1. 1Making History MeaningfulTom Morton (GuyLafleur64 - www.slideshare.net)tmorton1027@gmail.com

2. 2Learning Intentions What is historical thinking Canadian style? How can historical thinking concepts help makehistory meaningful (through purpose,connections, and engagement)? 3. 3Histories are the stories we tell about the past.(Seixas and Morton, The Big Six Historical Thinking Concepts)We cringe when the word narrative comes upin educational settings.(Levstik and Barton, Teaching History for the Common Good) 4. 4 5. 5Six Concepts of Historical Thinking:To think historically, students needto be able to: Establish historical significance Use primary source evidence Identify continuity and change Analyze cause and consequence Take historical perspectives, and Understand the ethicaldimension of historicalinterpretations. 6. 6CONCEPT POTENTIAL TO GIVE MEANINGHistorical Significance Purpose and connectionsEvidence EngagementContinuity and Change ConnectionsCause andConsequenceEngagement, purpose, and connectionsHistorical Perspective EngagementEthical Dimension Purpose, engagement, and connections 7. 7Introduction to the Concept of Evidenceand Inquiry: I Left a Trace1. Jot down everything thatyou have done in the last 24hours.(that would be appropriate fordiscussion.) 8. 82. Make a list of traces that mighthave been left from your life duringthe past 24 hours.3. Check those that were likelyto have been preserved. 9. 91. How well could a biographer 50 years from nowwrite the story of your 24 hours based on thetraces you left? How much of what happenedwould be left out? What aspects of the storymight the biographer miss?2. Where else could he or she turn for evidence?3. How could readers of the biography know if itwas an accurate account?4. What does this exercise tell us about thechallenges historians face when writing histories? 10. 10the past as a series of events is utterlygone . . . some remnants remain like litterfrom a picnic, but these material remainsnever speak for themselves. In fact they areinert traces until someone asks a questionthat turns them into evidence.- Joyce Appleby, The Power of History 11. 11Concept: Historical SignificanceThe problem: We cant remember or learn orcover everything that ever happened. How do wedecide what is important to learn about the past?Historical significance: the principles behind theselection of what and who should be remembered,researched, taught and learned about the past. 12. 12Guideposts to Understanding HistoricalSignificance1. An event, person, or development has historical significanceif it resulted in change. That is, it had deep consequences,for many people, over a long period of time.2. An event, person, or development has historical significanceif it is revealing. That is, it sheds light on enduring oremerging issues in history or contemporary life.3. Events, people, and developments meet the criteria forhistorical significance only when they are shown to occupy ameaningful place in a narrative.4. Historical significance varies over time and from groupto group. 13. 13 14. 7. Political cartoon: The Dance of Death, The Grain Growers Guide, October, 1914DANCE OF DEATHArch Dale, The Grain Growers Guide, August, 1914 15. 15Should war resistors and peace movementsbe included in our textbooks? On whatgrounds? 16. SHOULDER TO SHOULDERArch Dale, The Grain Growers Guide, November, 19141914 17. 17In our increasingly multi-cultural countrieswhat stories of WW I should we include? 18. 18Question Stems for HistoricalSignificance (aka: so-what or who-caresquestions): What was so special about X? Why should everyone remember X? Does X deserve to be famous? Why was X forgotten? 19. 19How do we know what we know about thepast?Concept: EvidenceShoulder to Shoulder (Arch Dale, The GrainDance of Death, (Arch Dale, The Grain Growers Growers Guide, November, 1914)Guide, August, 1914)7. Political cartoon: The Dance of Death, The Grain Growers Guide, October, 19149. Rents are unpaid, families are living on not half rations, and in many homes notknowing where the next meal is coming from. Many heads of families are feeling thepressure mentally; two men, one with a wife and seven small children, the other with awife and two small children, have been unable to stand up to the depression. One becamementally unbalanced and died of starvation in the hospital, and the other took his ownlife, both leaving their families destitute.From an Ontario report on unemployment, 1913. 20. 20Guideposts to Understanding Evidence History is intepretation based on inferences madefrom primary sources. Asking good questions about a source can turn itinto evidence. Sourcing often begins before a source is read, withquestions about who created it and. It involvesinferring creators purpose, values, and worldview. A source should be analyzed in relation to thecontext of its historical setting. Inferences should always be corroboratedcheckedagainst other sources (primary and secondary). 21. 