Masters Project Masonbrink Rev

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY
Creating Readers of History:

Building Historical Literacy in Middle School Social Studies Classrooms
Leah Masonbrink
University of Kansas
July 4, 2011
Abstract
My experience over the past year as a middle school learning coach helped me understand
how middle school teachers approached social studies instruction, especially in an area that I am
passionate about teaching with primary source documents. After observing several classrooms,
I realized that students were not being taught the skills needed to successfully read primary
source documents. I concluded that a historical literacy plan should be developed at the middle
school level. Developing a vertical plan for middle school social studies is not enough for
teachers to effectively implement it; specific research-based strategies, were required so that
teachers have the tools to begin teaching these skills. The historical literacy plan gradually builds
up students historical literacy skills and is a critical component in providing increasing rigor and
relevance in middle school social studies classrooms.
Setting a Professional Context

In August 2010, I sat in a day-long professional development (PD) session for pre-AP skills in
social studies and English classrooms. I was with eighth-grade social studies teachers, ninthgrade teachers, tenth-grade teachers, and eleventh-grade teachers who did not teach an AP class.
The purpose of this PD session was to begin training teachers how to incorporate AP skills into
social studies and communications arts courses.
I attended the training because I began the school year as a high school social studies teacher,
teaching world history and honors world history. However, I accepted a job as a learning
coach, also known as an instructional coach, within days of the pre-AP workshop. I went from
teaching a ninth-grade world history course to being split between two middle schools in about
twenty-four hours. As a middle school learning coach, my responsibilities were mainly
mentoring new teachers and working with building principals on curriculum, instruction, and
assessment, which included planning professional development, facilitating professional learning
community (PLC) meetings once a week, brainstorming student interventions with teachers once
a month, and organizing and coordinating state assessment testing throughout the winter and
spring. My role as a learning coach quickly changed my perspective on the pre-AP training as I
tried to continue the pre-AP conversation with my middle school colleagues during PLC
meetings and vertical team meetings.
When I taught ninth-grade world history, one of my greatest frustrations was having students
enter my classroom who could not read or write critically in social studies. I realized this after
assigning primary source documents to my honors students and then becoming discouraged
when they could not read and understand them. After assigning the reading, three scenarios
commonly occurred. Students either came to me during study hall for help understanding the
reading, they quit at some point during the assignment out of frustration, or they did not attempt
it. This experience led me to a dual realization: first, I was not aware of how to teach students
the discipline-specific literacy skills necessary to use primary sources; and, second, students
were leaving middle school history classrooms either without having learned about and/or been
taught how to use primary sources.
What is going on in middle school social studies classrooms? In my role as a middle school
learning coach, I observed a lot of content being taught - the standards, benchmarks, and
indicators set out by the Kansas State Department of Education. The goal behind NCLB and
state assessments are teacher accountability; however, in many states, including Kansas, the field
is being tested less often, thus is less accountable than other state assessed subjects (Pederson,
2007). After reading the Kansas State Social Studies Standards for grades six through eight, they
include specific skills that students should be able to do, but they are generally untested
indicators on the social studies state assessment. For example, the 8th grade social studies
indicator 8.4.2 is an untested indicator, (A) examines a variety of different types of primary
sources in United States history and analyzes them in terms of credibility, purpose, and point of
view (e.g., census records, diaries, photographs, letters, government documents) (Kansas State
Department of Education, 2008). Some social studies teachers might say that this is an important
skill students should have upon entering high school; however, because it is not a tested
indicator, it will not be taught. Teachers feel that they have so much content to cover because
of the tested indicators that those indicators become the priority and some of the most important
skills are not taught (Barton & Levstik, 2003).
I have observed approximately nine social studies classrooms between two middle school
buildings over the last nine months in my role as a learning coach. From my observations, I have
noted general patters of learning behaviors: students working out of a textbook, completing a
packet or worksheet, listening to a lecture, viewing a PowerPoint, watching a movie, and
working on projects. The lessons I observed were content-driven with the teacher at the center of
the instruction. Teachers expect students to know a lot of vocabulary, events, people, and places
(as laid out by the Kansas State Social Studies Standards) but do not ask students to do anything
with that information that could develop discipline-specific skills. In fact, even historians do not
know most of the information that we are asking students to know (Wineburg, 2005). As a result
of this content-driven approach in middle school social studies courses, discipline-specific skills
are not being developed.
My school districts school board made it a priority in the spring of 2010 to offer more
Advanced Placement (AP) courses. One of the problems with making AP offerings a priority is
that many students are not prepared for the rigor of the AP classroom. The general goal was to
train teachers in these pre-AP skills so that they would begin to incorporate them into their
classrooms, better preparing students for future AP classes. The skills students needed to learn
were discipline-specific literacy skills what the College Board refers to as critical reading and
critical writing skills. The pre-AP trainer led the teachers through a series of activities that were
based on interpreting, sourcing, contextualizing, and corroborating primary sources. The trainer
also shared with the teachers several mnemonics to teach students so they would remember the
steps they needed to take as they approached a primary or secondary source. The devices offered
by the College Board for primary source lessons and activities correspond to Wineburgs (1991)
research on historical problem solving skills.
The pre-AP skills that teachers were taught during that August PD session were not meant to
address the needs of just the honors or gifted student. They were presented as instructional
strategies for either a social studies or communication arts classroom. Pre-AP is based on the
following two ideas: the first is the belief that, all students can perform well at rigorous
academic levels (College Board, 2011) and the second belief is that, we can prepare every
student for higher intellectual engagement by starting the development of skills and acquisition
of knowledge as early as possible (College Board, 2011, p. 1).
My teaching philosophy agrees with these beliefs, but, after speaking with middle school
teachers following the workshop, I discovered not everyone agreed. Some teachers would rather
create an honors communication arts class at the eighth-grade level so they can do these types
of activities with students who are intellectually ready for them. Unfortunately, what they miss
is that any student can perform at high academic levels if there are high expectations for all
students and teachers scaffold students learning with specific strategies that will help them reach
those high expectations (van de Pol, Volman, & Beishuize, 2011).
Meeting Resistance to a Pre-AP Skills Program in the Middle Schools & Recognizing the
Opportunities Presented by Such a Program
The message to the teachers attending the session appeared to be lost due to the title of the
session and the belief that it was a top-down initiative because it was an area of improvement
identified by the school board and being implemented by the districts department of teaching
and learning. Based on my discussions, middle school teachers did not see the importance of the
pre-AP training, how it was relevant to them, and did not think it was possible that their students
could be successful with the strategies. Something that I heard frequently in the fall was that if
their students could not read or write well, then how were they going to teach them how to do
these higher-level skills? The teachers became frustrated and tuned out the overall message of
the training; the impact in the classroom was little to none, as I have seen no evidence of the
strategies being used in social studies classrooms this year.
Middle school social studies teachers have unique opportunities working with twelve,
thirteen, and fourteen year olds. At this age, students are beginning to desire independence and
are beginning to question authority (Wagoner, 2004). Why not provide students with learning
opportunities that address where they are developmentally? These opportunities include critical
reading and writing, questioning and evaluating new knowledge. Teaching students disciplinespecific literacy skills in social studies, from here forward referred to as historical literacy skills,
puts students at the center of their learning and allows them the opportunity to interact and
evaluate history. Using primary sources and teaching students the skills they need to understand,
analyze and interpret them provide rigor in the classroom because students are not simply doing
knowledge-based or recall activities. They also provide relevance for students because teachers
are giving them the opportunity to do something with the information in front of them; in the
long run the information might end up being less important than the skills they are learning from
the process.
Why are teachers not taking advantage of the opportunities to teach their students how to
critical readers of history? Secondary teachers have not been prepared for how to teach and
assess reading or writing. Based on my own early teaching experience, I did not ask students to
do much reading or writing because it was a painful experience to grade their writing and I did
not have the skills to help them improve it or teach them how to be a better reader of history. In
teacher preparation programs, secondary social studies teachers have not been taught how to
teach and assess reading and writing. Wineburg (2005) suggests that social studies teachers think
of themselves first as reading teachers:
In our teacher education programs, this means we must reorganize our curricula around
teaching new teachers how to read deeply and then how to model sophisticated reading for
their ownstudents. The same thing goes for writing. We should not have to use a
magnifying glass to find reading and writing in our standards documents. Literacy must
become our first standard (p. 664)
Students are coming in to middle school with very little knowledge or skill in social studies.
If this is the case, then what is going on in elementary classroom? Teachers in North Carolina
report that elementary students receive social studies instruction two to three days per week, with
the most instructional time K-5 spent on social studies in the kindergarten classroom (Rock, et
al., 2006, p. 463). In non-tested NCLB subject areas, Pederson (2007) found that in twenty-five
states, there is a reduction of both time and resources: math and reading is [sic] the primary
focus. The rest is falling to the wayside (p. 289). In an era of high-stakes testing, students do
not have the ability to read and write critically because time is not spent on teaching these skills
(Vogler & Virtue, 2007). Instead, time is spent on teacher-centered practices such as textbooks,
multiple-choice questions, lecturing, and textbook-based assignments (Vogler, 2005, p. 21).
Lessons are less student-centered and there is less of a constructivist-style approach to learning
going on in the classroom, as a result of high-stakes testing (Vogler, 2005). In the social studies
classroom, students might know indiscriminate facts about history but they struggle with how to
creating meaning out of that information (Wineburg, 2005).
With the arrival of the Common Core Standards (CCS) and its emphasis on literacy in social
studies, teachers can no longer choose not to teach critical reading and writing skills in their
classrooms. Located under the English Language Arts standards are the standards for
History/Social Studies; the standards have to do with some aspect of literacy: reading, writing,
and speaking/listening. According to the English Language Arts standard RH.6-8.10, By the
end of grade 8, [students should be able to] read and comprehend history/social studies texts in
the grades 68 text complexity band independently and proficiently (Common Core State
Standards Initiative, 2010, p. 61). In the CCS, Appendix B contains the recommended readings
for all grade levels. When choosing the various texts for students, the CCS considered text
complexity (see explanation that follows), quality, and range of texts. Appendix A from the CCS
points out the research showing that there has been a general, steady declineover time, across
grades, and substantiated by several sourcesin the difficulty and, likely, also the sophistication
of content of the texts students have been asked to read in school since 1962 (Common Core
State Standards Initiative, 2010, p. 3). To address the concern over the declining complexity of
text, the CCS created a three-part model for determining how easy or difficult a particular text is
to read. The model is as follows: 1.) Qualitative dimensions of text complexity (those aspects of
text complexity best measured or only measurable by a human reader, like levels of meaning or
purpose), 2.) Quantitative dimensions of text complexity (those aspects of text complexity, such
as word length or frequency that are difficult, if not impossible, for a human reader to evaluate
efficiently, and which are measured by computer software, and 3.) Reader and task
considerations (variables specific to particular readers [like motivation, prior knowledge, and
experience] and to particular tasks [such as purpose and the difficulty of the task assigned and
questions asked] must also be considered when determining whether a text is appropriate for a
given student). They have also defined grade-by-grade specifications for increasing text
complexity as students advance in school, which is reading standard 10 at each grade level.
Interestingly, for history/social studies, the CCS chose texts that are informational, such as the
Preamble and First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Walter Lords A Night to Remember,
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and Phillip Isaacsons A Short Walk through the Pyramids and through the World of Art. While
informational (commonly referred to as expository texts) texts are more challening for students
to read and comprehend because they are nonfiction, it can be assumed that these works, and
others, were chosen because of the research that the CCS points out in Appendix A: along with
the fact that text complexity has decreased over time, research suggests that students are exposed
to far less expository texts at the elementary and middle school levels, making it more difficult.
As little as 7%-15% of all text read in elementary and middle school is expository text, compared
with more than 66% of text read being narrative in nature (Common Core State Standards
Initiative, 2010). It is important that students are exposed to expository texts because the ability
to read different types of writing is related to later reading success (Moss & Newton, 2002). If
students are not able to read proficiently at the sixth-grade level coming into middle school and
teachers do nothing to help develop their literacy skills, then students will leave that classroom
making no gains in this area. If this trend continues through middle school, then students will
not meet the proficiency level set out by the CCS when they exit eighth grade and will not be
prepared for high school. If students never catch up, then they will not be college or career
ready, which is what the Common Core Standards are set up to do.
Overview of Historical Literacy Plan and Rationale
My experience during the past year as a middle school learning coach helped me to better
understand how middle school teachers approached social studies instruction. In order to get
more data on how teachers use primary source documents and teach historical literacy skills, a
survey was developed and distributed online. The survey questions follow this section.
I came to the conclusion that a plan needed to be established to address how historical literacy
skills will be developed in middle school social studies classrooms. This coincides with district-
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level goals for next year: middle school social studies teachers will be developing curriculum
guides at the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade levels. Along with developing a historical
literacy plan, specific research-based strategies, such as Questioning the Author (Beck &
McKeown, 2002) and the APPARTS strategy (College Board, 2009), will be shared with teachers
so they have the tools they need to begin teaching students these skills. These strategies will be
chosen based on viewing teachers responses to the online survey.
The historical literacy plan will support the districts efforts to make AP courses a priority, as
it better prepares students for the rigor of these courses. It will also support the state of Kansas
adoption of the Common Core Standards, with its emphasis on discipline-specific literacy skills.
Finally, this historical literacy plan for middle school coincides with the districts plan to develop
new social studies curriculum guides during the 2011-2012 school year. A plan that gradually
builds up students historical literacy skills during the time they are in middle school is a critical
component in providing increasing rigor in middle school social studies classrooms.
To gather research on where middle school social studies teachers currently are and where
they want to be, given the adoption of the Common Core Standards and the districts emphasis
on AP courses, a survey was developed and distributed during April through May 2011 that
asked teachers fifteen questions. It was based mostly on the English/Language Arts Reading
Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6-12 from the Common Core Standards. The
survey questions follow:
1. Name: __________________
Grade level: 6
7
8
2. What do you believe is your most important job as a social studies teacher? Mark all that
apply.
o preparing young people to be active citizens
o teaching them content required by state standards
o teaching character education
o teaching law-related education
o
o
o
o
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teaching tolerance and culture awareness

providing opportunities for service learning
promoting social justice
teaching social studies literacy (primary and secondary sources)
3. At the beginning of the year, approximately what percentage of students are able to read
and comprehend their social studies textbook independently and proficiently?
0-10%
11-20%
21-30%
31-40%
41-50%
51-60%
61-70% 71-80%
81-90%
91-100%
N/A (dont use textbook)
4. At the beginning of the year, approximately what percentage of students are able to read
and comprehend a primary source independently and proficiently?
0-10%
11-20%
21-30%
31-40%
41-50%
51-60%
61-70% 71-80%
81-90%
91-100%
N/A (dont use primary sources)
5. Please rate your comfort level in teaching the following skills (1 not comfortable at
all/havent taught; 5 extremely comfortable/teach often)
Teaching students how to
analyze a primary or secondary source.

