opinions that are the opposite of what you are proving through your research.
For example, in 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, the Spanish considered him a hero! Columbus found gold and land that made Spain more wealthy and powerful. They didn't know it at the time, but he found the New World! There are several alternative perspectives or counter-claims in this example. The Portuguese would not have thought he Columbus was a hero because they were competing against Spain for land and wealth. The English would not have considered Columbus a hero because they were also competing against the Spanish for power, too. They also knew that if the Spanish grew in power and influence they would spread the Catholic faith thereby increasing the Pope's power (which the English were against). And most importantly, the Native Americans would not consider him a hero because his "discovery" of the Americans meant loss of land, enslavement, and death for millions of natives.
Acknowledging alternative perspectives will help eliminate bias and make your research more balanced. Consider the alternative perspectives on your topic? Please write about alternative perspective(s) on your topic in your blog post today.
Let's think about how counter claims and alternative perspectives apply to your topic. Not everyone thought your leader was the most wonderful person. Who were the skeptics, the challengers to his or her leadership? Why? Not everyone benefited from the impacts or legacy left behind by him or her? Who? Why? The role of your counter claim is to identify those beliefs or opinions that are the opposite of what you are proving through your research.
For example, in 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, the Spanish considered him a hero! Columbus found gold and land that made Spain more wealthy and powerful. They didn't know it at the time, but he found the New World! There are several alternative perspectives or counter-claims in this example. The Portuguese would not have thought he Columbus was a hero because they were competing against Spain for land and wealth. The English would not have considered Columbus a hero because they were also competing against the Spanish for power, too. They also knew that if the Spanish grew in power and influence they would spread the Catholic faith thereby increasing the Pope's power (which the English were against). And most importantly, the Native Americans would not consider him a hero because his "discovery" of the Americans meant loss of land, enslavement, and death for millions of natives.
Acknowledging alternative perspectives will help eliminate bias and make your research more balanced. Consider the alternative perspectives on your topic? Please write about alternative perspective(s) on your topic in your blog post today.
Friday, March 27, 2015
Primary Sources
Now that you really have a built a solid foundation for your research using secondary sources, the next step is to really focus on finding primary sources...just like historians do!
A primary source is a piece of information about a historical event or period in which the creator of the source was an actual participant in or a contemporary of a historical moment. The purpose of primary sources is to capture the words, the thoughts and the intentions of the past. Primary sources help you to interpret what happened and why it happened (NHD.org)
Examples of primary sources include: documents, letters, photographs, artifacts, historic sites, songs, or other written and tangible items created during the historical period you are studying.
Primary sources will provide the evidence you will need to build a historical argument. All of the work you've done with secondary sources will help you better understand and analyze the primary sources you find... especially the context.
Once you find a primary source that you think might provide solid evidence for your research, you need to use the "Thinking like a Historian" questioning process. The answers to those questions should be the notes you record about the source. Here is the chart in case you need a refresher.
There are sooo many primary sources available. You are required to have " an appropriate number of primary sources given the topic." On the H.R. Edline page, there is a big list posted of places you can find primary sources. Here are a couple others.
For your blog post today, write about primary sources. What types of primary sources have you found already? What types of primary sources are you hoping to find? How do you think these primary sources will help you understand your topic? How do you think primary sources will help you support your historical argument?
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Going Beyond a Biography
Beyond a Biography
In your research so far, I have asked you to become an expert on your topic. To try to learn everything you can about about the leader(s) you are researching.
Now, I want you to take your project "Beyond a Biography." Although its interesting to know where a person's from and when they were born, it's more important for you to focus on the times in their life where they showed leadership and the difference it made in history. How is our world different today because of their leadership? In other words, his/her legacy.
This week your assignment was to narrow down your topic to a specific event or aspect of your topic's life. I want this new, narrowed topic to drive your research going forward. For example, instead of researching simply the life of Susan B. Anthony, search for sources that will help you better understand Susan B. Anthony's leadership role in the Women's Suffrage Movement.