21What does the change in message suggestto us about Arch Dale? About The GrainGrowers' Guide? Or Canada?8. Political cartoon: Shoulder to Shoulder, The Grain Growers Guide, November,1914Shoulder to Shoulder (Arch Dale, The GrainDance of Death, (Arch Dale, The Grain Growers Growers Guide, November, 1914)Guide, August, 1914)7. Political cartoon: The Dance of Death, The Grain Growers Guide, October, 19149. Rents are unpaid, families are living on not half rations, and in many homes notknowing where the next meal is coming from. Many heads of families are feeling thepressure mentally; two men, one with a wife and seven small children, the other with awife and two small children, have been unable to stand up to the depression. One becamementally unbalanced and died of starvation in the hospital, and the other took his ownlife, both leaving their families destitute.From an Ontario report on unemployment, 1913. 22. 22Reflection on Certainty: ClotheslineHow certain are you aboutyour answer/hypothesis?UNCERTAIN?www.thinkinghistory.co.uk - Ian Dawson 200922CERTAIN? 23. 23How certain are you about yourhypothesis?What words dostudents need to use?23MaybeNot surePossiblyPerhapsWhat phrases? Most likelyThis source suggestsThis photo confirms the idea thatI chose these two pictures to show 24. 24Question Formation Technique (AKA:Brainstorming) Ask as many questions as you can. Do not stop to discuss, judge, or answerthe questions. Write down every question exactly as it isstated. Change any statement into a question.(Rothstein and Santana, Make Just One Change) 25. 25Criteria for Good Inquiry Questions They are worth answering (lead to deeperunderstanding of history; authentic) They are broadly engaging (for teacher inquiries) Students care about them they see the purposein answering them They can be answered, though the answer maybe contested or difficult (and this may needteacher support if this is the case) 26. 26 27. 27Ways to Support Students to GenerateQuestions: Look at models, e.g., www.bcheritagefairs.caportfolio Supply prompts Use engaging sources to build curiosity Brainstorm questions Give or create criteria for powerful questions Make a Wonder Wall of Questions Plan for peer and teacher feedback Practise with small inquiries Have students choose one question; you give othersas a focus for a unit 28. 28Concept: Continuity and ChangeHow can we make sense of the complexflows of history? 29. 29Come on, Bart. History can be fun. Its like anamusement park except instead of rides, you getto memorize dates.Marge Simpson in Margical History Tour, anepisode of The Simpsons that airedon December 22, 2004 30. 30 31. 31 32. 32 33. 33Timeline Story Telling Give students assorted cards with events,people, and trends to place in chronologicalorder. Supply cards with dates to add to theirtimeline. Ask students to tell their portion ofthe story. Ask them to choose a number of events,people, and trends to construct a story; askthem to add some more to expand the story. Compare stories. Treat them as hypotheses tobe investigated further and retold later. 34. 34Guideposts to Understanding Continuity andChange1. Continuity and change are interwoven: bothcan exist together.2. Change is a process, with varying paces andpatterns. Turning points are moments whenthe process of change shifts in direction or pace.3. Progress and decline are broad evaluations ofchange over time. Progress for one people maybe decline for another.4. Periodization helps us organize our thinkingabout continuity and change. It is a process ofinterpretation. 35. 35Cause and ConsequenceFew things can be more fascinating tostudents than unpeeling the oftendramatic complications of cause. Andnothing is more poisonous to wholesocieties than a simple, monocausalexplanation of their past experiencesand present problems.(Lessons from History, The NationalCenter for History in the Schools.) 36. 36Cause and ConsequenceWhy do event happen and what are theirimpacts? 37. 37Why were men sokeen to enlist in1914? 38. 38Who killed theRed Baron? 39. 39Why was this mancrucified? Germanatrocity or Canadianpropaganda? 40. 40Historical PerspectivesThe past should not be comfortable. Thepast should not be a familiar echo of thepresent, for if it is familiar why revisit it?(Richard White, Remembering Ahanagran) 41. 41Historical PerspectivesHow can we better understand the people ofthe past? 42. 42They advanced in line after line and not aman shirked going through the extremelyheavy barrage, or facing the machine-gunand rifle fire that finally wiped them out....(I) saw the lines which advanced in suchadmirable order melting away under thefire. Yet not a man wavered, broke theranks, or attempted to come back. (Ihave) never seen, indeed could never haveimagined, such a magnificent display ofgallantry, discipline and determination.(British Brigadier General Rees, GOC 94th Infantry Brigade, 31Division, Battle of the Somme, cited in Tim Travers, The KillingGround.) 43. 43The Ethical Dimension(T)he ethical dimension of historical thinkinghelps to imbue the study of history withmeaning. Remembrance of heroessacrifices, memorials to historys victims,reparations for mass crimes, and restitutionfor stolen goods and ruined lives are allattempts to come to terms with the past inthe present.(Seixas and Morton, The Big Six Historical Thinking Concepts) 44. 44The Ethical DimensionHow can history help us to live in thepresent? 45. 45[E]ngaging students with thecomplexity of (history) is precisely whatgenerates its interest and appeal[Students] acknowledge theimportance of knowing the facts aboutAustralian history, but they also wanthistorical narratives, discussions anddebates, and imagination in theclassroom.(Anna Clark, History's Children)