determine the main idea of a primary or secondary source.
summarize a primary source.
use context clues to determine the meaning of words and phrases in a social studies text
or reading.
identify a sequential text, a comparative text, or a causal text.
identify aspects of a text that reveal an authors purpose or point of view.
distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment.
read multiple primary sources to respond to a question
6. In a typical week, how often do you incorporate a primary source into a lesson?
0 times
1-2 times
3-4 times
5-6 times
7. In a typical week, how often do you integrate visual information (charts, photographs, maps,
video, etc.) with other print and digital texts?
0 times
1-2 times
3-4 times
5-6 times
8. In a typical week, how often do you have students analyze the relationship between a primary
and secondary source on the same topic?
0 times
1-2 times
3-4 times
5-6 times
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9. When using primary sources in class, who would you say is most involved in analyzing the
source?
Teacher
sources)
Students
Both equally
Not applicable (dont use primary
10. How often do you have students identify key steps in a texts description of a process related
to social studies (e.g. steps to revolution, how a bill becomes a law)?
Never
Once a year
Twice a year
3 or more times a year
11. By the end of the year, approximately what percentage of students are able to read and
comprehend their social studies textbook independently and proficiently?
0-10%
11-20%
21-30%
31-40%
41-50%
51-60%
61-70% 71-80%
81-90%
91-100%
N/A (dont use textbook)
12. By the end of the year, approximately what percentage of students are able to read and
comprehend a primary source independently and proficiently?
0-10%
11-20%
21-30%
31-40%
41-50%
51-60%
61-70% 71-80%
81-90%
91-100%
N/A (dont use primary sources)
13. What topics, related to social studies instruction, would you most like to learn more about?
14. What topics, related to primary sources, would you most like to learn more about?
15. Are there any primary sources that you currently use that you feel are effective and you
would be willing to share with your social studies colleagues? If so, please provide links to
those sources below. *These will be compiled and shared.
Introduction to Review of Literature
The following section gives background on social studies instruction and what it currently
looks like at the elementary level, which establishes the need for focused attention on social
studies skills at the middle school level. General literacy versus content-area literacy will be
discussed, along with why historical literacy is important to citizenship, and why primary
sources should be used to teach historical literacy. The rest of the research is focused on
research-based instructional strategies for teaching historical literacy. The research-based
strategies address the needs of teachers that were discovered in the teacher survey given at the
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end of the 2010-2011 school year. These strategies develop students critical reading skills so
they are able to work at a more rigorous skill level.
Review of Literature Readings that Support Developing Historical Literacy Skills
With the school districts emphasis on adding rigor at the high school level through the
approval of additional AP classes, it is important to look at how middle school social studies
classrooms are preparing students for the increased level of rigor. If students are expected to
perform at a high level upon entering their freshman year of high school, then middle school
social studies teachers need to prepare them. A common concern locally, but also across the
United States, is that social studies instructional time has been taken out of the elementary
classroom to focus on the state-assessed subjects of reading and math. Historically, the time
devoted to social studies instruction in elementary schools has gone back and forth. In the 1970s
and 1980s, due to a strong back-to-basics movement in social studies curriculum, teachers
made social studies a low priority. Project SPAN, a comprehensive national study completed in
the 1980s, found that K-3 students received less than 20 minutes per day of social studies
instruction while students in grades 4-5 received less than 34 minutes of instruction (Rock, et al.,
2006). In the 1990s, as a result of the National Council for the Social Studies defining social
studies and creating national standards, social studies was taught more frequently but the subject
area still did not receive the respect of the government - it was left out of 1994s Goals 2000
Educate America Act (Rock, et al., 2006). Further, in 2001, the focus of President Bushs No
Child Left Behind Act was on accountability in math and reading and extended the
accountability to science in 2006-2007 (Pederson, 2007).
Over the last year and a half, social studies specialists and representatives of content-area
groups met together to brainstorm ways to improve academic standards in social studies
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(Gewertz, 2011). These meetings came about as a result of No Child Left Behind and the
emphasis that testing has placed on math and reading, to the hindrance of social studies
instruction. And, while the goal of these meetings is not necessarily to produce a set of national
social studies standards, the talks might produce model standards, [the meetings] are
primarily geared toward developing resources states can share, such as a set of guidelines or core
principles, and serving as a forum for states and content-area groups to discuss improving states'
own standards (Gewertz, 2011, paragraph heading Standards Discussion Turns to Social
Studies). In their work together, the group agreed upon a one-sentence definition of K-12 social
studies: "The social studies is an interdisciplinary exploration of the social sciences and
humanities, including civics, history, economics, and geography, in order to develop responsible,
informed, and engaged citizens and to foster civic, global, historical, geographic, and economic
literacy" (as stated in Gewertz, 2001, paragraph heading Sensitive Topic). The definition
acknowledges the importance of the individual disciplines under the broad heading of social
studies and further mentions literacy to create responsible, informed and engaged citizens.
Elementary Social Studies
There are several examples from around the country of social studies not getting adequate
attention at the elementary school level. Because of the immediacy of Adequate Yearly Progress
(AYP), teachers focus their instruction on math and reading, at the expense of other subjects like
social studies, the arts, creative writing, and computer courses (Pederson, 2007) (Rock, et al.,
2006). The National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) recommends spending one hour per day,
or 20%, of overall instruction time on social studies; however, studies suggest that social studies
instruction has been reduced by as much as 33% in Maryland and to less than 18 minutes a day
in Indiana (VanFossen, 2005). The decrease in social studies instruction at the elementary level is
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due to: 1.) lack of administrative support for implementing state social studies standards, 2.)
absence of state-wide assessments for social studies at the K-5 level, and 3.) teachers lack of a
clear understanding of the purpose and goals of social studies education (Rock, et al., 2006;
Pederson, 2007). When social studies is taught in grades K-5, it is often integrated into other
subjects, like literacy centers, because so little time is available for it to be taught as a standalone class (Pederson, 2007; Rock, et al., 2006; VanFossen, 2005). Social studies is oftentimes
rotated with science so that by the end of the school year, it may be taught for only half of the
time that math or reading are taught (Rock, et al., 2006). Another issue this brings up is
elementary pre-service teacher training in social studies: if social studies is getting less and less
time at the elementary level, then current pre-service elementary teachers are not getting the
experience of observing and teaching social studies lessons (Good, et al., 2010). As more and
more teachers retire then there will be fewer elementary teachers in the field who have a
background in elementary social studies instruction. Middle school teachers are receiving
students who have had less exposure to social studies instruction, as they have had to instruction
in math and reading (Rock, et al., 2006). When a student enters sixth grade in 2011, it would
seem that teachers and students have quite a bit of catching up to do; however, this could also be
looked at as a benefit - teachers have the opportunity to expose students for the first time to new
understandings, knowledge, and skills.
Preparing Students to be Responsible Citizens
When students graduate from high school, they are expected to be responsible, critical,
reflective, and active citizens who can make informed and reasoned decisions about the societal
issues confronting the local, state, and global community (National Council for the Social
Studies, 1993). Social studies classrooms need to develop students historical thinking and
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reasoning skills so that students, as young citizens, can distinguish facts from opinions; detect
biases, prejudices, and unwarranted claims; weigh contrasting evidence; recognize the core of
ones argument and its logic along with the strength of evidence; and critically evaluate others
positions and perspectives (Yilmaz, 2008, p. 40). It is essential that teachers at all grade levels
develop these skills. Instead of trying to teach students a lot of subject matter, historical literacy
skills should be focused on as a means for students to learn social studies content. These are
skills that students will use for the rest of their lives. Teaching students both content and skill is
as important as it has ever been; they are living in an increasingly global world where they are
exposed to more information via television, movies, music, video games, social media, blogs,
and wikis than ever before (Gainer, 2010). In order to help students sift through the information
that floods their senses, teachers need to teach students historical literacy skills.
But Im not a reading teacher: General Literacy vs. Content-Specific Literacy
There is a difference between general literacy and content area literacy. There is a
misconception among teachers who teach science, social studies or math that when they are
asked to provide literacy activities in their classrooms, they are being asked to be reading or
writing teachers. If teachers are being asked to provide literacy instruction in their classrooms,
they are worried that it will take important time away from content area instruction (McKenna &
Robinson, 1990). Content area literacy includes no responsibility for developing the mechanical
skills of writing or the details of decoding in reading. Content area teachers should instead be
focused on working with their students to gain meaning from reading and writing activities:
writing to learn is not learning to write (Myers, 1984, p. 7). By doing this, students are gaining
content knowledge being able to read in the content area. University of Illinois at Chicago
reading expert Shanahan (2011) believes that "a great transition will come when science and
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history teachers recognize and act on the fact that in order to build knowledge in their
disciplines, students must read complex text well in those disciplines. You can't build knowledge
without reading sufficiently rich and complex text" (as cited in Gewertz, 2011, p. 12). Teaching
students content area literacy skills makes content accessible. This is a departure from teachers
simply being content area experts; content area literacy skills must be taught in order to help
students gain knowledge, which becomes increasingly more difficult as they progress through
school.
McKenna and Robinson (1990) define content literacy as the ability to use reading and
writing for the acquisition of new content in a given discipline. This requires that students have:
1.) general literacy skills, like understanding what a text means, summarizing the text, etc., 2.)
content-specific literacy skills, like primary source reading or map reading in social studies, and
3.) prior knowledge of subject matter content. While general reading skills allow comprehension
across subject matters, content area literacy allows students to come to a deeper level of
understanding within a subject matter, and background knowledge enables students to relate
what is read to what they already know. Students may know a lot of content knowledge in social
studies but they may not possess historical literacy skills. Teachers give their students the chance
to be better readers and writers in their content area because teaching content certainly makes
students more content literate; however, many teachers, by providing high-quality direct
instruction, set the stage for even greater levels of content acquisition-through reading and
writing-but never realize this potential with appropriate assignments (McKenna & Robinson,
1990, p. 185). By activating students prior knowledge and planning appropriate instructional
activities that allow students the opportunities to read and write in social studies, teachers are
giving students the opportunity to learn social studies content, use historical literacy skills, gain a
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deeper understanding of the concept or unit being studied, and have the chance to be a historian
in the field:
Students should learn how such stories are developed in the first place: They should be
involved in historical investigations, they should analyze and interpret primary sources, and
they should understand the relationship between historical evidence and the construction of
accounts--both their own and those of others. (Barton & Levstik, 2003, p. 358)
The process described by Barton and Levstik (2003) involves higher-order, critical thinking
skills that are different than simply reading a book for a communication arts class. Students are
involved in the investigation itself; they are analyzing, interpreting, and comparing sources to
develop an idea of what took place in a certain time and a certain place. It is the teachers
responsibility to facilitate the process and help students maximize their content acquisition.
Students who are given the opportunity to develop and practice historical literacy skills will
hopefully access those skills in the future to extend their social studies knowledge, long after
they have left the classroom.
Shanahan and Shanahan (2008) conducted a literacy study in which they discovered and
discuss the difference in how content-area experts, such as chemists, mathematicians, and
historians approach and read discipline specific texts in their field. Their hope was to observe
the disciplinary experts literacy skills through conducting think alouds as they read discipline
specific texts. They wanted to break what the experts were doing down into explicit skills that
could be translated into discipline specific strategies that they would pilot with secondary
students and teach to pre-service secondary education teachers. In their observation of the
historians think alouds, Shanahan and Shanahan (2008) found that historians emphasized paying
attention to the author when reading any text. Before reading, historians considered who the
authors of the texts were and what their biases might be. The historians purpose during the
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reading was to discover what story a specific author wanted to tell: they were keenly aware that
they were reading an interpretation of historical events and not Truth (Shanahan & Shanahan,
2008, p. 50). This supports Wineburgs (1991) research that the skills historians use as they do
research in the field are the skills that should be taught to enable students to think the same way.
Through their research, Shanahan and Shanahan (2008) came to believe that content area literacy
has to do with the intellectual values of a discipline and the methods by which scholarship is
created in each of the fields (p. 51). Chemists approached reading in their content area very
differently from the historians. The chemists were most interested in the transformation of
information from one form to another. For example, when reading text they were visualizing,
writing down formulas, or, if a diagram or a chart were on the page, going back and forth
between the diagram and the chart. This is quite different from the skills that the historians used.
The authors of the study emphasize that the nature of the literacy difference in disciplines should
be communicated to students, along with the ways in which experts approach the reading of text
because it will benefit students text comprehension:
Studies attempting to teach history students to read like historians have found that students
who are taught to use the approaches that historians use when they read (to evaluate the
source and context of the textual information and corroborate it with other texts) learn to think
more critically about what they read. (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008, p. 51)
Shanahan and Shanahan (2008) also found that secondary pre-service teachers needed to be
taught discipline-specific literacy strategies to improve middle school and high school students
literacy. But that alone is not enough. Shanahan and Shanahan (2008) recommend that there be
explicit literacy certification standards for teachers who teach in different content areas, closer
relationships between the faculties of education and the liberal arts and sciences, and adequate
resources to allow pre-service teachers to practice their teaching in varied disciplinary situations
21
and classroom contexts. They believe that the key to these changes is a literacy curriculum that
directly guides students to better meet the particular demands of reading and writing in the
disciplines than has been provided by traditional understandings of content-area reading.
Historical Literacy and Citizenship
Students should be taught historical literacy skills because these skills encourage active
participation and develop skills that students need to be active citizens in a democratic society.
Teaching citizenship skills is one of the primary purposes of the social studies classroom and
education in the United States in general:
A basic requirement of democratic citizenship, for example, is experience in analyzing and
interpreting information--and this is precisely what historical investigations provide. Citizens
must also work together to reach conclusions based on incomplete and conflicting
information, and this too is an inescapable element of historical inquiry. (Barton & Levstik,
2003)
If this is the belief of many social studies teachers, then why are they not teaching students
historical literacy skills? Many are still concerned about covering the state standards and
keeping control and order in their classrooms; they see teaching primary sources and covering
the curriculum as two separate subjects but, as already pointed out, teaching these skills allows
students to gain a deeper understanding of social studies content (Barton & Levstik, 2003).
Barton and Levstik (2003) maintain that spending time on primary sources, reading multiple
historical perspectives and having students interpret sources are viewed by teachers as extras that
they do not have time for: learning how to construct historical accounts from evidence might be
nice, but it will almost always take a back seat to coverage of textbook or curriculum content,
because that is what many people think history teaching is all about, especially in an era of highstakes testing (p. 360). The solution lies in showing teachers that the two ideas are combined:
coverage of curriculum and historical literacy skills. By using historical literacy skills, students
22
are being asked to construct knowledge via the use of primary sources, and research shows this
causes students to internalize the historical facts that are often the goal of other methods
(Burenheide, 2007, p. 57); those other methods oftentimes are teacher centered direct instruction
techniques that allows for little critical thinking and little extended understanding of content.
Review of Literature Readings Related to the Use of Primary Sources
The following section provides background information that forms the foundation of the
historical literacy plan. Along with this literature regarding the use of primary sources, the
historical literacy plan will also draw from teachers responses to the Social Studies Survey and
primary sources and literary works that fit with the district curricula, the literature and teacher
responses.
One of the most effective ways to teach historical literacy, or the ability to do history and
also learn content is through the use of primary sources. According to the U.S. National
Archives and Records Administration (2011):
The use of primary sources exposes students to important historical concepts. First, students
become aware that all written history reflects an author's interpretation of past events.
Therefore, as students read a historical account, they can recognize its subjective nature.
Second, through primary sources the students directly touch the lives of people in the past.
Further, as students use primary sources, they develop important analytical skills. (p. 1)
Most social studies teachers would agree that they want their students to be aware of these
ideas but do not use primary sources to serve these purposes, if they use them at all (Barton &
Levstik, 2003). As pointed out earlier, the Kansas State Social Studies Standards contain
indicators that mention the use of primary sources. At the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade
levels there are the same three indicators that includes what students should do with primary
sources; however, it is only at the seventh-grade level that one of the indicators is tested, noted
by the delta symbol: 4.7.2: (A) examines different types of primary sources in Kansas history
and analyzes them in terms of credibility, purpose, and point of view (i.e., census records,
23
diaries, photographs, letters, government documents) (Kansas State Department of

Education, 2008). The sixth and eighth grade indicator is worded exactly the same, except not
listed as a tested item. The Kansas Social Studies Assessment is currently given only at the sixth
and eighth grade so no primary source skills are tested by the state of Kansas. The next indicator
is 4.7.3: (A) uses at least three primary sources to interpret the impact a person or event from
Kansas history to develop an historical narrative (Kansas State Department of Education, 2008).
The sixth- and eighth-grade indicator is the same except Kansas history is changed to world
history for sixth-grade and U.S. history for eighth- grade. The last Kansas indicator that asks
students to interpret a historical event, which would require primary sources to do, is 4.7.4: (A)
compares different descriptions of the same event in Kansas history to understand how different
people might interpret historical events differently (Kansas State Department of Education,
2008). Again, the sixth- and eighth-grade indicator is the same except Kansas history is changed
to World history for sixth-grade and U.S. history for eighth-grade. By including three separate
indicators that have to do with primary sources, the Kansas State Social Studies Curricular
Standards acknowledge that primary sources are important; however, because they are not tested,
the reality is that these skills are not explicitly taught.
Wineburg and Historical Literacy Skills
Teachers first need to know the skills they need to teach students how analyze primary
sources. One place to begin is with Wineburgs (1991) study entitled, Historical Problem
Solving: A Study of the Cognitive Processes Used in the Evaluation of Documentary and
Pictorial Evidence. He evaluates how historians learn history versus how students learn history
and how historical problem-solving skills can be developed. Wineburg (1991) concluded was
that the way students and historians arrive at conclusions in history is very different. High
24
school students simply read a historical document and took it at face value, with little discussion
or comparison to other sources, to arrive at a conclusion. Historians, on the other hand, dug
deeper: they drew upon prior knowledge, looked at source information, discussed the documents
with each other, asked questions and proposed a conclusion based on the knowable facts. The
students expected the answer to be simple similar to the answer on a multiple choice test
while the historians expected to arrive at a longer conclusion, one that still left many questions to
be answered. The problem is this: students have not been taught how to think history
(Wineburg S. , 1991). Wineburg (1991) states at the end of his study that, able high school
students can know a lot of history but still have little idea how historical knowledge is
constructed (p. 91). Wineburg offers three steps students should be explicitly taught to use
when analyzing historical information: corroborating, sourcing, and contextualizing. To
corroborate, students should confirm and compare details against prior information before
accepting them as the truth. To source, students look at who created or wrote the document and
what their potential biases could be. To contextualize, students should be able to place an event
in a particular moment and a particular world (Mayer, 1998). This skill trains historians to
look at the conditions and the situation surrounding the event and try to place themselves in it: to
reconstruct what happened, how they would feel if it had been them or if they had been there,
and describe other related events going on before and after that time. This type of thinking
works against the history that students have internalized through the stories and frameworks that
they bring with them to class: challenging long-standing historical frameworks takes time, and
educators must give students multiple opportunities to practice and apply their new knowledge
and skill (Wineburg & Reisman, 2008, p. 202)
Drake and Brown and a Hierarchical Approach to Primary Source Documents
25
Drake and Brown (2003) believe that, all history educatorsshould be dedicated to
eliciting historical thinking (p. 466). Drake and Brown (2003) recommend a hierarchical
systematic approach for primary source documents. They suggest that their approach, developed
for high school or undergraduate students, be used once or twice a semester but returned to at
other appropriate times during instruction. Drake and Brown (2003) prioritize the importance of
documents, by placing them in categories: First-Order, Second-Order, Third-Order. First-Order
(1st-order) documents are absolutely critical documents that are at the center of the teachers
instruction. The teacher leads a class discussion of the selected 1st-order document, based around
a general, open-ended question presented to students. Second-Order (2nd-order) documents either
support or challenge the 1st-order document so students have the chance to corroborate
documents. Drake and Brown (2003) recommend that three to five 2nd-order documents be used
with one 1st-order document. These 2nd-order documents can be print documents, images, or
artifacts. The purpose of 2nd-order documents are to either confirm ideas found in the 1st-order
document or show a divergent point of view. Through discussion of the documents, students will
start to understand the subtle differences of the past as they consider how the 2nd-order
documents support or challenge the 1st-order document. Finally, Third-Order (3rd-order)
documents are primary sources that students find themselves that should relate to the teachers
1st-order document. This could be something that they find at home, such as an old photograph,
letter, newspaper article, family story or a primary source found online. This third piece provides
relevance to students and should be important to him or her. This third piece of evidence would
be challenging for younger students to find, especially if they are in a world history class. It
would be important for the teacher to be aware of these challenges and guide students to an
26
appropriate place to find a 3rd-order document, especially the first time this is used in class
(Drake & Brown, 2003).
Drake and Brown (2003) emphasize that as the 1st-order document is introduced, the
teacher must ask basic questions about it, in order to, as Wineburg (1991) recommends, source
the document. Who is the author? When was the source written? What type of document is it?
Who was the intended audience? The teacher could teach and use the pre-AP APPARTS
strategy (introduced at the beginning of the year) to lead students through these questions. By
asking students to consider the answers to these questions, teachers enable students to weave a
1st-order document into their historical frameworks of understanding (Drake & Brown, 2003, p.
471). They are getting students to begin thinking like historians.
After the basic sourcing questions have been discussed and answered, the teacher should
then move on with their students to consider the central meaning of the 1st-order document. The
authors point out that the teacher should ask students not to judge the document yet (that is to
say, whether they agree or disagree with it) but instead ask students to think about the events and
ideas taking place regionally, nationally, and internationally at the time the document was
written. If the class is being taught around themes, the teacher could then ask students to relate
the document to a theme, like conflict and cooperation. By doing this, the teacher is asking
students to apply Wineburgs (1991) third skill of contextualization and further examine the 1storder document (Drake & Brown, 2003).
When analyzing the 2nd-order documents, teachers should again lead students through
sourcing questions, contextualization questions and corroboration questions between the 2ndorder documents and 1st-order document. If a photograph was used as a 2nd-order document,
27
specific questions should be asked about it, such as What do you see (people or objects) in the
image?, What are people, if any, doing in this image?, What does this image tell you about
ways of living? etc. By asking these questions, the teacher is showing students that an image
has purpose and meaning and it also gives them a visual of the time period they are studying
(Drake & Brown, 2003).
Adapting Primary Sources
Drake and Brown (2003) refer to revising primary source documents as editing, while
Wineburg and Martin (2009) refer to it as adapting. Whichever term one uses, the idea is the
same: teachers physically alter sources by changing their syntax and vocabulary, conventionalize
their spelling, capitalization and punctuation and even rearrange sentence sequences to make the
document accessible to students. Consider a diary entry written by an adult in the 1860s. It will
have adult ideas and a higher vocabulary that a sixth-grader will struggle with. Add to that, the
fact that spelling and grammar rules were different in the 1860s and the student might as well be
reading a foreign language. If a teacher is using this as a 1st-order document and it is vital to read
in order to meet the essential understandings of a unit, then it is worth it for the teacher to adapt
it to make it accessible to a sixth-grader. Both Drake and Brown (2003) and Wineburg and
Martin (2009) advise not to lie to students if they ask if the source has been adapted: instead of
responding defensively, teachers should regard their students questions as ones of curiosity and
interest. They should encourage their students to read an entire, unedited document and ask them
to select key sections of the source (Drake & Brown, 2003, p. 473). Drake and Brown (2003)
advise encouraging students to read the original source. By making the document
comprehensible to students, teachers are developing their students interest; some students may
choose to read the whole primary source.
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To those who object to adapting primary sources, Wineburg and Martin (2009) point out that
students, especially in the United States urban cores, are failing to achieve even the basic level
of competence measure by the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress Reading
exam). The old way of teaching history is ineffective with groups of students who cannot read at
grade level, let alone analyze and interpret primary sources. By having students read a textbook
aloud or having them watch a movie, Wineburg and Martin (2009) believe that they send a
whole generation of students into the world as functional illiterates (p. 211). By adapting
sources for struggling readers, or even readers in the middle school grades with little exposure to
primary sources, teachers are giving students multiple experiences to become readers of history.
In terms of adapting the document, Wineburg and Martin (2009) have three principles that
they consider when approaching a document: focusing (focusing students attention on most
relevant aspects so that they can read carefully what is there), simplification (selectively
modifying complex sentences, conventionalizing spelling, etc.), and presentation (present
sources using large, 16-point font with ample white space on the page). Drake and Brown
(2003) guide teachers through the editing of primary sources with a series of questions to
consider: Is it possible to edit the source? What do I know about the document that will help me
edit it appropriately? What more do I need to know about the document in order to edit it
appropriately? How will this document enhance my teaching and student learning? What are the
essential parts of this document? By taking these principles and questions into account and
adapting primary source documents to meet the needs of their students, teachers are giving their
students the opportunity to become fluent readers and thinkers of history.
Framing History: Using the Narrative
29
The development of historical understanding depends on historical literacy. If students have