Do leaders shape history or does history shape leaders? My answer to that question is...a little bit of both. Leaders change the world in which they live, but they are fundamentally shaped by the world in which they live. This will be our focus next week: historical context. "Historical context is the political, social, cultural, and economic setting for a particular idea or event" You will need to consider what other events, people, conditions affected your topic. Also, what were the "norms and values" of the time? I hope you will start to see the connections between your "leader(s)" and the world in which he/she/they lived. This is historical thinking! I want you to start thinking beyond the who? what? where? and when? and start thinking more about how? and why?
Adapted from 100 Leaders
For your Blog post today, answer the following questions in narrative form.
1. Define historical context in your own words
2. How does location and time period in which you live affect you?
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Creating Research Questions?!
Now that you have developed a general understanding of your topic, the next step is to generate questions to guide you through the rest of your research. These questions will help further your understanding and narrow down your research topic. They should not be simple yes or no questions. They should be open ended and debatable.
Ask questions a historian would ask. These questions might include those about your topic's time and place, cause and effect, change over time, and impact. You will also need to consider not only when events happened but why? Although I am sure you have lots of questions about your topic, here's a good place to start.
Ask questions a historian would ask. These questions might include those about your topic's time and place, cause and effect, change over time, and impact. You will also need to consider not only when events happened but why? Although I am sure you have lots of questions about your topic, here's a good place to start.
- When did my topic occur in history? What dates are important?
- Where did the major events related to my topic occur?
- Why is the setting (time and place) important?
- What was happening in history at the time/place of the person/event I’m researching?
- What events influenced my topic?
- Who influenced my topic?
- What effect did my leader have at the time? On whom?
- What effect/impact does my leader have today?
- How did my topic change history?
Video clips about research questions:
For your blog post today 3/6/15, develop research questions of your own and write about them on your blog. You may use the questions above, but you should connect them to your topic and also create several of your own.
Then, respond to three of your classmates blogs by suggesting additional research questions they might want to consider.
Then, respond to three of your classmates blogs by suggesting additional research questions they might want to consider.
Friday, January 23, 2015
8 Steps of the Historical Research Process
Adapted from NHD
What is research?
Research simply means searching for information to answer questions on a topic. Human beings are naturally curious and have a need to find answers to questions. Research is like becoming a detective...searching for clues, uncovering bits of information, and solving mysteries. Research also involves sharing your findings with others.
Research=Learning + Thinking + Sharing
Your Historical Research Project
Unlike projects you have done in younger grades where you look up facts about a topic and simply report what you learn, in historical research, you will also include your thinking. You will take a stand, draw conclusions, make comparisons, and show connections. You will be analyzing information, not just collecting it. You will ask questions about a topic that you will choose and use your research to draw your own conclusions.
1. Getting Organized for Research
2. Selecting a Topic
3. Background Reading for Historical Context
4. Narrowing Your Topic
5. Gathering and Recording Information
6. Analyzing and Interpreting Sources
7. Developing a Thesis
8. Developing, Revising, and Finalizing your Historical Research Project--Documentary, Exhibit, Website, Research Paper, or Performance
We are currently in step one: Getting Organized for Research. We have been learning and practicing skills that will prepare us for the research process. We have practiced how to do an effective Google search, how to evaluate websites critically, and how to effectively use databases and collections of primary sources. Next week, we will implement these skills by making an annotated bibliography while researching the Tuskegee Airmen (more details to come).For your Blog post today, describe experience you have had doing research in school. Explain how your historical research project will be similar to/different from your previous experiences.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Thinking like a historian!
This week, we have put our "Historian Hats" to good use as we've developed and practiced Historical Thinking skills. We have practiced "sourcing" by examining Albert Einstein's 1939 letter to President Franklin Roosevelt. We considered Who wrote the document? What is the author's perspective? Where was it written? Why was it written? and Is it reliable? We also learned that "contextualization" ( time and place) help us better understand a source as we questioned when and were the document was created and brainstormed how the events before and during 1939 affected the content of the Einstein's letter. We did "close reading" of the letter by identifying Einstein's claims as well as the evidence and powerful language he used to convince President Roosevelt that further action was needed when it came to developing the atomic bomb.
