This book is a pretty nifty guide on how to cover the different facets of history by looking at case studies and picking them apart to reveal important lessons and questions to teach and understand history.
The first chapter discussed the Pocahontas-John Smith story. It is a good start because it allows questions to be asked about what history is, what sources are and how history is a constantly evolving subject, while being a topic people are broadly familiar with due to its cultural importance.
The second chapter discussed the Battle of Lexington. This was chosen to mainly look at what narratives are probable/definitive, and which ones are weak or otherwise have little substance to them through looking at primary sources. It also provided an opportunity to look at how myth, intentions and history interact.
The third chapter discusses Lincoln’s views on slavery. It calls for careful analysis of contemporary sources of both the subject in question and the people around them. It also calls for understanding the context he existed in and judging whether one should be viewed relative to their time or relative to the modern day.
The fourth chapter discussed Benjamin Harrison’s declaration founding Columbus Day. This section focused on why the declaration happened and how different groups interpreted the declaration differently. Those with fewer historical skills looked at the immediate subject of the declaration while historians looked at the greater context.
The fifth chapter discusses a letter a rich rural housewife sent to Thomas Edison in 1921. It requires that students look at the greater historical perspective beyond what one primary source provides. This in turn leads to comparing other perspectives via the use of other primary sources and statistics.
The sixth chapter discusses the Dust Bowl and why it happened. There is a focus on using stories, a valid medium of information, to try and find out why exactly something happened. This can lead to different interpretations of the same facts, particularly as modern issues grow more or less relevant.
The seventh chapter discusses Rosa Parks and the facts surrounding her story. This is taught to put facts into the myths by figuring out what actually happened in a story as popular as this. It also looks at how history can remember or forget key individuals, as well as looking at how social movements have worked in history.
The eighth and final chapter discusses the Cuban Missile Crisis and whether it’s end was an American victory or quid pro quo. While being another example of corroboration, this chapter emphasizes the importance of the passage of time which tends to reveal new information, and what lessons to draw from the new history.
As these chapters demonstrate, there are a wide variety of techniques which can be used to analyze history and get the full set of facts, perspectives and ideas that are buried in each event or idea. The chapter provides a series of possible lesson plans as well to help further extract these techniques for students, something that could be useful to copy or reference for preparing my own lessons.
Jace Flores Student Teacher Blog 