Thinking like a historian!

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.