Professional Development Work Shop for Teachers

Primary SourcesFor Ancient CivilizationsJoanne Sharpe

Primary Sources and Their Connection with Lesson Plans

The 6 Key Areas of Bloom’s Taxonomy will be satisfied when using primary source materials

Common Core Requirements will be met

Bloom’s Taxonomy

What is a Primary Source??• A primary source is direct evidence from

a certain period in history which includes: • Personal documents such as a diary,

speech, manuscript, letter, interview, news, film footage, autobiography, official records or survey

• Creative works such as poetry, drama, novels, music or art

• Relics or Artifacts such as pottery, furniture, or clothing

What does a Primary Source do?

Primary sources provide a window into the past

Primary sources give us a first hand account of a period in history

Its an unfiltered look into the historical record

Can give us a sense of what it was like to live during a particular period of time

Examples of Primary Sources

• Diary of Anne Frank• Declaration of Independence• Plato’s Republic• Native American Pottery• A Journal Article reporting new

research• King Tut’s Chariot• A Newspaper Clipping from when JFK

was assassinated

What are the benefits of using primary sources for the study of Ancient Civilizations

Student Engagement Development of critical thinking

skills Construction of knowledge

Student Engagement

Primary sources help students relate to the past through first hand accounts

The snippets of history provoke and encourage students to do additional research

First hand accounts bring history to life

Development of Critical Thinking

• State standards support teaching with primary sources to inspire students to think critically and analytically

• Students move from concrete observation and facts to questioning about the materials

• Students will learn how to use multiple primary sources to fill in blanks and find patterns

• Questions of bias, purpose and point of view may challenge students

Construction of Knowledge• Primary sources can encourage students

to wrestle with contradictions leading to a comparison of multiple sources that represent different views, confronting the complexity of the past

• Students construct knowledge as they form reasoned conclusions

• Students base their conclusions on evidence

• Students will learn how to synthesize multiple sources

How to Obtain Primary Sources

School Databases Online Searches

Databases for Ancient History

EBSCO JSTOR Gale- Artemis Literary Sources http://library.qc.cuny.edu/research/da

tabases.php

Online Resources for Ancient History

• Perseus Project-Perseus is a growing collection of online resources for studying the ancient world. Materials include ancient texts and translations, maps, articles, essays, and images from over 70 museums around the world. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/

• The Chauvet Cave –Paleolithic Cave paintings in France. Historical information on the cave as well as paintings & other resources. http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/

• Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/teachers/additionalresources/relatedresources/world/primary.html

• Avalon Project Yale University-Ancient Documents from 4000BCE-399 AD. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/ancient.asp

Online Resources for Ancient History Continued

Fordham University Ancient History Sourcebook- http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/asbookfull.asp

University of Memphis –Department of History-Primary Sources http://www.memphis.edu/history/histres.htm#organizations

Resources for History Teachers –wiki spaces Primary Sources http://resourcesforhistoryteachers.wikispaces.com/Primary+Sources+for+World+History

The End

Thank you for attending this PD Workshop