never been exposed to explicit social studies instruction in elementary grades K-5, let along
primary source instruction, a good place to start with students is exposing them to the narrative
and, more specifically, historical fiction. In a study conducted by Egan (1983), he describes the
developmental stages that children go through in developing historical understanding. The first
stage he describes is called the Mythic Stage from early ages to age seven. At this stage,
children enjoy what Egan (1983) refers to as fairy stories: fairy stories involve clear structural
oppositions between characters or forces which embody binary pairs like good/bad, love/hate,
fear/security, big/little, and so on (p. 73). Children at this age organize their known world using
the words good/bad, big/little, etc. As they begin to branch out and learn about new and unknown
worlds, they categorize these new worlds using these categories to organize new knowledge.
The second group of children, and the ones that middle school teachers will work with most,
range in age from eight to thirteen. Egan (1983) calls this stage the Romantic Stage. At this
stage, the part of historical understanding that can be developed is that which allows one to
realize that history is about real people, real eventstheir lives were like our lives; we enable
students by so vivifying past experience to use it to expand their own experience (Egan, 1983,
p. 76). At the romantic stage, teachers must work to engage their students romantic minds by
telling the story of people who struggle courageously against odds to success. Egan (1983)
suggests coming up with units of study that demonstrate human qualities like courage, humility,
energy, power, perseverance, etc. It is important that the material is true and human qualities are
represented when teaching Egans (1983) so-called romantic minds. The units should also
have a strong narrative line and allow for exploration of the subject matter in great detail.
Students at this age are ready to learn about ideas and elements that are as different as possible
30
from their daily experience. At this stage of historical understanding, students can be taught to
comprehend a sophisticated narrative sense of cause and effect. This suggests that for a sixthgrader, the narrative can be used to frame units of study and the skill of causality can be
introduced and developed as students proceed through seventh and eighth-grade.
Using the narrative with young learners is also a place to start in building background
knowledge and context with early middle school students. Bruner (1991) argues that the power
of the narrative can help students construct the past: humans organize [their] experience and
[their] memory of human happenings mainly in the form of narrative-stories, excuses, myths,
reasons for doing and not doing, and so on (p. 4). The narrative is the starting point to help
students learn about history and develop their historical literacy skills, as the narrative
transforms chronology (a list of events) into history (an interpretation of events) (Levstik,
Research Directions Mediating Content Through Literary Texts, 1990, p. 849). The narrative is
something that students are familiar with, as they listen to stories beginning at a very young age
so they understand how they work; the narrative provides the human side of history that a child
can understand. Students are interested to learn about history when it is presented in the
narrative format for many reasons. Levstik (1989) conducted a year-long case study of a fifthgrade student to study historical understanding and interaction with historical narrative. The ten
year-old in Levstiks (1989) study, Jennifer, explains why she enjoys learning with historical
fiction:
The social studies book is old and doesn't have as much information in it like books do ...
and they give you a lot of information that no social studies book ever tells you ... The social
studies book doesn't give you a lot of detail. You don't imagine yourself there because they're
not doing it as if it were a person. That would be a very interesting social studies book if they
told a few things about the people as if it were from their own eyes ... But textbooks don't like
to be interesting, especially. (p. 114)
31
The narrative humanizes history because it describes daily life and peoples feelings and
draws students into the unfolding drama. In historical fiction, the conflict often has to do with
moral issues, usually explored by the protagonist who is at odds with the antagonist; students
identify with the protagonist and the moral issue he or she is confronted with. Students also have
the opportunity to safely explore these adventures and how they, themselves, would have
behaved, if it had been them. In this sense, students are internalizing history and it becomes a
relevant experience for them.
Historical fiction also often explores the extremes or boundaries of human experience, like
the Holocaust, war, or the genocide of Native Americans (Mayer, 1998) and students enjoy
learning about these intense events. In another study that Levstik (1986) conducted in a
literature-based sixth-grade history classroom, she found that students demonstrated continued
interest in history as it relates to human response to fear, discrimination, and tragedy. History
provides students with real instances of courage or heartbreak within the safe framework of their
classroom. Many students reading and writing about the Holocaust through books such as The
Diary of Anne Frank (Frank, 1952), Friedrich (Richter, 1970), and Gentlehands (Kerr, 1978),
reported by Levstik (1986) that they wanted to do something about the books after they read
them, like the events were still going on, or they thought they could demand retrospective
justice.
Given what Egan (1983) pointed out earlier about the stages a child goes through in their
historical understanding, the drawback to using the narrative is that it tells only one side of the
story. Students may read about only the good side of the main character because of the details
that the story provides (i.e. the story of Columbus, the story of Pocahontas). Levstik (1986)
found in her study of the sixth-grade classroom that the literature did provide information to
32
students but it was strongly influenced by the authors point of view and the readers
identification with certain characters. While mature historical understanding requires students to
be more analytical and objective, students in elementary grades responded to the subjective
nature of history as literature. Students in Levstiks (1986) study engaged in further exploration
of topics but their later reports still hinted at the one-sided nature of the original historical fiction
they read.
While the historical fiction that students read in Levstiks (1986) study affected them deeply,
the emotional response also made it difficult for them to question the authenticity of the book. In
a separate study conducted by VanSledright and Brophy (1992), some students who read
historical fiction regularly, but who were not taught to distinguish among different types of
historical texts, author purposes, and frames of reference, combined the dramatic narrative form
of the fictional accounts with the content of history. These students tended to think that if
historical accounts were dramatic and built around narrative forms, then they were history, and
did not show much regard for differentiating between fact and fiction (VanSledright & Brophy,
1992). As a result of the studies by Levstik (1986) and VanSledright and Brophy (1992), it is
imperative that teachers continuously remind students what a narrative is and how it can
influence their understanding of an event.
Teachers should also consider some other issues as they use the historical narrative in their
classroom. Levstik (1990) highlights three issues that are essential to understanding the impact
of the narrative on young learners. If the teacher is aware of these issues, they can plan for them
within their lessons. First, look at the ethical or moral context supported by the narrative. Does
the narrative support one side of the story? Second, if the narrative does moralize history, does it
also influence the development of historical judgment, or the ability to think carefully about
33
issues of morality and interpretation? Third, how can teachers act as a go-between between their
students and the text so that students can move toward a more mature understanding of history,
outside of the narrative structure?
In historical fiction, part of the narrative structure is that it takes historical data and forms that
into a story that can mean certain things to a reader; this is why students find historical fiction
more interesting than their textbooks (Levstik, 1990). What the teacher must do is to help
students navigate between the issues that are brought up in historical fiction and that which
actually happened in history. Students can interpret moral and ethical issues brought up in the
narrative: this requires development of students historical understanding. By understanding the
issues, children are developing an understanding of themselves and the world around them; they
want to know the answer to, why? Young students want to know the truth about things
whether historical or present day. Levstik (1990) cautions the teacher who tries to keep a neutral
and objective social studies classroom for young learners (K-6). Bardiges (1988) study of
adolescent moral development in the context of a literature-based history curriculum found that:
If we are to meet the challenge of educating in ways that help our childrenbecome more
human, then we must attend do and build on the finely human aspects of their thinking. As
we help them to see and understand the realities, complexities, and laws of the world, we must
help them to hang on to their moral sensitivities and impulses. (as cited in Levstik, 1990, p.
851)
It is the teachers job to provide the narrative and allow students to explore it with their
guidance. The teacher can help focus their attention on certain aspects of the book and allow
students to draw their own conclusions about the historical figures in it. As students
understanding grows over time, contradicting information can be provided, and students can be
asked to sift through the contradictions and abstractions (Levstik, 1990). This helps to answer
34
high school or college students question, Why did I never learn this in elementary school? The
answer is, You werent ready for it.
Levstik (1990) points out that the narrative can influence the development of historical
judgment. Historical interpretation involves weighing evidence and coming to conclusions based
on multiple sources of information. When fifth- and sixth-graders in Levstiks (1990) research
studies read historical fiction, they never once questioned the truthfulness of what they were
reading but used it as a way to measure other interpretations (i.e. their textbook). For a teacher,
it would be important to find a balance between multiple perspectives versus too many
perspectives (as pointed out previously) so that students begin to value reading more than one
source before arriving at a conclusion (Levstik, 1990). For this age group, the teacher should be
explicit in pointing out alternatives to the literary interpretation of an event. Keeping this in
mind, when teachers choose historical fiction, they need to strike a balance between picking out
good literature and careful, accurate accounts of history (Levstik, 1990).
The role of the teacher in this cannot be emphasized enough. The teacher must mediate
between student and text to help lead students to a more mature understanding of history
(Levstik, 1990). Some of the ways the teacher can do this is by providing students with multiple
books on the same topic so that they have the opportunity to return to similar ideas and issues
brought up in previous discussions. If a historical inconsistency between two sources is noticed
by students, the teacher should lead a discussion utilizing Wineburgs (1991) sourcing heuristic
about who the author of each source is and what their credentials are. Using Wineburgs (1991)
corroboration heuristic, the teacher could then send students to the computer or library to find
more information on the event or person in question and compare it to the original source.
Students are interested in the narrative because, in contrast to their textbook, it makes history
35
more human and, with some guidance from their teachers, students are able to see that history
can be interpreted and analyzed and can change, if new information is presented (Levstik, 1990).
The narrative helps students maintain a balance between the abstractions of history as an
intellectual exercise and history as an on-going, participatory drama (Levstik, 1990, p. 852).
The narrative is an ideal format in which to engage early middle school students in what can
sometimes be fantastic tales based on true stories and it can be a true intellectual exercise that
their romantic minds are ready for.
Questioning the Author
Questioning the Author (QtA) is a strategy developed by Beck and McKeown (2002) that
teaches students to ask questions about the content they are reading. It helps students assume
responsibility for understanding a text by constructing meaning from the text, it encourages
students to ask questions and comment, and it empowers the reader to question the fallibility of
the author (College Board, 2009). This strategy is designed to encourage students to think
beyond the words on the page and to consider the author's intent for the selection and his or her
success at communicating it (Jones, 2007, p. 1). By questioning the author, students are
evaluating how well the text can stand on its own and are not simply challenging the writer about
their ideas. Students are being asked to look at the authors intent, his craft, his clarity, and his
organization. Students will be able to explain why the authors writing is accessible and they
should be able to explain why they might struggle over an authors words and be invited to
improve on it. The standard format involves five questions. Students read a selection of text (one
or more paragraphs, but usually not as much as a whole page), and then answer these questions:
1. What is the author trying to tell you?
2. Why is the author telling you that?
36
3. Does the author say it clearly?