The Japanese Internment activity helped us put all of the historical thinking skills together as we analyzed documents to help us answer the question: Why were Japanese Americans interned during World War II?
I hope that these activities have planted some important historical questions in your head that you will consider as you research this semester.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
About Blogging
adapted from Read.Write.Think
Blog is short for "web log" which means everything you write, post, or publish becomes part of the world wide web.
For this reason, it is extremely important to consider the following safety/security tips.
In addition to writing your entries, each week you should read and respond to at least three blog entries posted by someone else in class. You can work as a cheerleader and a problem-solver. Ask questions. Make suggestions. Share related stories about your own project. Be friendly and supportive.
Class rules for commenting on Blog Posts
Blog is short for "web log" which means everything you write, post, or publish becomes part of the world wide web.
For this reason, it is extremely important to consider the following safety/security tips.
- Never offer any personal information including your full name, contact information, home address, phone numbers, school's name, email address, last names of friends or relatives, instant messaging names, age, or birth date.
- Never post pictures of yourself or anyone else, and be sure any images you provide do not reveal any of the previously mentioned information. Always remember to look at the background of a picture too.
- Assume what you publish on the web is permanent. Anyone on the Internet can easily print out a blog or save it to a computer.
Common Features of Blogs
Blogs can use any layout and can cover many different topics, but they all have basic characteristics in common.
- The writing style in your blog reflects the "voice" of the blogger. Feel free to develop your own style of writing as you blog, but be sure to use appropriate language.
- Blog entries usually have a title that describes or relates to the content of the entry. Titles are usually set off in a layout with a bold font.
- Blog entries are posted in reverse-chronological order. The order is similar to a backwards diary, running from the most recent at the top of a page to the least recent at the bottom.
- Blog entries usually include the date and specific time that they were posted (a timestamp).
- The blogger’s name is usually listed with the time stamp. By default, blogs usually end “Posted by [blogger’s name].”
- Readers and the blogger can usually comment on (or reply to) a blog entry.
- The comments can turn into a dialogue, with the readers and blogger talking together.
How will blogging be useful for this class??
At least once a week, you'll post a blog entry that reflects on the work that you have done during the week. This entry is your weekly opportunity to step back, think, and write about how your research/project is progressing and what you are learning. Your entry is not just a place to summarize what you have done. It is a place for you to think about what you have done. Blogs will provide the opportunity for you to help guide your classmates' thinking by sharing sites and strategies you've found to be successful. You can ask questions in your blog that you hope maybe your classmates or I can answer in their comments.
After you post comments on classmates' blogs, your next job is to go back and read the comments people posted on YOUR blog. The best comments can lead to a dialogue. Reply to any questions that you are asked, and respond to the ideas that others have shared.
Class rules for commenting on Blog Posts
- Remember that everything you do online has to follow the acceptable use policy.
- Stay on topic. Remember that your blog comments should be about writing advice and encouraging classmates.
- Respect one another. If you disagree with something a classmate is trying, offer some concrete suggestions. Don’t attack the other person! Remember to be polite and courteous.
- Watch your language. Don’t say anything online that you couldn’t say in the classroom!
- Do not type in all caps. It’s hard to read, and it’s considered screaming and rude.
- Check out examples of appropriate blog commenting
- Ultimately, before commenting on someone else's blog, ask yourself: is it meaningful? is it relevant? is it useful? is it appropriate?
How will your blog be evaluated?
Your blog post will be part of my weekly evaluation of your progress.
Evaluations will be scored as follows:
Advanced (100%)-Made good use of time, stayed on task, learned something new, accomplished goals or more, helped a classmate in need
Proficient (85%)-made good use of time, stayed on task 75% of the time, came close to accomplishing goals
Minimal (70%)- took several prompts to get started/stay on task, did not accomplish goals
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