Implementing National History Day into your

classroom using a workshop model

Workshop Wednesdays

• Teach 21st Century Skills

• Use class time efficiently

• Combine classroom curriculum with the NHD project

• Utilize the flexibility offered with the workshop model

Why use a workshop model?

• 20 lessons=20 once a week workshops

• 20 lessons=10 twice a week workshops

• 20 lessons=3 weeks everyday

• combine lessons

Designed for Flexibility

• choose which lessons to teach

• add work days where needed

• use your own classroom curriculum for examples or use the ones provided

• digital and print options

Designed for Flexibility

1. Introduction to National History Day • Students will view sample projects

and complete a web quest2. Working with a theme•  Students will learn about working

with a theme and complete a word study of key terms in the NHD annual theme

3. Narrowing a topic and writing a preliminary thesis •  Students will consider the topic for

their project and begin preliminary research

• Students will write a working thesis statement

 

The Curriculum

 4. Note taking skills •  Students will be exposed to several methods of taking notes which they will implement in the coming weeks

5. Understanding source types •  Students will learn to discriminate between primary, secondary and tertiary sources

6. Evaluating and analyzing secondary sources

•  This lesson can be done as a library field trip• Students will begin their research

using secondary sources 

The Curriculum

 7. Discovering and analyzing primary sources•  Students will discover how

secondary sources can lead to primary sources

• They will continue researching using primary sources.

8. Using the internet as a research tool • Students will learn to use the

Annotated Resource Set (ARS) as a system for tracking internet research

• Students will learn to evaluate the credibility of websites and use tools such as Google for research purposes.

 

The Curriculum

9. Evaluating maps and pictures •   Students will use a political

cartoon and a map to learn tools for analysis.

10. Evaluating primary source writing  • Students will analyze a letter and a

newspaper article11. Evaluating Historical Cause and

Context•  Students will learn about

historical cause and context. They will create a timeline for their

project and its place in history. 

The Curriculum

12. Writing a thesis statement  • Students will identify poor and good

thesis statements and revise their working thesis for their project

13. Outlining and writing a thesis paper  • Students will organize their

research thus far into an outline• Students will incorporate both

informative and argumentative writing into a preliminary essay using research they have gathered

 

The Curriculum

 14. Conducting an Interview  • Students will learn to conduct an

interview to gain historical information

 15. Choosing a format and creating a project  • Students will evaluate the format

options for their project and choose a format.

• Students will begin working on their actual project. (This step will be on-going)

 16. Organizing the NHD project  • Students will complete a graphic

organizer or other layout for their project

The Curriculum

 17. Work week—Mid-project evaluation• Teachers will conference with

students and offer feedback on the project

18. Writing a process paper and Creating your annotated bibliography • Students will learn the

requirements of the process paper and begin writing

• Students will examine a properly created annotated bibliography and begin to organize their own

 

The Curriculum

19. Work week—Quality Control• Teachers will proof projects and

require revisions where necessary 20. Project Presentation and Contest Preparation  • Students will present and evaluate

projects• Students will practice answering

judge interview questions 

The Curriculum

• Online resources for teachers and students at www.greaterdenvermetronhd.org

• Pre-assessment at www.greaterdenvermetronhd.org

• Online activities on www.greaterdenvermetronhd.org

• Research field trip opportunity• The Googler’s

Guide NHD Research• Writing element for all students• Interview 101

Highlights

 Workshop 5—Identifying Source Types• A look at the lesson• Primary and Secondary

Source handout• Mini-lesson, Work time,

Homework

Sample Lesson

 

Battle of GettysburgThink about the Battle of Gettysburg.• What do you think the battleground looked like?• What did it smell like?• What were the sounds?

How can we know for sure if your ideas are right or

wrong?• Pretend you are a history detective.• What could prove or disprove your ideas?• Where could you look for that proof?

 

Battle of GettysburgPrimary Sources

Alexander Gardener photo

 

Battle of GettysburgPrimary Sources

We slept upon the field, and no sound was audible, except continuous din of the enemy's tools, and the awful groans of the wounded and dying. The next sun brought the fatal 3rd. day of July. Everything remained quiet 'till about 12 1/2 P.M. (by the watch I saw) when we began shelling their positions. On both sides I think there must have been between 350 and 400 guns in action.

Captain Joseph Graham,

letter to his fatherJuly 30, 1863

 

Battle of GettysburgPrimary Sources

 

Battle of GettysburgPrimary Sources

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg AddressFour score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

 

Battle of GettysburgPrimary or Secondary?

Gettysburg Cyclorama

Do you think this is a primary source?• painted by French artist Paul Philippoteaux in 1883

 

Primary SourcesInterpretation

Secondary Sources

 

Battle of GettysburgSecondary Sources

 

Battle of GettysburgSecondary Sources

 

Battle of GettysburgSecondary Sources

 

Battle of GettysburgSecondary Sources

 

Primary SourcesInterpretation

Secondary SourcesInterpretation

Tertiary Sources

 

Tertiary SourcesWikipedia• Wikipedia has it’s place• Great as a beginning point• Gives basic details• Gives information about what to look for• Sometimes provides bibliographical information• Information found on Wikipedia should be triangulated with other sourcesBut…• Do not list it on your bib• NHD recommends using primary and secondary sources• A demonstration of the fluidity of Wikipedia

 

Thank you

Best of Luck!