4. How could the author have said things more clearly?
5. What would you say instead?
Sometimes students struggle with content not because they are failing as readers but because
the author has failed as a writer. It is this notion of the "fallible author" that Beck et al (2002)
wish students to become aware of. When they think a failure to understand is their own fault,
students often pull away from their reading. But if they will approach text with a "reviser's eye,"
as Beck et al (2002) content, they can shift from trying to understand text to making text more
understandable.
Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS)
Using art as a primary source, social studies teachers can develop their students visual
literacy for sources that are not just the printed word. Through the implementation of the Visual
Thinking Strategy, students can see the narrative come alive; this strategy should be used to
develop and deepen students contextual information of new concepts, ideas, and understandings
in social studies.
Narratives are not simply books but a narrative can also be a photograph or a piece of art that
tells a story. A piece of art is a primary source document and if looked at thoughtfully, a piece of
art can start to show the viewer the politics, beliefs, and conventions of the period in which it
was produced. Artwork provides teachers the chance to give their students a powerful classroom
experience: it encourages students to observe and analyze, speculate and interpret. Philip
Yenawine, former director of education at the Modern Museum of Art, has spent many years
studying effective methods about how to educate the public about art. Yenawine (1999) states
37
that history is a vague notion; pre-adolescents often lump all periods of history together as the
olden times (p. 6). Most students think that art is boring because they look at a painting that
has some old-fashioned people doing something that they cannot relate to. Yenawine believes it
is not that students cannot understand what they are looking at but it is simply that their grasp of
such data is incomplete and often leads to misunderstanding and misuse (p. 6). Students do not
have enough prior knowledge to understand a piece of art. According to Perkins (1994), when
we turn to works of art from other times or cultures, or from less familiar cultural enclaves
within our own, we expect an easy entry for which we are ill-prepared (p. 25). Students
understand television shows, the subjects in their video games, the pages that are in the
magazines they read, and the movies that they watch. All of these are modern creations that
assume a background knowledge we almost always have (Perkins, 1994, p. 25). Students
choose to read, watch, or look at things that they are familiar with because they find it easy to
understand what is going on; they identify with the time and the place. Entering middle school,
students do not have a vault of prior knowledge built up. With the help of a teacher guiding them
through VTS, students are building up their knowledge of history from which they can draw
upon later: they will have a visual of the time and place they are reading or learning about.
Students can draw upon this historical information to aid them in their understanding of a time
period, event, or person. The challenge for teachers is to use the piece of art to provide context
by talking students through it.
Art provides students the experience to construct knowledge. Yenawine and Housen (1995)
developed the Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS) for beginning viewers of art to help them develop
visual literacy and lead them towards constructing their own knowledge of the piece over time.
Yenawine (1999) summarizes one of Lev Vygotskys (1962) studies of speech and how language
38
and the development of ideas are connected. The learner talks himself into understanding:
verbally wrestling with an issue leads to insight. It is this method that inspired Yenawine (1999),
Vygotskys theoryand importantly, his evidenceconvinced me to make greater use of
verbalizing: get people to talk about art, actively constructing meaning from what they see (p.
7). By asking students to verbalize what they see, they are actively creating meaning and finding
insight into their thoughts. Through this process, the teacher has the opportunity to see into their
students brains and guide them through their thinking.
The VTS centers on a questioning process to keep the viewer actively engaged. For the initial
lessons, Yenawine and Housen (1995) recommend selecting pieces of art where there are familiar
objects, people, and interactions. They also recommend using pieces of art where the artist is
intentionally representing a narrative. After the piece of art is chosen, the educator should ask the
first question: What is going on in this work? It is an open-ended question that allows the
beginning viewer to speak personally and share their opinions. The beginning viewer oftentimes
does not see the same thing that others see or what the artist originally intended but it is
important to allow viewers to share their initial observations. Later viewing moves students
away from their initial subjectivity. Then, to encourage deductive reasoning, the teacher asks:
What do you see that makes you say that? If the teacher asks students to provide evidence for
their initial opinion, then all can see why they think as they do, no matter how random students
initial opinions were (Yenawine, 1999). The third and final question in this process is: What
more can you find? This should be asked several times to encourage extended viewing and
multiple observations. The teacher should be constantly pointing out all observations made by
students to keep students eyes focused on the image, calling attention to details that may have
been noticed by one but possibly missed by others (Yenawine, 1999). After each viewers
39
response, the teacher should repeat and paraphrase for clarity and confirmation. They should
also try to link thoughts that address the subject and purpose of the work of art and then respond
to observations that raise questions with, Where could one go to find that answer? This
especially encourages students to think about what resources they can use to find out more,
emphasizing vital research skills and putting responsibility for knowledge in the hands of the
student instead of the teacher.
VTS is powerful strategy that allows teachers to model how students should approach a visual
image, whether it be in a social studies classroom, an art classroom, or when they visit an art
museum as an adult. It also allows teachers the valuable opportunity to see what their students
are thinking in order to help them start to uncover the rich meaning behind visual images.
Example: 8th Grade American History, unit on Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny.
Click here to access image.
1. What is going on in this work?
2. What do you see that makes you say that?
3. What more can you find?
*Repeat question 2, as students discuss what they see.
4. If necessary, ask: Where could one go to find that answer?
Discussion of Social Studies Survey Results
As stated on page 11, in order to obtain qualitative data from middle school social studies
teachers on historical literacy instruction, given the adoption of the Common Core Standards and
the districts emphasis on AP courses, a survey was developed and distributed online via Survey
Monkey. It was based mostly on the English/Language Arts Reading Standards for Literacy in
History/Social Studies 6-12 from the Common Core Standards. Survey responses were collected
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over a 2-week period in May 2011. Thirteen out of fifteen middle school social studies teachers
responded to the survey before leaving for summer break.
When teachers were asked what they believe is their most important job as a social studies
teacher, there was a tie for first: 84.6% of teachers who took the survey believe that their job is
both preparing young people to be active citizens and teaching social studies/historical
literacy (primary/secondary sources) to their students. It seems that teachers see the connection
already brought up between social studies education, citizenship and historical literacy. Teachers
also said that their job is to teach students the content required by state standards (61.5%) and
teaching government/law-related education (53.8%). Given that 61.5% of teachers acknowledge
their job is to teach the content required by state standards and realizing that at the sixth and
eighth grade levels, students will be taking the Kansas state social studies assessment next year,
it will be important to emphasize with teachers how historical literacy supports the state
standards, as it gives students a deeper understanding of the content they are learning about,
while developing the skills that the standards also address.
53.9% of teachers reported that at the beginning of the school year 0%-40% of their students
are able to read and comprehend a primary source independently and proficiently, which means
that while teachers report it is important that they teach historical literacy, less than half of
students enter their classroom being able to do so. Additionally, 53.9% of teachers who took the
survey report that 71%-90% of students enter their classroom being able to read and comprehend
their social studies textbook independently and proficiently. What teachers are reporting is that
more students can proficiently read their textbook than read a primary source when they enter
their classroom.
41
61.5% of teachers shared that in a typical week, they incorporate primary sources into their
lessons 1-2 times but when analyzing that source, either the teacher is involved in analyzing it
(46.2%) or both the teacher and students are involved in analyzing/talking about it (53.8%).
Further, no one responded that the students are most involved in analyzing/talking about the
source. How will students learn to analyze the source if the teacher is doing most of the work?
Looking at this statistic, while teachers say it is their job to teach historical literacy, this statistic
shows that teachers need strategies to build historical literacy skills in their students so that
students are doing the critical reading work with primary sources.
On a scale of 1-5, teachers were either fairly comfortable (3) or comfortable (4) teaching the
following historical literacy skills with: analyzing a primary or secondary source (3.92),
determining the main idea of a primary or secondary source (4.00), summarizing sources (3.92),
using context clues to determine the meaning of words and phrases in a social studies text or
reading (4.00), identifying a sequential text, a comparative text, or a causal text (3.38),
identifying aspects of a text that reveal an authors purpose or point of view (3.54), and
distinguishing among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment (4.00). The two lowest skills are
identifying a sequential text, a comparative text, or a causal text (3.38) and identifying aspects of
a text that reveal an authors purpose or point of view (3.54). Being able to identify the authors
purpose or point of view is part of Wineburgs (1991) sourcing heuristic and is vitally important
in order to identify bias in a source. Identifying a sequential text, a comparative text, or a causal
text emphasizes key points and can help an author advance an explanation or analysis. It can
also help to reveal an authors purpose.
Finally, 77% of teachers (10 teachers) report that anywhere from 61%-100% of students are
able to read and comprehend their social studies textbook independently and proficiently by the
42
end of the year. Teachers responses to the question about students being able to read and
comprehend a primary source independently and proficiently by the end of the year were a little
more varied. 15.1% of teachers reported that 0%-20% of their students could do this by the end
of the year. Another 15.1% of teachers reported that 31%-50% of their students could do this.
69.3% of teachers (9 teachers) reported that 51%-90% of their students were proficient at reading
and comprehending a primary source by the end of the year. This is interesting given the earlier
question about students coming into their classroom with these skills over half of the teachers
at the beginning of the year report that less than half of their students can read and comprehend a
primary source. The majority of teachers (ten teachers) who took the survey are getting students
who have had at least one year of a middle school social studies class. There seems to be an
inconsistency in what teachers recognize as proficient reading and comprehending of primary
source material.
At the end of the survey, teachers were asked to share primary resources that they use in the
classroom, to be compiled on a district website that all teachers can access. Out of the thirteen
teachers who took the survey, only five offered resources. Of those, only four were websites; the
fifth one mentioned some pictures a teacher had taken from trips around the world that they used.
These four websites, along with many other useful social studies websites that were discovered
throughout this research process, have been compiled on this Social Studies Resource Page and
will be shared via email and vertical team meetings in the fall.
After reviewing the survey results, four areas stand out: the use of textbooks in the social
studies classroom, who is doing the work with the primary sources (the teacher or students), the
skills that teachers need professional development on, and clearly defining what independently
and proficiently means in the use of primary sources.
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Teachers report that most of their students can read a textbook independently and proficiently
at the start of the year but the same cannot be said for primary source documents. If students are
more proficient at reading their textbook then is it because they spend more time working with
textbooks? This would be something to discuss with teachers next school year. It would be
important to share with teachers how they can combine the use of the textbook (in order to build
background knowledge with their students and expose them to expository text) with the use of a
primary source (possibly one that conflicts with the textbook account). By doing this, teachers
are getting their students to analyze both accounts and begin thinking like historians. Given the
Common Core Standards (2010) statistic that as little as 7%-15% of all text read in elementary
and middle school is expository text, it is important to expose students to expository texts
because the ability to read different types of writing is related to later reading success (Moss &
Newton, 2002). If students are expected to read increasingly complex expository texts over time
(Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010), then social studies teachers need to begin
exposing students to primary sources, especially narrative sources (letters and diary entries) that
are more accessible for younger learners. Using such sources provide opportunities for students
to scaffold their learning up to expository texts (cause-effect texts and compare-contrast texts).
Teachers should work to find narrative sources, such as letters or speeches, in which to frame the
more challenging expository text.
The second area that stands out was teachers responses to who is doing the work when
analyzing primary sources. Out of the thirteen teachers who took the survey, not one reported
that they have students do most of the work. It is either the teacher talking about and analyzing
the source or both the teacher and students analyzing the primary source. In order for students to
learn both historical literacy skills and content from primary sources, it is important that students
44
are doing the work. The idea of scaffolding (Gnadinger, 2008) would be something to start
discussing next school year with teachers. Teachers will first be taught historical literacy
strategies to help their students, teachers should then model the strategy for students, give
examples and work on the strategy together and then begin to fade supports as students work
independently with primary sources.
Next, there are four historical literacy skills that teachers rated their ability to teach below a 4.
This is vitally important because it provides quantitative data about specific skills in which
teachers need professional development: analyzing a primary or secondary source (3.92/5),
summarizing sources (3.92/5), identifying a sequential text, a comparative text, or a causal text
(3.38/5), identifying aspects of a text that reveal an authors purpose or point of view (3.54/5).
The research-based historical literacy skills that are included in the next section address these
skills. This also supports Shanahan and Shanahans (2008) recommendation that specific content area
literacy strategies be taught to teachers. By teaching students how to read like a historian, teachers are
building students skills: they are teaching them how to source historical accounts, how to interpret
differing historical explanations, and to understand how history is written.
The last area that stands out from the survey was teachers responses to the question about
students being able to read and comprehend a primary source independently and proficiently by
the end of the year. The inconsistency in responses could indicate that teachers do not have a
clear idea of what independently and proficiently means and that clear expectations have not
been set for the use of primary sources. 30% of teachers reported that half of their students could
not do this independently and proficiently by the end of the year, while 69.3% of teachers
reported that over half of their students were proficient at reading and comprehending primary
sources by the end of the year. Over half of the teachers on question 4 reported that the majority
of students coming into their classrooms could not read and comprehend a source independently
45
and proficiently. As part of the curriculum guides developed next school year, a proficiency
level should be developed through common assessments; this will ensure that there is
consistency in expectations so that as students work their way through middle school social
studies classrooms, they are encountering increasingly, but appropriately, challenging primary
sources and increasingly challenging instructional activities that go along with them.
Based on survey results, these four areas will be addressed during professional development
next school year: the use of textbooks in the social studies classroom, who is doing the work with
the primary sources (the teacher or students), teaching and modeling historical literacy skills, and
clearly defining what independently and proficiently means when assessing students skill
level with primary sources.
Application of Review of Literature Readings Related to the Use of Primary Sources

I. Introduction
The following section provides narrative recommendations that support the research shared in
the Review of Literature. The research was not specifically for the middle school level; in order
to best meet the needs of this specific age group, this narrative takes into account both the studies
from the Review of Literature and the survey results already discussed. When a lesson is
provided (see lesson that accompanies the following section - Application of Drake and Brown),
this is what I would make available to the teacher, after the research and the rationale behind the
lesson had been discussed with the teacher first.
II. Application of Drake and Brown (2003)
46
The hierarchy of documents approach adopted by Drake and Brown (2003) was intended for
high school or undergraduate students. It could be modified and scaffolds put in place for use at
the sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade level. For example, for sixth-graders at the beginning of the
year, a 1st-order document could be chosen that goes along with the first unit of study. The
document could be adapted so that the average sixth grader is able to understand it (Wineburg &
Martin, 2009). If teachers expose students to multiple primary sources during the year by
adapting them, then they should slowly build up the text for students, as their students become
comfortable with reading primary sources. The APPARTS mnemonic strategy could be
simplified and taught. The class and teacher could read the document and then together apply the
APPARTS strategy to source it and begin analyzing it, using the contextual clues included at the
beginning of the adapted document. This type of lesson could be taught again several times
during the first semester of sixth-grade, until students are proficient at it and automatically go to
the APPARTS strategy without teacher prompts to do so. The skill of contextualization and the
addition of one to two 2nd-order documents could be included by the end of the second semester
of the sixth-grade year.
Example 1: Sixth-Grade World History Lesson:
1st-Order Document: Hammurabis Code
Essential Question: What does Hammurabis Code tell us about Babylonian culture?
Learning Objectives:
Analyze how Hammurabi's Code reflects Babylonian society at the time.

Describe life in Old Babylonia.
Instructional Activities:
1. Engage/Motivate: What are 3-4 of our schools rules? Discuss students answers: what do
those rules tell about our school? For example, if walking in a single file is a rule, it might
say that safety and order are important to our school.
2. Build/Review Background Knowledge:
47
Hammurabi was a king of Babylonia in southern Mesopotamia (the site of present-day Iraq).
He probably ruled for about 40 years beginning in 1792 B.C.E. Babylon was one of several
city-states in this area near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Hammurabi was a skilled
military leader and under his leadership, Babylon conquered the other city-states of the area
and united much of Mesopotamia under his power.
Hammurabi was also a skilled manager. He is most famous for his code of laws, which
included 282 laws to govern the people of Babylon.
Hammurabi had his laws posted throughout Babylonia. They were written on stone slabs and
placed in prominent places for the people to see.
According to the code, there were three social classes in Babylonia: an upper class of nobles
(government officials, priests, and warriors), the class of freemen (merchants, artisans,
professionals, and wealthy farmers), and a lower class of slaves.
3. Utilize APPARTS strategy before beginning to read.
4. Adapted 1st-Order Document:
Hammurabis Code
Source: King Hammurabi, around 1750 B.C.E, Babylon
King Hammurabi wrote an introduction to his list of laws. In that introduction, he says that
the laws were written to be fair. He wanted to bring about the rule of righteousness in the
land, to destroy the wicked and evil-doers, so that the strong should not harm the weak
If a person accuses another person of a crime, the accused shall go to the river and jump
in. If he drowns, the person who accused him may have the accused person's house. If the
accused doesn't drown, then the River-God has decided that he is innocent. The person
who made the accusation is to be put to death, and the accused shall take his house.
If a judge makes an error through his own fault when trying a case, he must pay a fine, be
removed from the judges bench, and never judge another case.
If anyone opens his ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and the water floods the
field of his neighbor, then he shall pay his neighbor corn for his loss.
If he be not able to replace the corn, then he and his possessions shall be divided among
the farmers whose corn he has flooded.
If a physician kills a patient or cuts out a patient's eye when trying to remove a tumor, the
physicians' hands will be cut off.
If a builder builds a house and the house collapses and kills the owner of the house, the
builder shall be put to death. If the house collapses and kills the owner's son, then the son
of the builder shall be put to death.
If a builder builds a house for someone and the walls start to fall, then the builder must
use his own money and labor to make the walls secure.
If someone gives something to someone else for safekeeping, the transaction should be
witnessed and a contract made between the two parties.
If a son hits his father, his hands shall be cut off.
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5.
6.
7.
8.
If a fire breaks out in a house and a person who helps to put out the fire steals something
from the house, that person shall be thrown into the fire.
If a man destroys the eye of another man, his eye shall be destroyed. If he breaks the bone
of another, his bone shall be broken.
If anyone takes a male or female slave from the court or from a freed man, outside the
city gates to escape, he shall be put to death.
If a man's wife, who lives in his house, wishes to leave it, plunges into debt, tries to ruin
her house, neglects her husband, and is found guilty: if her husband will offer her release,
she may go on her way, and he gives her nothing as a gift of release. If her husband does
not wish to release her, and if he takes another wife, she shall remain as a servant in her
husband's house.
If a man wishes to divorce his wife, he must return her dowry and give her the use of part
of his field for farming and part of his property so that she can provide for her children.
If a man's wife becomes sick, the husband may take a second wife, but must continue to
care for the sick wife as long as she lives.
If someone strikes a man of higher rank, then he shall be whipped 60 times in public.
Complete APPARTS strategy with source.
What can we learn about Babylonian society in the following areas: marriage, religion,
making a living, government? Have students write 1-2 sentences about each area and share
out with class.
Assessment/Ticket Out the Door: Summarize what life was like in Old Babylonia.
If time permits: have students get out a copy of our schools complete rules located in their
daily agenda. Have them work with a partner to develop a summary of what life was like at
Mill Creek Middle School or Monticello Trails Middle School, acting as if they are historians
and looking back on our school 100 years in the future.
Day 2: 2nd-Order Documents (Note: the purpose of 2nd-order documents are to either confirm
ideas found in the 1st-order document or show a divergent point of view).
The Ten Commandments (confirms ideas of Hammurabis Code, i.e. an eye for an
eye), received by Moses on Mt. Sinai, 1300 B.C.E.
The Twelve Tables, 450-451 B.C.E. (parts of it confirm Hammurabis Code and other
parts challenges Hammurabis Code).
To provide contextualization and more information for codes of laws, click here.
Notes for Hammurabis Code Lesson:

Hammurabis Code Adapted from the following websites:
http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture2b.html#hammurabi,
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/careerstart-grade7/4442, http://edsitement.neh.gov/lessonplan/hammurabis-code-what-does-it-tell-us-about-old-babylonia#sect-activities, and textbook:
Spielvogel, Jackson J. World History, Journey Across Time, The Early Ages. Glencoe:
Columbus, OH. 2008.
For the complete, translated version of Hammurabis code, click here.
For ideas on how to differentiate this for diverse learners, click here.
49
Example 2: 8th-Grade American History Lesson

1st-Order Document: John Smiths own words, from A True Relation of such occurrences and
accidents of note as hath happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of that Colony, published
in 1608
Essential Question: Did Pocahontas save John Smiths life?
Learning Objectives:
Analyze the events surrounding John Smiths arrival at Jamestown.

