Online with Primary Sources
School Library Monthly/Volume XXVII, Number 2/November 2010
Getting Started with Primary Source Teaching
by Mary J. Johnson
Mary J. Johnson is a semi-retired school librarian and an education consultant in Colorado Springs, CO. Email: johnsonmaryj@mac.com or on Twitter @johnsonmaryj.
As a school librarian, you have probably dabbled in a few primary source collections (see "Primary Sources in Your Back Pocket," School Library Monthly, September-October 2010), and you may have even saved a few links. You know that a number of content standards require primary sources, but you're not sure how to teach with them. You would like to collaborate with a colleague on a primary source-based lesson, but you’re no history teacher. How can you possibly leverage a minimal level of primary source knowledge to make any kind of impact on learning in your school?
Fortunately, you may be closer than you think. After all, you work with students every day, help them formulate strong questions, think critically about sources, identify relevant online collections, revise search strategies, and synthesize learning. Furthermore, you get inquiry! Once you realize that teaching with primary sources is all about questioning and critical thinking, you can safely settle into your professional comfort zone.
Primary Source Inquiry Model
Primary sources fit perfectly with an inquiry model of learning. They invite questions without textbook answers and student-centered research without plagiarism. That is not to say that a primary source lesson will automatically turn into a chaotic Internet free-for-all with ill-defined content goals. I like to frame and control every primary source inquiry with an essential question (McTighe and Wiggins 2005). Others prefer the term "big idea," while still others begin with specific content standards.
The Library of Congress follows the popular Stripling Model of Inquiry developed by Barbara Stripling (2003). This model takes students through six steps that are "recursive and reflective throughout:" construct, wonder, investigate, construct, express, reflect (http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/0907/pdf/TPSQuarterlySummer09.pdf).
Because an inquiry approach that turns the traditional lecture/textbook model on its head can be intimidating, I find Kuhlthau's well-researched stages of the information search process are especially useful to share (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, Caspari 2007). It is comforting to know that all learners experience uncertainty, optimism, confusion, frustration, doubt, clarity, and other emotions throughout the inquiry process.
Your First Primary Source Lesson
My advice is to begin simply with a single historical photograph to introduce a lesson. Every primary source idea does not have to turn into a complicated two-month unit with advanced technology use followed by a parent night complete with local news coverage. Start small. Over time, and through repeated exposure to primary sources, students can build questioning and research skills. The fancy work for public praise or the principal's official observation can wait.
As with any successful inquiry model, primary source learning is strengthened when students recognize a personal connection to a topic. What do students already know about a photograph of children playing outside a one-room prairie schoolhouse? Have they heard any family immigrant stories that would provide an emotional link to a photograph of tenement children in New York City? Have they ever written in a diary? Made a beaded bracelet at summer camp? Performed a patriotic song? You can help students brainstorm meaningful connections to primary sources.
Questioning Primary Sources
Once students have identified a personal connection to a primary source, the questioning begins. Of course, it cannot be assumed that any student will arrive in the library or classroom equipped with questioning skills. Consequently, in the first steps of primary source learning, students invariably need support and modeling to develop strong, open-ended, researchable questions. Powerful questions lead students to deeper and more meaningful levels of inquiry in their interactions with primary sources.
You can help students avoid questions that lead to curiosity-killing, one-word answers. You can also work with them to revise weak questions. Consider, for example, two potential questions applied to the Lewis Hines child labor photograph below. Which question stops research in its tracks, and which leads to a more in-depth exploration?
- How old is the boy in this photo?
- What conditions might have made it necessary for this boy to work?
Lewis Hines photo. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, National Child Labor Committee Collection, [reproduction number LC-DIG-nclc-00753]
In preparation for working with students, use the baseball team photograph below and try writing five curiosity-driven questions. When finished, ask yourself if the questions can be answered with one word or if they instead require more complex answers. Do they connect to a 'big idea' covered in any of your state's content standards? Could they potentially move the study of a particular era forward by filling in knowledge gaps? Do they matter?
Baseball Team photo. Aitkin, Minnesota Baseball Team, circa 1902, collection of the author.
Now, begin to cull the list, then go on to improve the remaining questions. By replicating this questioning exercise with your students, you can help them grasp the importance of strong questions to their success or failure in an inquiry environment.
Establishing Thinking Routines
As you plan a school year of primary source questioning and investigation, you may wish to establish consistent 'thinking routines.' Thinking routines offer a structured way to look at primary sources, and their repeated use helps build analytic skills over time.
I prefer simple routines such as those developed by the Visible Thinking Team at Project Zero, a research group at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education (2010). Students who repeatedly use the thinking routines become reflective, independent thinkers and learners. For information about these remarkably effective but simple routines, visit the Web site (http://www.pz.harvard.edu/vt/).
The Library of Congress has developed its own "thinking routines" student form that specifically target primary sources through three actions:
- OBSERVE: Have students identify and note details.
- REFLECT: Encourage students to generate and test hypotheses about the source.
- QUESTION: Have students ask questions to lead to more observations and reflections (Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/teachers/professionaldevelopment/tpsdirect/).
The Teacher's Guide that accompanies the Library of Congress form includes sample questions to guide students as they interact with and analyze each primary source. For downloadable files of the student form and the teacher’s guide, access the Web site links (http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Primary_Source_Analysis_Tool.pdf and http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Primary_Sources.pdf).
The Library of Congress routines resemble the familiar KWL graphic organizers widely used in elementary and middle schools, with one significant difference. Rather than stress what students know, the primary source forms emphasize the gap between what students think they know and what they may learn from further research. This difference makes the form a guide for planning research rather than an assessment of completed learning.
Get Ready, Get Set…
Once students have selected the most promising questions, they can proceed to the investigation phase under the expert guidance of the school librarian. Strategies for collecting and building evidence are beyond the scope of this introduction to teaching with primary sources, but the tools and ideas provided here will help you begin.
Remember to start simply. Identify the learning goals. Help students discover a personal connection to the primary source or theme. Work with students to improve questions. Establish "thinking routines" that build a culture of inquiry. Finally, depend upon your skills as a school librarian at every step.
References:
Harvard Graduate School of Education. Visible Thinking Team at Project Zero. 2010. http://www.pz.harvard.edu/vt/ (accessed August 30, 2010).
Kuhlthau, Carol C., Leslie K. Maniotes, and Ann K. Caspari. Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. Libraries Unlimited, 2007.
The Library of Congress. Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Direct. http://www.loc.gov/teachers/professionaldevelopment/tpsdirect/ (accessed September 29, 2009).
McTighe, Jay, and Grant Wiggins. Understanding by Design. 2nd ed. Prentice Hall, 2005.
Stripling, Barbara K. Curriculum Connections through the Library. Libraries Unlimited, 2003.