Successful Tips for Reading like a Successful Tips for Reading like a Historian Historian

Rebecca MorganWorld History (6)

GoalsGoals

Develop an awareness of reading strategies for best practices of literacy in history and Social Studies.

Increase understanding about the literacy connections between Language Arts and Social Studies

Social Studies is primarily the Social Studies is primarily the application of language arts application of language arts and critical thinking skills to and critical thinking skills to specific concepts and contentspecific concepts and content

What is History?Accounts/narratives different depending on perspective

We rely on evidence to construct account of the past

We must question the reliability of evidence

Any single piece of evidence is insufficient

We must use multiple sources to build a plausible account

Reading Like a HistorianStanford History Education Group

Sourcing

Who wrote this?

What is the author’s point of view?

Why was it written?

When was it written?

Is the source believable?

Reading Like a HistorianStanford History Education Group

Contextualizing

What else was going on?

What was it like to live in this time?

What things were different?...the same?

What would it look like to see this event through the eyes of someone who lived back then?

Reading Like a HistorianStanford History Education Group

CorroborationWhat do other pieces of evidence say?

Am I finding the same information everywhere?

Am I finding different versions? Why?

Where else could I look to find out about this?

What evidence is most believable?

Close ReadingWhat 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 of phrases does the author use to convince me?

What information does the author leave out? Reading Like a Historian

Stanford History Education Group

Comparing SourcesConduct a close reading of the two textbook excerpts about the Boston Massacre

In what ways do the authors attempt to influence the reader?

Which source would you consider more reliable? Why?

Are textbooks reliable sources?

Be an Active Reader• Predict what will happen next based on what has already

happened.

• Question what is happening while you are reading.

• Summarize what you are reading frequently in chunks.

• Connect what is happening in the part you’re reading to what you have already read.

• Clarify your understanding. Stop occasionally to ask yourself whether you are confused by anything.

• Visualize what is happening in the text.