Evaluate sources believability by considering genre, audience, and authors purpose.
Establish what is true by comparing 2 documents to each other.
Recognize disparities between 2 accounts.
1. Engage/Motivate: Ask students what they know about Pocahontas. Then, ask them how they
know what they know about Pocahontas. They will be focusing on one question, Did
Pocahontas save John Smiths life?
2. Build/review background information: English arrive in 1607, land in Jamestown, John
Smith is taken prisoner by Powhatan tribe. Distribute Timeline of Events.
3. Apply APPARTS strategy to 1st-Order Document (below). Then, read 1st-Order Document.
Source (adapted): John Smiths own words, from A True Relation of such occurrences and
accidents of note as hath happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of that Colony,
published in 1608.
Arriving in Werowocomoco, the emperor welcomed me with good words and great platters of
food. He promised me his friendship and my freedom within four days. . . .He asked me why we
came and why we went further with our boat. . . . He promised to give me what I wanted and to
feed us if we made him hatchets and copper. I promised to do this. And so, with all this kindness,
he sent me home.
Werowocomoco - Virginia's first known capital was Werowocomoco, the "seat" of the Native
American chief that the English colonists in 1607 called Powhatan. Werowocomoco was located
on modern Purtan Bay, on the north bank of the York River in Gloucester County, 10 miles
upstream from Yorktown and across the York River on the Middle Peninsula of Virginia. Click
here for maps and more information.
What does this source say about Pocahontas saving John Smiths life?
4. Apply APPARTS strategy to 2nd-Order Document (below). Then, read 2nd-Order Document.
50
Source (adapted): From Smiths later version of the story in General History of Virginia,
New England and the Summer Isles, published in 1624.
They brought me to Meronocomoco, where I saw Powhatan, their Emperor. Two great stones
were brought before Powhatan. Then I was dragged by many hands, and they laid my head on
the stones, ready to beat out my brains.
Pocahontas, the Kings dearest daughter took my head in her arms and laid down her own upon it
to save me from death. Then the Emperor said I should live.
Two days later, Powhatan met me and said we were friends. He told me to bring him two guns
and a grindstone and he would consider me his son.
What does this source say about Pocahontas saving John Smiths life?
Have students respond to 2nd-Order Document:
Why would Smith add on to his earlier story?
Why might Smith lie or exaggerate and invent new information?
Why wouldnt Smith lie about the story?
5. Debrief: Why would John Smith write two different accounts? Do students believe that
Pocahontas saved his life or not?
6. Discuss sourcing questions and point of view using part of APPARTS strategy, in relation to
the Disney film Pocahontas. Show clip from movie, where Pocahontas saves John Smiths
life.
Discuss clip with students. Do they believe the movie? Is this what actually happened
between Pocahontas and John Smith? What do the other pieces of evidence say?
7. Have students find a 3rd-Order Document that relates to John Smith and Pocahontas and,
depending on time, either print it off in class or do it as homework and bring it in to class the
following day.
This source will be added to the 1st-order and 2nd-order documents already analyzed and
interpreted. Then, secondary sources from historians will be analyzed and interpreted and
added to the data collected.
The following questions will be discussed at the end of the 2nd day:
Which historian did students find more convincing? Why?
What evidence did both historians use to support their argument?
What did the movie get right and what did it get wrong? Why would Disney choose to
make the movie that way?
Ticket Out the Door (Day 2): students review the data that has been compiled and write
their answer to the question, Did Pocahontas save John Smiths life?
51
Lesson resources and activities accessed and modified from: http://sheg.stanford.edu/?

q=node/21
III. Application of the Use of Historical Fiction
As a result of the studies by Levstik (1986) and VanSledright and Brophy (1992), it is crucial
that teachers remind students what a narrative is and how it can influence their understanding of
an event. When a teacher begins to use historical fiction in the classroom, it is beneficial to start
by explaining to students the difference between historical fiction versus narrative fiction so that
students understand that what they are reading is based upon events that happened but the
characters and what they said and did could be fiction. This emphasizes the need for expository
texts on the same subject, so that as students read historical fiction, they are getting a two-sided
approach to the topic. It gives students the chance to compare the expository text to the fictional
account they are reading and compare and contrast what is true and what is false or at least
unsupported by the expository text. By engaging students in historical thinking using a
combination of historical narratives and expository text, teachers are introducing students to
important skills and knowledge that will be built upon in future social studies classes.
Students in Levstiks (1986) study engaged in further exploration of historical topics but their
later reports still hinted at the one-sided nature of the original historical fiction they read. They
struggled seeing both sides because the historical fiction they read affected them to be objective
on the topic. Given this, at the middle school level, social studies teachers should start building
up students historical understanding at the sixth grade level with less complex skills, like
contrasting both the good and bad things that a historical figure did. As students progress
through middle school, the skill-level should be increased and students should be expected to
analyze and interpret more complex ideas, such as whether or not Columbus Day should be
52
celebrated, given the actions of Christopher Columbus when he discovered the New World. As
teachers build up the skill-level of their students, they should also be offering more expository
texts in their classroom as students progress through middle school. Expository texts, combined
with narrative offerings will help students understand more complex texts.
When students were exposed to historical fiction about the Holocaust, Levstik (1986) reports
that they wanted to do something about the books after they read them. Nearly 85% of
teachers who took the social studies survey reported that preparing young people to be active
citizens was their most important job in the classroom. Ultimately motivating students to act is
an important piece of citizenship education. If the teacher took the historical fiction unit a step
further and offered instances of genocide presently occurring, utilizing expository text with their
students to build up their level of skill, students could take their feelings from reading historical
fiction, apply that to a present-day event, and then act upon it through a social action plan.
By utilizing historical fiction, students are learning about the world, about how people in the
past lived, and about the possibilities for their own futures. If sixth-grade students explore
history through the use of historical fiction, then by the time they reach seventh grade, they will
be ready for the challenges of sourcing, contextualizing, and corroborating true primary sources.
IV. Application of Questioning the Author (Beck & McKeown, 2002)
Questioning the Author (Beck & McKeown, 2002) is a useful strategy to use at any level but
could be introduced at the sixth-grade level with historical fiction because it teaches students to
ask questions of the author: it encourages them to look at the reading with a more critical eye.
The strategy could then be used with primary and secondary sources in seventh and eighth
grades.
V. Application of Visual Thinking Strategy
53
As viewers progress through the Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS), teachers scaffold student
use of the strategy, encouraging them to ultimately apply the VTS on their own. Teachers first
model VTS, allow students to try the strategy within a whole class setting, allow students to try
the strategy in cooperative groups, and then finally allow them to try it independently. Teachers
coach students as needed, encouraging them to reflect upon their response and also learn from
others approaches. As students gain expertise, teachers diminish their supports as students apply
what they have been taught. As students move from work with historical fiction in sixth-grade to
more complex primary sources in seventh- and eighth-grade, VTS is an appropriate strategy to
use as images are introduced into the classroom by eighth-grade. As students become more
comfortable with VTS, teachers can present images that are increasingly complex. Complexity
may be less familiar subjects, images may have more implied information and not be as explicit,
there could be more symbolism present, the artists technique may be more specialized, or the
image may be more culturally challenging to a student.
Research-Based Historical Literacy Strategies
Through a series of vertical team meetings and content area professional development, these
strategies will be modeled and shared with teachers during the 2011-2012 school year so that
they can begin to utilize them in their instruction. Through my work and relationships with
certain teachers, I will ask a few of them to help me in modeling these strategies with their
colleagues during meetings. During the course of the year, I will also work to help teachers use
the resources provided in Appendix A (Historical Fiction Book Lists) and the strategies provided
in Appendix B (Research-Based Historical Literacy Instructional Strategies).
Scaffolding should be utilized when using any of these strategies. Scaffolding is when the
teacher is continually adjusting the level of his or her help in response to the students level of
54
performance. Scaffolding not only produces immediate results, but also instills the skills
necessary for independent problem solving in the future (Gnadinger, 2008). When developing
the Historical Literacy Plan (see next section), scaffolding of students skill level was kept in
mind at each grade level.
Sourcing Strategies:
o Questioning the Author (QtA) (Beck & McKeown; College Board see Appendix
B)
o APPARTS (College Board see Appendix B)
o SOAPS (College Board see Appendix B)
o Utilization of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-Order Documents
Corroboration Strategies
o APPARTS (College Board see Appendix B)
o Multiple-gist Strategy (Shanahan see Appendix B)
o Use of historical fiction (see Appendix A)
Contextualization Strategies
o Use of historical fiction (see Appendix A)
o Use of Visual Thinking Strategy for images (see Appendix B)
o Use of historical fiction via Book in an Hour (see Appendix B)
o Use of Visual Thinking Strategy (see Appendix B)
Summarizing Strategies:
55
o Multiple-gist Strategy (Shanahan see Appendix B)

o History Events Chart (Shanahan see Appendix B)
Causal Strategy:
o History Events Chart (Shanahan see Appendix B)
Historical Literacy Plan
This plan addresses how teachers should begin the year with primary source documents and
then provides a vertical plan for what skills students should learn at each grade level, what
teachers should utilize when teaching those skills, and what students should be able to do by the
end of the school year. Through sharing the research-based historical literacy strategies with
teachers throughout the year, teachers will be learning about the skills embedded in this plan. In
my role as an instructional coach, I will be there to support them in this plan by helping them to
plan lessons, find relevant primary sources (outside of the ones already provided in Appendix A),
help adapt primary sources to meet the needs of their students, help to develop assessments for
the historical literacy skills, and be there to observe their implementation of lessons.
Beginning of the School Year: To meet two objectives at the beginning of the year, 1.)
introduce/review with students primary source documents and 2.) get to know students and
teacher at the beginning of the year, the teacher and students will bring in primary source
evidence from their lives via photographs, artifacts, and documents.
An introductory lesson from HIS: Historical Scene Investigation, The History Project,
Stanford History Education Groups Reading Like a Historian, or for Kansas History Read
Kansas!, will be used to draw interest to the topic and introduce, teach, emphasize and begin to
scaffold students learning of these skills at the start of the year.
56
Wineburgs historical literacy skills will be placed on posters around the classroom, with the
questions students should be asking below each skill (Stanford History Education Group, 2011):
Sourcing: Before reading the document ask yourself:

o Who wrote this?
o What is the authors point of view?
o Why was it written?
o When was it written? (A long time or short time after the event?)
o Is this source believable? Why? Why not?
Imagining the Setting (Contextualizing)

o What else was going on at the time this was written?
o What was it like to be alive at this time?
o What things were different back then? What things were the same?
o What would it look like to see this event through the eyes of someone who lived
back then?
Cross-Checking (Corroboration)
o What do other pieces of evidence say?
o Am I finding the same information everywhere?
o Am I finding different versions of the story? (If yes, why might that be?)
o Where else could I look to find out about this?
o What pieces of evidence are most believable?
Sixth-Grade:
57
Historical Literacy Skills: introduce students to Wineburgs sourcing and

contextualization heuristics and utilize continuously throughout the year.
Utilize: historical fiction, expository text, and primary source documents
By the end of the year: students will compare a historical fiction source with one adapted
1st-Order Document that fits with one of the units of study and apply sourcing and
contextualization heuristics to the sources. See Appendix A for a list of historical fiction
novels that would be appropriate for world history.
Seventh-Grade:
Historical Literacy Skills: continue work on Wineburgs sourcing and contextualization
heuristics and introduce students to the skill of corroboration.
Utilize: both primary sources and expository text (chronological, description), with
limited use of historical fiction.
By the end of the year: students will be able to compare and contrast two primary
sources: one 1st-Order Document and one 2nd-Order Document, focused around a theme
that students have been exploring, such as immigration and answering an essential
question about the documents based around the theme of study (i.e. why did immigrants
come to Kansas?).
Eighth-Grade:
Historical Literacy Skills: continue work on sourcing, contextualization, and
corroboration heuristics.
Utilize: primary sources (introduce different types of primary sources like charts and
photographs) and expository text (cause/effect, problem/solution, etc.)
58
By the end of the year: students will complete a Document-Based Question focused on a
theme that falls at the end of the year, such as Go West Young Man, that includes three
sources (one 1st-Order Document and two 2nd-Order Documents), focused on an essential
question (i.e. How did the idea of Manifest Destiny change the American landscape by
the 1860's?) that falls at the end of the year.
Conclusion
The survey results, historical literacy plan, and research-based instructional strategies provide
a strong starting point as the 2011-2012 school year begins. The historical literacy plan
coincides with the districts goal to develop social studies curriculum guides during the 20112012 school year. It will provide teachers a starting point as to what skills they should develop
throughout the school year; these skills will be written into the curriculum guides at each grade
level. By embedding the plan into the curriculum guides, students historical literacy skills will
be built up over three years to prepare them for social studies classes as they enter high school.
Students will then have a strong foundation in primary source documents and will be prepared
for the rigor of social studies courses as they progress through high school. The Common Core
Standards for History/Social Studies is also supported by this plan, with its emphasis on building
discipline-specific literacy skills and taking into account the expository text that it recommends.
In my position as a teacher-mentor, I will work with teachers on sharing and modeling the
research-based instructional strategies so that they begin to use them in their classroom to
improve student learning, in accordance with the Common Core Standards and also to follow the
curriculum guides they have developed.
The historical literacy plan will benefit students right away in middle school because it
provides rigor, relevancy and will help them learn social studies content. It will benefit them in
59
high school as they will be prepared for the rigor of the classes and will have a high skill level
from which teachers can build on. This will also benefit students when become adults: they will
have the ability to read critically so they are capable of making educated political and social
decisions.
60
61
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Appendix A Historical Fiction Book Lists

6th Grade World History
Ancient Greece
Dyan Blacklock, Pankration: The Ultimate Game (1999), about a boy who is kidnapped just before he
plans to attend the Olympic Games with his friends. Recommended for ages 9-12.
Ken Catran, Voyage with Jason (2000), about a young apprentice shipbuilder who gets the chance to sail
with Jason and the Argonauts on the risky quest for the Golden Fleece. Recommended for ages 9-12.
Ken Catran, The Golden Prince (1999), about Pyrrhus, the son of the Greek warrior Achilles, who after
his father's death had to take over the role of the Greek leader during the Trojan war.
Caroline Cooney, Goddess of Yesterday (2002), about a young woman who impersonates a princess after
she is the only survivor of a pirate raid, and then goes to Sparta just before Helen and Paris fall in love,
triggering the Trojan War. ALANCB, JFA.
Esther Friesner, Nobody's Princess (2009), about the determined and beautiful young Helen of Sparta
(who would later become known as Helen of Troy); #1 in the Helen of Sparta series.
Esther Friesner, Nobody's Prize (2009), about Helen of Sparta and her adventures when she
disguises herself as a boy to join her brothers in a quest for the Golden Fleece; #2 in the Helen of
Sparta series.
Priscilla Galloway, The Courtesan's Daughter (2002), about a fourteen-year-old girl from ancient
Athens whose father has married a famous and well-educated courtesan, and whose plans to marry the
man she loves are disrupted by an enemy of her family. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Adele Geras, Dido (2009), about the serving maid of a queen who falls in love with the same man the
queen loves.
Adele Geras, Troy (2001), about two sisters in Troy who fall in love with the same man during the Trojan
War.
Adele Geras, Ithaka (2001), about a girl who is in love with Odysseus's son Telemachos during the time
when Odysseus is absent from home and his wife is besieged by men who wish to marry her and gain
control of Odysseus's kingdom. Recommended for grades 7-12.
Helen M. Hoover, The Dawn Palace: The Story of Medea (1988), the story of Medea and Jason and the
transition from matriarchal rule and worship of a goddess to patriarchal rule and the rise of male gods.
Recommended for grades 7-12.
Nikos Kazantzakis, Alexander the Great (1982), about a boy who becomes a close friend of Alexander
the Great.
Clemence McLaren, Inside the Walls of Troy (1996), about the beautiful Helen of Troy and the seeress
Cassandra. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
66
Elizabeth George Speare, The Bronze Bow (1961), about a young Palestinian boy who is eager to rebel
against the Romans after they kill his father, until he learns the power of love.
Rosemary Sutcliff, The Truce of the Games (1971; also titled "A Crown of Wild Olive" in the collection
Heather, Oak and Olive ), about two young athletes, one from Athens and one from Sparta, who compete
against each other in the Olympic Games.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Heather, Oak and Olive (1972), a collection of three stories, one set in ancient
Greece during the Olympic Games, one in ancient Britain and one in Roman Britain.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad (1993), a retelling of the ancient
Greek tale of the Iliad about the Trojan War. Recommended for ages 10 and up.
Rosemary Sutcliff, The Wanderings of Odysseus (1995), a retelling of the ancient Greek tale of
Odysseus and his struggle to return home after the Trojan War. Recommended for ages 10 and up.
Theresa Tomlinson, The Moon Riders (2002), about a young warrior priestess of the Amazons at the
time of the Trojan War.
Theresa Tomlinson, Voyage of the Snake Lady (2004), about a young warrior priestess of the
Amazons after the fall of Troy who must protect her people from the vengeance of Achilles;
sequel to Moon Riders.
Henry Treece, The Windswept City (1967), about a young slave boy to Helen of Troy who witnesses the
key events of the Trojan War.
Ancient Rome
L.S. Lawrence, Escape by Sea (2009), about the daughter of a senator in ancient Carthage who must flee
with her father after Rome attacks and destroys their city.
Gladys Malvern, The Secret Sign (1961), about an actor and a senator's daughter who fall in love during
the time when Emperor Nero was persecuting Christians in Rome.
Marissa Moss, Galen: My Life in Imperial Rome (2002), about a twelve-year-old slave boy in ancient
Rome during the time of Emperor Augustus.
Simon Scarrow, Gladiator: Fight for Freedom (2011), about a boy recruited into the life of a gladiator
after his father is murdered and his mother forced into slavery. Recommended for ages 8-12.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Locadio's Apprentice (1984), about a boy apprenticed to a physician in Pompeii
in the days before the eruption of Vesuvius.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Four Horses for Tishtry (1985), about a slave girl in ancient Rome who is
trying to earn enough money as a stunt rider to buy her whole family out of slavery
Roman Britain
Alfred J. Church, The Count of the Saxon Shore (1888), about a Roman officer responsible for
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protecting the coast of Britain from attacks by Saxon pirates and his experiences when Rome decides to
withdraw its legions from Britain. Available to read free online at HeritageHistory.com
Frances Hendry, Victoria: Born to Be a Warrior (2004), about a young Celtic woman in Britain who
becomes involved in Queen Boudica's revolt against Rome; #1 in the Gladiatrix trilogy.
Frances Hendry, Victrix: Triumph in the Roman Arena (2004), about a young Celtic woman who has
survived the aftermath of Boudica's rebellion and goes to Rome to train as a gladiatrix in order to avenge
her tribe; #2 in the Gladiatrix trilogy.
Frances Hendry, Gladiatrix: The Supreme Warrior (2005), about a woman gladiator who has vowed to
destroy Rome as Rome once destroyed her people; #3 in the Gladiatrix trilogy.
Mollie Hunter, The Stronghold (1974), about a brilliant young man in Scotland who is underestimated
by druid leaders because he has been crippled since Romans attacked his village.
Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle of the Ninth (1954), about a young officer in the Roman army in the
second century A.D. and his quest to find his father, whose legion has gone missing in Britain; #1 in the
Eagle of the Ninth series. Recommended for ages 14 and up.
Rosemary Sutcliff, The Silver Branch (1957), about two cousins, one a junior surgeon and the
other a centurion in the Roman army in Britain who discover a plot against the Emperor's life
during the waning days of Roman Britain in the late third century A.D.; #2 in the Eagle of the
Ninth series. CM. Recommended for ages 14 and up.
Rosemary Sutcliff, The Lantern Bearers (1959) about a young Roman cavalry officer born and
raised in Britain who must decide what to do when Rome decides to pull its armies out of Britain
in the fifth century; #3 in the Eagle of the Ninth series. ALANCB, CM. Recommended for ages
14 and up.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Three Legions (1980; to be reissued 2010 as Eagle of the Ninth Chronicles),
an omnibus edition containing the first three novels in the Eagle of the Ninth series, The Eagle of
the Ninth, The Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers. Recommended for ages 14 and up.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Dawn Wind (1961), about a fourteen-year-old Briton who sells himself into
thralldom on a Saxon farm at the end of the sixth century in order to save the life of a British girl;
#4 in the Eagle of the Ninth series (followed by Sword at Sunset, an adult novel).
Rosemary Sutcliff, Frontier Wolf (1980), about a Roman officer sent to a post on Hadrian's Wall
in Britain after he is disgraced by abandoning his fort when barbarians attack; #6 in the Eagle of
the Ninth series, but set chronogically after The Silver Branch. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Outcast (1955), about a boy who survives a shipwreck on the coast of Britain as a
baby, but is cast out at age fifteen because of his Roman birth and must make his way alone in a hostile
world. Recommended for ages 10 and up.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Warrior Scarlet (1958), about a boy in Britain during the Bronze Age who has a
withered arm and will lose his place in the clan unless he kills a wolf by himself so he can be initiated as a
man of his tribe. Recommended for ages 10 and up.
68
Rosemary Sutcliff, The Mark of the Horse Lord (1965), about a freed Roman gladiator who agrees to
impersonate the king of a tribe in northern Britain to whom he bears a remarkable resemblance.
Rosemary Sutcliff, A Circlet of Oak Leaves (1968; available with The Chiefs Daughter and A Crown of
Wild Olive/The Truce of the Games in Heather, Oak and Olive , 1972), about an encounter in a tavern
between a young auxiliary cavalryman in the Roman Army and a horse breeder with a mysterious past.
Rosemary Sutcliff, The Capricorn Bracelet (1973), a collection of linked short stories about Roman
soldiers serving at Hadrian's Wall on the northern edge of Roman Britain.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Sun Horse, Moon Horse (1977), about a young artist in Iron Age Britain and the
creation of the giant "Uffington Horse" carved into a chalky hillside.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Song for a Dark Queen (1978), about a harper in the court of Boadicea (Boudica),
the queen of the Iceni tribe in Britain who leads a violent rebellion against Rome. Recommended for
older teens.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Eagle's Egg (1981), about a young standard-bearer in the Roman army in Britain
who must gain a promotion in order to marry the girl he loves.
Rosemary Sutcliff, The Shining Company (1990), about a boy who becomes the shield-bearer to a
British prince who is gathering an army to defend Britain against Saxon invaders. Recommended for ages
10 and up.
Arthurian
Pamela Smith Hill, The Last Grail Keeper (2001), about a modern-day girl who is swept back in time to
King Arthur's day after her archaeologist mother uncovers a mysterious artifact.
Patricia Malone, The Legend of Lady Ilena (2002), about a fifteen-year-old girl in Scotland in 500 A.D.
who begins a search for the mysterious origins of her parents after her father dies.
Anne McCaffrey, Black Horses for the King (1996), about a teenaged boy from a dishonored family in
fifth-century Britain who gets the chance to serve as interpreter for Lord Artos when he buys horses for
his warband. Recommended for grades 7-10.
Gerald Morris, The Squire's Tale (1998; titled Squire Terence and the Maiden's Knight in the U.K.), a
humorous novel about an orphaned boy who has the chance to become a squire to King Arthur's knight
Gawain; #1 in the Squire's Tales series.
Gerald Morris, The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady (1999), a humorous novel about a squire
to King Arthur's knight Gawain and their adventures as they travel to meet the dangerous Green
Knight; #2 in the Squire's Tales series.
Gerald Morris, The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf (2000), a humorous novel about a lady who,
when her castle is besieged by an evil knight, sneaks out and goes to King Arthur's court for help;
#3 in the Squire's Tales series.
69
Gerald Morris, Parsifal's Page (2001), a humorous novel about a boy willing to do anything to
become a knight's page and escape the drudgery of working in his father's blacksmith shop; #4 in
the Squire's Tales series.
Gerald Morris, The Ballad of Sir Dinadan (2003), a humorous novel about a reluctant knight
and the Welsh lad who accompanies him on the way to King Arthur's court; #5 in the Squire's
Tales series.
Gerald Morris, The Princess, the Crone and the Dung-Cart Knight (2004; titled Lady Sarah
and the Dung-Cart Knight in the U.K.), a humorous novel about a thirteen-year-old girl who
witnesses the kidnapping of Queen Guinevere and joins a knight and his squire on the quest to
rescue her; #6 in the Squire's Tales series.
Gerald Morris, The Lioness and Her Knight (2005), a humorous novel about a determined
young woman from the Orkney Isles who travels to King Arthur's court with her cousin; #7 in the
Squire's Tales series.
Gerald Morris, The Quest of the Fair Unknown (2006), a humorous novel about a young man
who sets out to find his father, one of King Arthur's knights, after the death of his mother; #8 in
the Squire's Tales series.
Gerald Morris, The Squire's Quest (2009), a humorous novel about a squire who worries that
something may be amiss in King Arthur's court; #9 in the Squire's Tales series.
Gerald Morris, The Legend of the King (forthcoming in September 2010), a humorous novel
about a squire who joins his friends in a final effort to save Camelot; #10 and last in the Squire's
Tales series.
Philip Reeve, Here Lies Arthur (2008), about a girl who escapes to the forest when her village is
attacked and burned, and is found by the bard Myrddin who takes her into his service and transforms her
into the Lady of the Lake.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Tristan and Iseult (1971), about a young man in post-Roman Britain who defeats an
Irish knight and is sent on a mission to win a queen for his uncle, the King of Cornwall. Recommended
for ages 10 and up.
Elizabeth E. Wein, A Coalition of Lions (2003), about a daughter of Artos, the High King of Britain,
who travels to Africa after the disastrous Battle of Camlan to meet her intended husband, but finds the
land in turmoil. Recommended for grades 7-12.
Jane Yolen, Sword of the Rightful King (2004), about seventeen-year-old Gawaine, whose treacherous
mother wishes to put him on the throne of Britain instead of Arthur. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Ancient Egypt
Dorothy Sharp Carter, His Majesty, Queen Hatshepsut (1987), about the Egyptian princess Hatshepsut,
who grows up to rule as king in ancient Egypt. Recommended for grades 5-12.
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Chris Eboch, The Eyes of Pharaoh (2011), a mystery about teens in ancient Egypt who discover a plot
against their country while searching for a missing friend. Recommended for ages 9 and up.
Esther Friesner, Sphinx's Princess (2009), a novel which imagines the life of Nefertiti as a child and
young teen when she is forced to go to Thebes against her will to become the future wife of the pharaoh's
son.
Esther Friesner, Sphinx's Queen (2010), a novel which imagines the life of Nefertiti as a teen, escaping
from the royal palace into the hills above the Nile after she is wrongly accused of a crime; sequel to
Sphinx's Princess.
Kristiana Gregory, Cleopatra, Daughter of the Nile (1999), a novel in the form of a diary kept by
twelve-year-old Cleopatra after her father goes into hiding because of threats against his life, which may
also endanger her.
Dianne Hofmeyr, Eye of the Moon (2007), about a young woman who flees to Nubia with Tuthmosis,
the heir to the throne of Egypt, after his mother, Queen Tiy, is murdered.
Dianne Hofmeyr, Eye of the Sun (2008), about a young woman who returns to Egypt in secret with
Tuthmosis, the heir to the throne of Egypt, and lands in the midst of dangerous political struggles; sequel
to Eye of the Moon.
Meredith Hooper, Who Built the Pyramid? (2006), (from School Library Journal) through a
combination of fiction and nonfiction, Hooper describes the construction of Senwosret's pyramid in Egypt
4000 years ago. On each illustrated spread, a different person claims to have built the pyramid, from
Montuhotep, who designed it, to Inyotef, who sculpted the capstone, to Wah, who carried water to
workers at the site. Some of the figures are real, others are fictional but together they ask readers to
consider how many people it took to accomplish this great feat.
Elsa Marston, The Ugly Goddess (2002), about a fourteen-year-old Egyptian princess who dreads her
future as a priestess until she is kidnapped.
Eloise Jarvis McGraw, The Golden Goblet (1988), about a boy in ancient Egypt who wants to follow his
father's profession of goldsmith, and whose half-brother is stealing from him. Recommended for grades
5-8.
June Reig, Diary of the Boy King Tut-Ankh-Amen (1978), a novel in the form of a diary kept by
Tutankhamen the year he was nine and became King of Egypt.
Jill Rubalcaba, A Place in the Sun (1997), about a boy with artistic talent who, at the age of nine, is
sentenced to spend the rest of his life at hard labor in the gold mines of Nubia.
Jill Rubalcaba, The Wadjet Eye (2000), about a medical student in Alexandria, Egypt, who journeys to
Spain after his mother dies to find his father, a soldier in the Roman Army of Julius Caesar.
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Biblical Times and the Ancient Middle East

Marjorie Cowley, The Golden Bull (2008), about a brother and sister in ancient Mesopotamia who are
sent away to the city of Ur during a terrible drought when their parents can no longer feed them.
Helen Doss, King David (1967), about the last days of Israel's King David and the struggle for power
among his sons.
Susan Fletcher, Shadow Spinner (1998), about a girl enlisted by the sultan's wife to find a story that will
keep him from putting her to death the next morning; based on the ancient tales of The Thousand and
One Nights. Recommended for ages 10-14.
Laura Gallego Garca, The Legend of the Wandering King (2002 in the original Spanish; 2005 English
translation), about a prince of ancient Arabia whose desire to win a poetry competition leads him to a
terrible, wonderful fate.
Nikki Grimes, Dark Sons (2005), a novel told in verse form which moves between the story of a
modern-day African-American boy whose parents have divorced and the Biblical tale of Abraham's son
Ishmael, who saw his place taken by his father's younger son, Isaac. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Julius Lester, Pharaoh's Daughter (2000), about Moses as a teenager and the choice he must make
between his Hebrew blood and the world he has grown up in as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter.
Sonia Levitin, Escape from Egypt (1994), about a Hebrew slave who works for a goldsmith while
Moses struggles to free the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Medieval Anglo-Saxons, A.D. 500-1066
Gareth Hinds, Beowulf (2007), a graphic novel that retells the Anglo-Saxon story of the warrior who
defeats a terrible monster who has been killing the king's men.
Katy Moran, Bloodline (2008), about a boy in eighth-century Britain whose father abandons him in a
village under threat of attack from king Penda of Mercia; #1 in the Bloodline series. Recommended for
ages 12 and up.
Katy Moran, Bloodline Rising (2009), about a boy who makes his way in Constantinople as the
city's most daring and successful thief until he is enslaved and put on a ship sailing to the British
kingdom of Mercia; #2 in the Bloodline series. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Beowulf: Dragonslayer (1961), a retelling of the Anglo-Saxon story of the warrior
who defeats a terrible monster who has been killing the king's men.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Blood Feud (1976), about a boy in tenth-century England who is captured by
Vikings and sold into slavery.
Rebecca Tingle, The Edge on the Sword (2001), about the eldest daughter of King Alfred, fifteen-yearold Athelflaed, and how she learns the arts of war. Recommended for grades 6-10.
72
Rebecca Tingle, Far Traveler (2005), about the sixteen-year-old daughter of Athelflaed, the
Lady of Mercia, who after her mother's death disguises herself as a bard in order to escape a
diplomatic marriage to an older man; sequel to The Edge on the Sword.
Robert Westall, The Wind Eye (1976), about a present-day English family vacationing on the coast of
Northumberland who travel back to the time of St. Cuthbert.
Medieval England and Britain from 1066
Rebecca Barnhouse, The Book of the Maidservant (2009), about a fifteenth-century servant girl who
works for the bad-tempered, fanatically pious Margery Kempe and accompanies her on a pilgrimage to
Rome. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Henrietta Branford, Fire, Bed and Bone (1998), about a dog whose devotion to her human family leads
her to help save the children when the family is captured and imprisoned after a rebellion.
Michael Cadnum, In a Dark Wood (1998), a retelling of the Robin Hood story from the perspective of
the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Michael Cadnum, The King's Arrow (2008), about an eighteen-year-old boy who joins a hunting party
and has to flee after he witnesses the death of King William Rufus, killed by a hunter's arrow.
Susan Coventry, The Queens Daughter (2010), about Joan, the daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and
Henry II, who is caught between her parents as their discord intensifies.
Kevin Crossley-Holland, Gatty's Tale (2006), about a peasant girl of the Welsh Marches who joins a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem without how far away it is.
Karen Cushman, Catherine, Called Birdy (1994), about an English nobleman's daughter in 1290 who
longs for adventure and doesn't want to get married. Recommended for grades 6-9.
Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice (1995), about an orphaned girl taken in by a midwife in
medieval England. Recommended for grades 6-9.
Karen Cushman, Matilda Bone (2000), about a well-educated girl in medieval England whose life
changes when she becomes the assistant to a bonesetter.
Joanne Dahme, The Plague (2009), about a peasant girl orphaned in a plague epidemic who is chosen to
become a body double for Princess Joan and, when the princess dies, is sent to Spain to marry the Prince
of Castile in Joan's place.
Jill Eckersley, The Silver Rose (1998), about a girl who runs away from her father to find the boy she
loves, who is fighting on the side of the future King Richard III during the Wars of the Roses.
Joan Elizabeth Goodman, Peregrine (2000), about a fifteen-year-old widow who goes on pilgrimage to
Jerusalem in order to avoid a second marriage and meets a strange Welsh girl along the way; sequel to
The Winter Hare.
73
Kristiana Gregory, Eleanor, Crown Jewel of Aquitaine (2002), about Eleanor of Aquitaine in the years
before she becomes the queen of France at age fifteen.
Berit Haahr, The Minstrel's Tale (2000), about a thirteen-year-old girl in fourteenth-century England
who disguises herself as a boy so she can travel to King Edward's court and become a minstrel.
Recommended for ages 9-12.
Mollie Hunter, The King's Swift Rider (2000), about a sixteen-year-old boy who joins the army of
Robert the Bruce of Scotland as a courier and spy during the rebellion against England. Recommended
for grades 7-12.
Sherryl Jordan, The Raging Quiet (1999), about a sixteen-year-old girl who, after being forced to marry
an older man, discovers a boy the villagers believe to be possessed by demons is actually just deaf.
Gladys Malvern, Heart's Conquest (1962), about a sixteen-year-old girl from an aristocratic Saxon
family during the Norman invasion of England.
Gladys Malvern, My Lady, My Love (1957), about Princess Isabella of Valois, who at the age of six in
1396 was married to King Richard II of England.
Gladys Malvern, So Great a Love (1962), about a lady-in-waiting.
Gladys Malvern, The Queen's Lady (1963), a romance about a charmaid who rises to become a
confidante of Queen Anne of England during the reign of Richard III.
Eloise McGraw, The Striped Ships (1991), about an eleven-year-old Saxon girl orphaned during the
Norman Conquest who takes part in the creation of the Bayeux Tapestry.
Laura Amy Schlitz (illustrations by Robert Byrd), Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a
Medieval Village (2007), linked verses (mostly) in the voices of children aged about ten to fifteen in a
medieval village. Recommended for ages 10 and up. Review
Rosemary Sutcliff, Shield Ring (1956), about a Saxon boy and girl living in a secluded valley that has
become the last holdout against the Normans after the Norman Conquest of England. Recommended for
ages 12 and up.
Rosemary Sutcliff, Knights Fee (1960), about an orphaned boy in Norman England who is wagered in a
game of chess after he angers the lord of Arundel Castle. Recommended for grades 9-12.
Rosemary Sutcliff, The Witch's Brat (1970), about a boy in twelfth-century England whose
grandmother, a healer and wisewoman, is suspected of being a witch.
Theresa Tomlinson, The Forestwife (1993), about a fifteen-year-old girl who flees to Sherwood Forest
to escape an arranged marriage and joins a community of outlaws; #1 in the Forest Wife trilogy, available
in an omnibus edition titled The Forest Wife Trilogy .
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Theresa Tomlinson, Child of the May (1998), about a girl who grew up in Sherwood Forest
after her mother was murdered; #2 in the Forest Wife trilogy, available in an omnibus edition
titled The Forest Wife Trilogy .
Theresa Tomlinson, The Path of the She-Wolf (1998), about a woman of the forest whose
healing skills are needed during an uprising against King John; #3 in the Forest Wife trilogy,
available in an omnibus edition titled The Forest Wife Trilogy .
Henry Treece, Man With a Sword (1962), about Hereward, the Saxon who led the resistance to William
the Conqueror after the Norman invasion.
Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris, Girl in a Cage (2002), about the daughter of King Robert the Bruce of
Scotland, Princess Marjorie, publicly imprisoned in a cage after she is captured by the English.
Medieval Europe, the Continent and Byzantium
Tracy Barrett, Anna of Byzantium (1999), about Anna Comnena, a Byzantine princess who was raised
to become empress until her brother displaced her.
Elizabeth Borton de Trevino, Casilda of the Rising Moon (1967), about a daughter of the Moorish
King Alamun of Toledo.
Nancy Garden, Dove and Sword: A Novel of Joan of Arc (1995), about the brother and a childhood
friend of Joan of Arc who remember her life. Recommended for grades 7-12.
Donna Jo Napoli, Breath (2003), about a boy in Hameln, Germany, who has a chronic lung disease and
escapes a plague of madness suffered by the other townfolk; based on the legend of the pied piper and
actual historical events.
Gloria Skurzynski, Spider's Voice (1999), about a boy in Paris who carries messages between his
master, Abelard, and Abelard's beautiful student Eloise.
Judith Tarr, His Majesty's Elephant (1993), historical fantasy about Charlemagne's daughter, a Breton
boy, and an elephant given to Charlemagne by the caliph of Baghdad.
Frances Temple, The Ramsay Scallop (1994), about a fourteen-year-old English girl who goes on a
pilgrimage to Spain with her husband-to-be. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
The Crusades
Richard Argent, Winter's Knight (2010), historical fantasy about a teen who becomes a Crusader in
order to fulfill the glorious fate he believes has been promised him.
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Kat Black, A Templars Apprentice (2009), historical fantasy about a thirteen-year-old Scottish boy with
mystical abilities who is recruited to go on a dangerous mission for the Knights Templar; #1 in the
forthcoming Book of Tormod series. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Karleen Bradford, Angeline (2004) about a peasant girl persuaded to join the Children's Crusade who is
forced into slavery in the Middle East after being betrayed by her own people.
Karleen Bradford, There Will Be Wolves (1996), about a girl condemned as a witch who escapes
execution by going on crusade with her father during the First Crusade. Recommended for grades 6-8.
Michael Cadnum, The Book of the Lion (2000), about a seventeen-year-old boy who serves as squire to
a knight on his way to join Richard the Lionheart's army in the Holy Land during the Third Crusade.
Olivia Coolidge, Tales of the Crusades (1970), about the three hundred years of war between Europe
and the Middle East.
Kevin Crossley-Holland, The Seeing Stone (2001), historical fantasy about a boy in 1199 who is named
after King Arthur and is given a "seeing stone" in which visions of the king appear; #1 in the Arthur
trilogy.
Kevin Crossley-Holland, At the Crossing Places (2004), historical fantasy about a thirteen-yearold boy who has achieved his dream of becoming a squire and now dreams of becoming a
Crusader and winning the hand of a fair lady; #2 in the Arthur trilogy.
Kevin Crossley-Holland, King of the Middle March (2004), historical fantasy about a young
Crusader whose "seeing stone" shows him the destruction of King Arthur's court and the origins
of an enduring legend; #3 in the Arthur trilogy.
Kevin Crossley-Holland, Crossing to Paradise (2008), about an English country girl who joins a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land; a sequel to the King Arthur trilogy.
K.M. Grant, Blood Red Horse (2005), about two thirteen-year-old boys, one Christian and one Muslim,
fighting on opposite sides during a battle between the armies of Richard the Lionheart and Saladin during
the Third Crusade; #1 in the De Granville trilogy. Recommended for grades 5-9.
K.M. Grant, Green Jasper (2005), about two English brothers who return from the Crusades to
find England in turmoil because King Richard has not returned; #2 in the De Granville trilogy.
K.M. Grant, Blaze of Silver (2007), about a young Englishman chosen to help collect and
deliver the ransom to free King Richard from imprisonment, and a young Arab in the Middle East
who is in trouble for refusing to kill Saladin; #3 in the De Granville trilogy. Recommended for
grades 5-9.
Catherine Jinks, Pagan's Crusade (1993), about a sixteen-year-old boy who becomes squire to a
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Templar knight just before the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin's forces; #1 in the Pagan series. Recommended
for grades 7 and up. Review
Catherine Jinks, Pagan in Exile (2004), about a squire to a Templar knight who returns to
France in 1188 after Jerusalem falls; #2 in the Pagan series. Recommended for grades 7 and up.
Catherine Jinks, Pagan's Vows (2004), about a squire to a former Templar knight who enters a
convent and finds all is not well within its walls; #3 in the Pagan series. Recommended for grades
7 and up.
Catherine Jinks, Pagan's Scribe (2005), about a boy hired by an Archdeacon 1209 to serve as
his scribe as a crusade against the Cathar heretics in France begins; #4 in the Pagan series.
Recommended for grades 7 and up.
Michael P. Spradlin, Keeper of the Grail (2008), about a fourteen-year-old orphan who becomes the
squire of a Templar knight on his way to fight in the Holy Land; #1 in the The Youngest Templar series.
Michael P. Spradlin, Trail of Fate (2009), about a young squire assigned to bring the Holy Grail
to England who falls for a pretty girl along the way; #2 in the The Youngest Templar series.
Michael P. Spradlin, Orphan of Destiny (2010), about an orphan who returns to the abbey
where he was brought up to find it in ruins; #3 in the The Youngest Templar series.
Asia
Diane L. Wilson, I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade (1998), about a girl in fourteenth-century
Mongolia whose greatest wish is to win a horse race. Recommended for grades 6-10.
Dori Jones Yang, Daughter of Xanadu (2011), about a thirteenth-century Mongol princess who meets
Marco Polo during his visit to the court of Khubilai Khan.
Novels about British Royalty and Royal Courts
Karleen Bradford, The Nine Days Queen (1986), about Lady Jane Gray, the reluctant queen who ruled
for only nine days before being convicted of treason and executed.
Suzanne Crowley, The Stolen One (2009), about a young woman raised in the country who goes to
Queen Elizabeth's court in search of her mother.
Eve Edwards, The Other Countess (2010), historical romance about an eighteen-year-old boy sent to
court to find a wealthy bride and the penniless but aristocratic girl he finds himself attracted to.
Eve Edwards, The Queen's Lady (2011), about a young widow who finds a place as lady-inwaiting at Queen Elizabeth's court and falls in love with the brother of a man she once refused to
marry; sequel to The Other Countess.
77
Pauline Francis, Raven Queen (2007), about Lady Jane Grey, who was Queen of England for nine days
before being executed for treason.
Jacqueline Kolosov, The Red Queens Daughter (2007), about an orphaned daughter of Queen
Katharine Parr who is given the opportunity to study magic and become a lady-in-waiting to Queen
Elizabeth.
Jacqueline Kolosov, A Sweet Disorder (2009), about a sixteen-year-old girl at Queen Elizabeth's court
whose skill at sewing and embroidery offer her special opportunities while igniting the jealousy of other
ladies.
Alisa Libby, The Kings Rose (2009), about Katherine Howard, who at fifteen becomes the fifth wife of
King Henry VIII. Recommended for grades 8-11.
Carolyn Meyer, Mary, Bloody Mary (1999), about Mary Tudor, the daughter of King Henry VIII, during
her teen years; #1 in the Young Royals series. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Carolyn Meyer, Beware, Princess Elizabeth (2001), about Princess Elizabeth in her teenage
years, as powerful men and women try to prevent her from becoming queen; #2 in the Young
Royals series. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Carolyn Meyer, Doomed Queen Anne (2002), about Anne Boleyn, who at age thirteen declares
that she will become Queen of England one day; #3 in the Young Royals series. Recommended
for ages 12 and up
Carolyn Meyer, Patience, Princess Catherine (2004), about young Catherine of Aragon, sent as
a young teenager from her homeland in Spain to become the wife of Prince Arthur of England; #4
in the Young Royals series. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Kate Pennington, Tread Softly (2003), about the young woman who embroiders a cloak for Sir Walter
Raleigh to wear on a visit to Queen Elizabeth.
Ann Rinaldi, The Redheaded Princess (2008), about the Princess Elizabeth from the age of nine until
she becomes Queen of England at age twenty-five.
Ann Rinaldi, Nine Days a Queen (2005), about Lady Jane Grey, who was queen for nine days before
being convicted of treason and executed. Recommended for grades 6-8.
Other Novels Set in Britain in Tudor Times
Michael Cadnum, Peril on the Sea (2009), about a seventeen-year-old boy who sails with an English
privateer during the battle against the Spanish Armada.
Marie-Louise Jensen, The Lady in the Tower (2009), about a fifteen-year-old girl whose father has shut
her mother up in a tower.
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Laurie Lawlor, Dead Reckoning: A Pirate Voyage with Captain Drake (2005), about a fifteen-year-old
boy who discovers Sir Francis Drake is his cousin and is invited to come on his next voyage as his
servant.
Scott O'Dell, The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day (1975), about a young man who helps William
Tyndale smuggle copies of an English-language Bible into England. Recommended for grades 7-9.
Maggie Prince, Raider's Tide (2002), about the sixteen-year-old daughter of a farmer, who decides to
nurse an enemy raider back to health after the Scots attack.
Maggie Prince, North Side of the Tree (2003), about a young Englishwoman who puts her own life in
jeopardy when she tries to save a Scot from being hanged; sequel to Raider's Tide.
Rosemary Sutcliff, The Armourer's House (1951), about a girl who goes to live with her uncle, who
makes armour, in London during the reign of Henry VIII.
The Renaissance in Italy and the Continent
Mary Jane Beaufrand, Primavera (2008), about the last daughter of a family competing for power with
the Medici family in Renaissance Florence.
Theresa Breslin, The Medici Seal (2008), about a boy who is taken in by Leonardo Da Vinci after the
artist's companions save him from drowning while he attempts to escape a murderous brigand.
Theresa Breslin, The Nostradamus Prophecy (2008), about a minstrel's daughter who asks for the help
of Nostradamus after his prediction of misfortune for her family comes true.
Theresa Breslin, Prisoner of the Inquisition (2010), about a pampered Spanish girl whose life changes
after her mother dies in childbirth and the Inquisition comes to her town.
Carol Dines, The Queen's Soprano (2006), about a seventeen-year-old girl in Rome who has a beautiful
voice but is not allowed to sing publicly because the pope has forbidden it to women.
Christopher Grey, Leonardo's Shadow: Or, My Astonishing Life as Leonardo da Vinci's Servant
(2006), about a boy who works as a servant for the artist Leonardo da Vinci in fifteenth-century Milan.
Alice Hoffman, Incantation (2006), about a young woman who lives as a secret Jew during the Spanish
Inquisition.
Carol Matas, The Burning Time (1993), about a fifteen-year-old girl in sixteenth-century France whose
life changes when her father dies and her mother is accused of witchcraft.
Carolyn Meyer, Duchessina (2007); about young Catherine de Medici, whose reunion with the boy she
loves is cut short by her engagement to marry a cold-hearted boy; #5 in the Young Royals series.
Donna Jo Napoli, Daughter of Venice (2002), about a fourteen-year-old girl in Venice who dresses up as
a boy in order to explore the city. Recommended for grades 5-12.
79
Donna Jo Napoli, The Smile (2008), about the girl who believes herself to be plain but inspired
Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting, the Mona Lisa.
Barbara Quick, A Golden Web (2010), about a girl in fourteenth-century Italy desperate to escape her
stepmother and the marriage plans being made for her, so she can pursue learning instead; based on the
life of Alessandra Giliani, the first woman anatomist. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Michele Torrey, To the Edge of the World (2003), about a fourteen-year-old boy who joins the crew of
Magellan's ship after his parents die of the plague. Recommended for grades 5-8.
7th grade Kansas and 8th grade American History Historical Fiction
American Revolution:
My Brother Sam is Dead, Collier

The Hessian, Fast
April Morning, Fast
Johnny Tremain, Forbes
Sarah Bishop, ODell
Industrial Revolution/Child Labor:
Oliver Twist, Dickens

The Untold Tale, Haugaard
A Chance Child, Walsh
Lyddie, Paterson
The Clock, Collier
Mill (nonfiction), Macaulay
Civil War:
Across Five Aprils, Hunt

Jed, Burchard
Underground Man, Meltzer
The Killer Angels, Shaara
Bull Run, Fleischman
North by Night, Ayres
The Last Full Measure, Rinaldi
Night John, Paulsen
World War I:
Will's War , Windle

Roses, Meacham
Flanders, Anthony
The Given Day, Lehane
The Singing Tree, Seredy
The Good Master, Seredy

The Flambards Trilogy, Peyton
No Man's Land , Major
Great Depression:
Bud, Not Buddy, Curtis

Out of the Dust, Hesse
Nothing to Fear, Koller
A Long Way from Chicago, Peck
Love from Your Friend, Hannah, Skolsky
Cat Running, Snyder
World War II:
Friedrich, Richter
The Diary of Anne Frank, Frank
Annexed, van Pels
Gentlehands, Kerr
Number the Stars, Lowry
The Devils Arithmetic, Yolen
The Good Liar, Maguire
Journey to Topaz, Uchida
U.S. and WWII:
Summer of My German Soldier, Greene

Morning is a Long Time Coming, Greene
Friends and Enemies, Gaeddert
Race and Civil Rights:
White Lilacs, Meyer

The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Curtis
Warriors Dont Cry (memoir), Beals
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Taylor
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81
Appendix B Research-Based Historical Literacy Instructional Strategies

Questioning the Author (QtA)
Obtained from Louisiana Department of Education - Literacy Strategies in the Revised
Comprehensive Curriculum
Rationale
Students need to be taught that they can, and should, ask questions of authors as they read. The goal of
QtA is to teach students to use a questioning process to construct meaning of text, to go beyond the words
on the page, and to relate outside experiences to the texts being read (Beck, McKeown, Hamilton, &
Kucan, 1997). QtA involves the teacher and the class in a collaborative process of building understanding
during reading (Beck & McKeown, 2001). The teacher participates in QtA as a facilitator, guide, initiator,
and responder. The teacher strives to elicit readers thinking while keeping them focused in their
discussion (Beck & McKeown, 2002).
Teachers should make a poster of the types of questions students are expected to ask. These should be
modeled by the teacher, and students should be encouraged to ask their own.
Teaching Process
1. The QtA process begins by providing students the types of questions they are expected to ask
about the texts they read. These can be given to students in a handout, projected on the board, or
made into a poster and attached to the classroom wall. Students should have access to these
questions whenever theyre needed.
2. Model the QtA process with students, using a text from class. Demonstrate for students how the
QtA questions can be asked in ways that apply directly to the content of the text.
3. Put students in pairs to practice questioning the author together while you monitor, providing
additional modeling and clarification. While QtA is an interactive strategy, the goal is to make
the questioning process automatic for students so they use it on their own.
Typical Goals and Queries for QtA
Goal
Query
________________________________________________________________________
Initiate discussion
What is the author trying to say?
What is the authors message?
What is the author talking about?
Focus on authors message
Thats what the author says, but what does

it mean?
Why did the author choose this word?
Link information
How does that connect with what the author

already told us?
What information has the author added here
that connects or fits in with_________?
Identify difficulties with the way the
Does that make sense?
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author has presented information or

ideas
Did the author state or explain that clearly?

why or why not?
What do we need to figure out or find out?
Encourage students to refer to the text

because they have misinterpreted, or to
help them recognize that they have
made an inference
Did the author tell us that?

Did the author give us the answer to that?
Sources
Beck, I.L., & McKeown, M.G. (2001). Inviting students into the pursuit of meaning.
Educational Psychology Review, 13, 225-241.
Beck, I.L., & McKeown, M.G. (2002). Questioning the author: Making sense of social
studies. Educational Leadership, 60, 44-47.
Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., Hamilton, R.L., & Kucan, L. (1997). Questioning the
author: An approach for enhancing student engagement with text. Newark, DE:
International Reading Association.
83
Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS)
1. Motivate/Engage: Allow several minutes of quiet looking at work of art.
2. Ask students, What is going on in this work? List observations on board, from the most
important to the relatively minor, even diagraming the objects that they see.
3. Then ask, What do you see that makes you say that? Give students expanded time to
describe in greater detail selected observations. Have them record their observations on
paper. Discuss.
4. Finally ask, What more can you find? Have students look beyond the obvious and search
for examples of symbolism in the piece of art. Have them hypothesize about what they could
mean. Have them record their examples and hypotheses on paper. Discuss.
5. If necessary ask, Where could you go to find that answer? Emphasize research skills and
seeking answers to their questions.
6. As with any primary source, encourage identification of bias or point of view, setting, etc.
7. Assessment: After discussion is complete, ask final guiding question to which students may
apply their specific observations to a thematic strand from the curriculum.
Example (based on Dutch artist Jan Steens Fantasy Interior with Jan Steen and the
Family of Gerrit Schouten,1659-1660, available here): Have students list their first 3
observations on a piece of paper. Discuss as a group and go through the 3 question
sequence listed above. The final question would then be: If you knew nothing at all
about the Netherlands political/economic/social structures in the mid-17th century,
what might you conclude based solely on your first three observations?
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APPARTS Document Analysis

Obtained from AP Central II. Primary-Source Documents
Students should become familiar with the APPARTS strategy for document analysis and use it when
working with documents.
Author
Who created the source? What do you know about the author? What is the author's point of view?
Place and time
Where and when was the source produced? How might this affect the meaning of the source?
Prior knowledge
Beyond information about the author, and the context of the document's creation, what do you know that
would help you further understand the primary source? For example, do you recognize any symbols and
recall what they represent?
Audience
For whom was the source created and how might this affect the reliability of the source?
Reason
Why was this source produced and how might this affect the reliability of the source?
The main idea
What point is the source trying to convey?
Significance
Why is this source important? Ask yourself, "So what?" in relation to the question asked.
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SOAPS Document Analysis

Obtained from the College Board Pre-AP Interdisciplinary Strategies for English and Social Studies
Workshop Handbook
Speaker
Who is the speaker who wrote or created this? What is their background and why are they making the
points they are making? Is there a bias in what was written? Cite evidence from the text that supports your
answer.
Occasion
What is the Occasion? In other words, what is the time and place of the piece? What prompted the author
to write this piece? How do you know from the text? What event led to its publication or development? It
is particularly important that students understand the context that encouraged the writing to happen.
Audience
Who is the Audience? This refers to the group of readers to whom this piece is directed. The audience
may be one person, a small group or a large group; it may be a certain person or a certain people.
Purpose
What is the purpose? What is the reason behind the text? In what ways does the author convey this
message? How would you perceive the speaker giving this speech?
Subject
What is the subject of the document? What is the general topic, content, and ideas contained in the text?
How do you know this?
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History Events Chart

Obtained from Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking Content-Area Literacy
by Shanahan
1. Title of Event: _______________________
Who:
What:
Where:
When:
How:
Why:
Summarize event using above information:
2. Title of Event: _______________________

Who:
What:
Where:
When:
How:
Why:
3. Title of Event: _______________________

Who:
What:
Where:
When:
How:
Why:
In the margin in between each event, determine the relationship between the 1 st and 2nd event, the
2nd and 3rd event, etc.
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Multiple-Gist Strategy
Obtained from Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking Content-Area Literacy by
Shanahan
Text 1 Title: ________________________
Summarize Text 1:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Text 2 Title: ________________________
Summarize Text 1 and 2:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Text 3 Title: ________________________
Summarize Text 1, 2, and 3:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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Book In an Hour: Teaching Reading in the Content Area

Accessed and adapted from Edurati Review.
What: The Book In An Hour strategy is a jigsaw activity for chapter books. This strategy can take more
than an hour depending on the reading and presentation method you choose for your students.
Why: While many teachers view this activity as a time saver, I view it as a way to expose students to
more literary and historical materials than I might have been able to do otherwise. There are many books
that I would love my students to read, but I know that being able to do so is not always my reality. This
strategy gives me an avenue to expose them to additional literature and other important historical works
without taking much time away from the other aspects of my courses. It also provides opportunities for
differentiation. This strategy can be adapted to introduce a book that students will be reading in-depth.
Instead of jigsawing all of the chapters, use the same strategy with only a few selected chapters to create
interest and engagement.
Procedures:
1. Decide if you are going to divide students up into groups or jigsaw with individual students. If you are
using groups, I recommend making them heterogeneous or creating them in a way that subtly facilitates
differentiation. I also encourage you to give each student in the group a role (facilitator, recorder, reader,
questioner, creative designer, whatever fits the needs of your adaptation of the strategy).
2. Divide the book into sections. You can either break it down so each group/individual has approximately
the same reading load (these sections can be randomly assigned) or differentiate and assign sections
based on reading skills. Be sure each student has their assignment written down. You could write the
chapter assignments for each group on large note cards or bookmarks, hand out a direction sheet that
includes the assignments, have students write them down, etc .
3. Hand out the reading sections to groups/individuals. Some teachers choose to take apart the actual
books, rebinding them so students only have the section they are assigned.
4. Students then read their assigned sections. If you are using groups, it works better to allow them to read
their section together in class.
There are several methods you can implement as students read to improve comprehension and to help
them prepare to present their information to the rest of the class:
If they are in a group, they may read together and complete the set of tasks together.
They could read individually, with set times to stop and complete the group tasks before reading
more.
5. The tasks students could complete as they read include:
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Asking questions (since they

only have part of the story
this is also a great opportunity
to work with students on
asking higher level questions),
identifying plot, setting,
characters, chronology of
events, significant events,
cause/effect, compare/contrast,
documented evidence (in
historical scholarship and other
research readings), items
related to a theme or focus
question, presentation ideas,
and anything else that fits your
purpose.
Students can record their
findings on a teacher-created template, notebook paper, index cards, or anything that works for
you. Lendol suggested using big paper, 12 x 18 or larger. The paper is placed in landscape
position and the left side is folded in about of the of length of the paper. Below is a diagram of
how he set it up for his students. Note: In the questions section, students can be directed to use a
number of responses or prompts such as I wonder if, make predictions, ask about missing
prior events/knowledge, ask leveled questions (using a structure such as Blooms Taxonomy), etc.
The paper is folded to create the sections, and the front becomes a flap that folds over.
5. Have students create their presentation. You can give them a specific format, or leave the choice up to
them.
Options include (but certainly are not limited to): simply presenting their template in front of the class,
skits, posters, cartoons/comics, movies, PowerPoint presentations, song playlist or soundtrack that
highlights themes, events, characters, etc.
You can incorporate technology and have students create a webpage, wiki, blog, Glog, Tagxedo, Wordle,
podcast, and more. The sky is the limit for ways the information can be brought together. Do whatever
best fits your class and your purpose.
6. Have students present their information, using your selected method, to the other students in the class.
Be sure that there is a way for students to interact and get answers to their questions. They need to see the
whole picture when everything is done.
7. It is a good idea to have a whole class conversation on the themes or focus question for the book.
Direct the conversation to meet your needs and discuss how the book fits into your overall unit plan.
8. You can let the final discussion or presentations be your method of assessment for the book, or you can
have students complete a synthesis activity using numerous writing styles and prompts or other methods
you find useful.
90
I suggest obtaining student feedback on Book In An Hour, especially the first few times you use it, so you
may better tweak it to the learning needs of your students. This is an interesting strategy that has the
potential to motivate students to read the entire book on their own.
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Appendix C Common Core Standards; Appendix B; Informational Texts for History/Social

Studies, grades 6-8 (aligned with Kansas social studies standards, when possible)
United States. Preamble and First Amendment to the United States Constitution. (1787,
1791)
Preamble
We, the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice,
insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and
secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution of the United States of America.
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
8th Grade KS Standard: 1.3.4: (A) analyzes the Declaration of Independence and the
United States Constitution to identify essential ideas of American Constitutional government.
Lord, Walter. A Night to Remember. New York: Henry Holt, 1955. (1955) A comprehensive look at
the sinking of the Titanic.
Isaacson, Phillip. A Short Walk through the Pyramids and through the World of Art. New York:
Knopf, 1993. (1993)
From Chapter 1
At Giza, a few miles north of Saqqara, sit three great pyramids, each named for the king or Pharaoh
during whose reign it was built. No other buildings are so well known, yet the first sight of them sitting in
their field is breathtaking. When you walk among them, you walk in a place made for giants. They seem
too large to have been made by human beings, too perfect to have been formed by nature, and when the
sun is overhead, not solid enough to be attached to the sand. In the minutes before sunrise, they are the
color of faded roses, and when the last rays of the desert sun touch them, they turn to amber. But whatever
the light, their broad proportions, the beauty of the limestone, and the care with which it is fitted into
place create three unforgettable works of art.
What do we learn about art when we look at the pyramids?
First, when all of the things that go into a work its components complement one another, they create
and object that has a certain spirit, and we can call that spirit harmony. The pyramids are harmonious
because limestone, a warm, quiet material, is a cordial companion for a simple, logical, pleasing shape. In
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fact, the stone and the shape are so comfortable with each other that the pyramids seem inevitable as
though they were bound to have the form, color, and texture that they do have.
From A SHORT WALK AROUND THE PYRAMIDS & THROUGH THE WORLD OF ART by Philip M.
Isaacson, copyright 1993 by Philip M. Isaacson. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of
Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. Any additional
use of this text, such as for classroom use or curriculum development, requires independent permission
from Random House, Inc.
Media Text
National Geographic mini-site on the pyramids, which includes diagrams, pictures, and a time line:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/pyramids.html
6th Grade Social Studies Standards: 3.4.2: (K) describes the forces and processes of conflict and
cooperation that divide or unite people (i.e., uneven distribution of resources, water use in ancient
Mesopotomia, building projects in ancient Egypt, and Meso-America, the Greek city-states,
empire building, movements for independence or rights).
Murphy, Jim. The Great Fire. New York: Scholastic, 1995. (1995)
From Chapter 1: A City Ready to Burn
Chicago in 1871 was a city ready to burn. The city boasted having 59,500 buildings, many of themsuch
as the Courthouse and the Tribune Buildinglarge and ornately decorated. The trouble was that about
two-thirds of all these structures were made entirely of wood. Many of the remaining buildings (even the
ones proclaimed to be fireproof) looked solid, but were actually jerrybuilt affairs; the stone or brick
exteriors hid wooden frames and floors, all topped with highly flammable tar or shingle roofs. It was also
a common practice to disguise wood as another kind of building material. The fancy exterior decorations
on just about every building were carved from wood, then painted to look like stone or marble. Most
churches had steeples that appeared to be solid from the street, but a closer inspection would reveal a
wooden framework covered with cleverly painted copper or tin.
The situation was worst in the middle-class and poorer districts. Lot sizes were small, and owners usually
filled them up with cottages, barns, sheds, and outhousesall made of fast-burning wood, naturally.
Because both Patrick and Catherine OLeary worked, they were able to put a large addition on their
cottage despite a lot size of just 25 by 100 feet. Interspersed in these residential areas were a variety of
businessespaint factories, lumberyards, distilleries, gasworks, mills, furniture manufacturers,
warehouses, and coal distributors.
Wealthier districts were by no means free of fire hazards. Stately stone and brick homes had wood
interiors, and stood side by side with smaller wood-frame houses. Wooden stables and other storage
buildings were common, and trees lined the streets and filled the yards.
Media Text
The Great Chicago Fire, an exhibit created by the Chicago Historical Society that includes essays and
images:
http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/intro/gcf-index.html
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Greenberg, Jan, and Sandra Jordan. Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist. New York: Random
House, 2001. (2001)
From Chapter 1: A Brabant Boy 185375
I have nature and art and poetry, if that is not enough what is?
Letter to Theo, January 1874
On March 30, 1853, the handsome, soberly dressed Reverend Theodorus van Gogh entered the ancient
town hall of Groot-Zundert, in the Brabant, a province of the Netherlands. He opened the birth register to
number twenty-nine, where exactly one year earlier he had sadly written Vincent Willem van Gogh,
stillborn. Beside the inscription he wrote again Vincent Willem van Gogh, the name of his new,
healthy son, who was sleeping soundly next to his mother in the tiny parsonage across the square. The
babys arrival was an answered prayer for the still-grieving family.
The first Vincent lay buried in a tiny grave by the door of the church where Pastor van Gogh preached.
The Vincent who lived grew to be a sturdy redheaded boy. Every Sunday on his way to church, young
Vincent would pass the headstone carved with the name he shared. Did he feel as if his dead brother
where the rightful Vincent, the one who would remain perfect in his parents hearts, and that he was
merely an unsatisfactory replacement? That might have been one of the reasons he spent so much of his
life feeling like a lonely outsider, as if he didnt fit anywhere in the world.
Despite his dramatic beginning, Vincent had an ordinary childhood, giving no hint of the painter he would
become. The small parsonage, with an upstairs just two windows wide under a slanting roof, quickly grew
crowded. By the time he was six he had two sisters, Anna and Elizabeth, and one brother, Theo, whose
gentle nature made him their mothers favorite.
Media Text
The Van Gogh Gallery, a commercial Web resource with links to Van Goghs art and information about
his life:
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/
Partridge, Elizabeth. This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie.
New York: Viking, 2002. (2002)
From the Preface: Ramblin Round
I hate a song that makes you think that youre not any good. I hate a song that makes you think you are
just born to lose. I am out to fight those kind of songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of
blood.
Woody Guthrie could never cure himself of wandering off. One minute hed be there, the next hed be
gone, vanishing without a word to anyone, abandoning those he loved best. Hed throw on a few extra
shirts, one on top of the other, sling his guitar over his shoulder, and hit the road. Hed stick out his thumb
and hitchhike, swing onto moving freight trains, and hunker down with other traveling men in flophouses,
hobo jungles, and Hoovervilles across Depression America.
He moved restlessly from state to state, soaking up some songs: work songs, mountain and cowboy songs,
sea chanteys, songs from the southern chain gangs. He added them to the dozens he already knew from
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his childhood until he was bursting with American folk songs. Playing the guitar and singing, he started
making up new ones: hard-bitten, rough-edged songs that told it like it was, full of anger and hardship and
hope and love. Woody said the best songs came to him when he was walking down a road. He always had
fifteen or twenty songs running around in his mind, just waiting to be put together. Sometimes he knew
the words, but not the melody. Usually hed borrow a tune that was already well knownthe simpler the
better. As he walked along, he tried to catch a good, easy song that people could sing the first time they
heard it, remember, and sing again later.
7th Grade Social Studies Standards:
4.3.7: (A) uses primary source documents to determine the challenges faced by settlers and their means
of adaptations (e.g., drought, depression, grasshoppers, lack of some natural resources, isolation).
4.5.2: (A) uses local resources to describe conditions in his/her community during the Great
Depression.
Monk, Linda R. Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution. New York: Hyperion,
2003. (2003)
From We the People
The first three word of the Constitution are the most important. They clearly state that the peoplenot the
king, not the legislature, not the courtsare the true rulers in American government. This principle is
known as popular sovereignty.
But who are We the People? This question troubled the nation for centuries. As Lucy Stone, one of
Americas first advocates for womens rights, asked in 1853, We the People? Which We the People?
The women were not included. Neither were white males who did not own property, American Indians,
or African Americansslave or free. Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American on the
Supreme Court, described the limitation:
For a sense of the evolving nature of the Constitution, we need look no further than the first three words
of the documents preamble: We the People. When the Founding Fathers used this phrase in 1787, they
did not have in mind the majority of Americas citizens . . . The men who gathered in Philadelphia in
1787 could not . . . have imagined, nor would they have accepted, that the document they were drafting
would one day be construed by a Supreme court to which had been appointed a woman and the
descendant of an African slave.
Through the Amendment process, more and more Americans were eventually included in the
Constitutions definition of We the People. After the Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment ended
slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment gave African Americans citizenship, and the Fifteenth Amendment
gave black men the vote. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote nationwide,
and in 1971, the Twenty-sixth Amendment extended suffrage to eighteen-year-olds.
8th Grade Social Studies Standard: 1.4.1: (A) researches and analyzes a current issue involving rights
from an historical perspective (e.g., womens movement, Brown v. Board of Education, Civil Rights,
native Americans).
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Freedman, Russell. Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. New York: Holiday
House, 2006. (2006)
From the Introduction: Why They Walked
Not so long ago in Montgomery, Alabama, the color of your skin determined where you could sit on a
public bus. If you happened to be an African American, you had to sit in the back of the bus, even if there
were empty seats up front.
Back then, racial segregation was the rule throughout the American South. Strict lawscalled Jim
Crow lawsenforced a system of white supremacy that discriminated against blacks and kept them in
their place as second-class citizens.
People were separated by race from the moment they were born in segregated hospitals until the day they
were buried in segregated cemeteries. Blacks and whites did not attend the same schools, worship in the
same churches, eat in the same restaurants, sleep in the same hotels, drink from the same water fountains,
or sit together in the same movie theaters.
In Montgomery, it was against the law for a white person and a Negro to play checkers on public property
or ride together in a taxi.
Most southern blacks were denied their right to vote. The biggest obstacle was the poll tax, a special tax
that was required of all voters but was too costly for many blacks and for poor whites as well. Voters also
had to pass a literacy test to prove that they could read, write, and understand the U.S. Constitution. These
tests were often rigged to disqualify even highly educated blacks. Those who overcame the obstacles and
insisted on registering as voters faced threats, harassment. And even physical violence. As a result,
African Americans in the South could not express their grievances in the voting booth, which for the most
part, was closed to them. But there were other ways to protest, and one day a half century ago, the black
citizens in Montgomery rose up in protest and united to demand their rightsby walking peacefully.
It all started on a bus.
8th Grade Social Studies Standard: 4.2.9: (K) analyzes the impact of the end of slavery on African
Americans (i.e., Black Codes, sharecropping, Jim Crow, Amendments 13, 14, and 15,
Frederick Douglass, Ku Klux Klan, Exodusters).

Masters Project Masonbrink Rev

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Bagikan atau Tanam Dokumen

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Masters Project Masonbrink Rev

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CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

Creating Readers of History:

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

Setting a Professional Context

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

teaching tolerance and culture awareness

analyze a primary or secondary source.

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

Not applicable (dont use primary

3 or more times a year

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

diaries, photographs, letters, government documents) (Kansas State Department of

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

The development of historical understanding depends on historical literacy. If students have

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

3. Does the author say it clearly?

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

Application of Review of Literature Readings Related to the Use of Primary Sources

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

Analyze how Hammurabi's Code reflects Babylonian society at the time.

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

Notes for Hammurabis Code Lesson:

CREATING READERS OF HISTORY

Example 2: 8th-Grade American History Lesson