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Thomas Fulbright Dr. OBrien Masters Project Why Sources?

This paper is a collection of quotes from some of the journals, articles and books I used in my research to help develop my understanding of how to best use sources in the classroom. Each source is accompanied by an explanation of how it has influenced my work. The order of the sources is based mainly on the order I encountered articles.

Barton, Keith C. "Primary Sources in History: Breaking Through the Myths." PHI DELTA KAPPAN June (2005): 745-53. Print. Barton makes a list about what he calls myths about primary sources. The misconceptions he exposes about sources were ones I held myself. These were very helpful to read because they helped me understand some of the failures I was experiencing in my classroom, however it was also hard to read something that had I encountered sooner I would not have spent so much time frustrated with my lessons.
Myth 4: Using primary sources engages students in authentic historical inquiry 748 Myth 6. Primary sources are fun sources are not inherently interesting. If used inappropriately the ability of primary sources to raise questions, inspire wonder and provide evidence is lost. 750

Luckily for me as the reader, he did not just have a list that upset me in relation to my current process, he also provided a list of things sources are capable of doing. He wrote that sources could; Motivate historical inquiry stimulate curiosity provoke questions 751

Barton made it clear to me that the questions and discussions I had with the students were critical in their interest, engagement and success. One of the most influential statements he made- one of the ones that contributed to the big shift in my Document Based assignments suggested that students should focus on and

investigate open ended questions and use evidence to prove them- this should be the focus of the classroom. 751

Ensminger, David C., and Michelle L. Fry. "A Conceptual Framework for Primary Source Practices." The Educational Forum 76.1 (2011): 118-28. Print. Ensminger and Frys article really helped me solidify my belief in the importance of using sources. As I stated multiple times on my portfolio site, sources should be used because of their ability to help develop critical thinking and democratic citizens.
Proper use of primary sources in a classroom can contribute to an increase in c ritical thinking skills and student achievement 119 Primary sources can assist visualization of the past, promote empathy, provide vicarious experiences and encourage civic engagement, literary skills and communication technologies 119

Hendry, Julia. "Primary Sources in K-12 Education: Opportunities for Archives." The American Archivist 70.Spring/Summer (2007): 114-29. Print.

I have used the logic from Julia Hendrys article to reinforce to other teachers that our goal really should be based on skill rather than memorization of content.
In a world where the universe of knowledge is so vast, advocates of the inquiry method argue that no individual can master more than a tiny slice of it.

Sharma, Martha B., and Gary S. Elbow. Using Internet Primary Sources to Teach Critical Thinking Skills in Geography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. Print. The ideas presented by Sharma and Elbow served as another piece of research that solidified my belief that by using primary sources in the classroom I would be doing what was in the students best interest.
Habits of questioning, evaluating, and assessing information are particularly important for students to acquire as part of their basic education. 223

Fry, Michelle, "Pedagogy and Primary Sources: Outcomes of the Library of Congress' Professional Development Program, Teaching with Primary Sources at Loyola" (2010). Dissertations. Paper Frys work provided some of the most valuable inspiration for the teaching of primary sources. The observations she wrote about in her paper were goals I wanted to achieve in the classroom.
She found increases in student-learning with the following possible learning outcomes, Increased Critical Thinking Skills, Increased Empathy and Increases in Deeper Content Understanding and Meaning. 138 The common findings attributed to student learning with primary sources they provide a foundation for all learners to lead to achievement gains. 141 Once students have learned to work with primary sources for deeper levels of understanding, evidence shows that students perform better overall. 142

However, some of Frys observations clashed against the Myths Barton wrote about in his work on primary sources, such as what she wrote on page 138;
Teachers perceived students to have increased engagement, and Interest, as well as Increased Motivation to complete primary source-based classroom activities.

Avery, Patricia G. "Authentic Assessment and Instruction." Social Education 63.6 (1999): 368-73. Web. Averys work helps remind me that all of the questions I ask and all the work that I do in the classroom will have no real consequence for the learners if it is not truly authentic. In Averys research she defined authentic as something with the following criteria;
1. Value beyond the classroom 2. Use methods and skills similar to those of a professional 3. Reflect or simulate problems one might encounter in the world outside the classroom Authentic assessment requires the student to construct the knowledge and organize it while considering alternatives. Authentic pedagogy equals authentic student performance. Students must come to reasoned supported conclusions

Barton, Keith C., and Linda S. Levstik. Teaching History for the Common Good. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004. Print. Barton and Levstiks Teaching History for the Common Good was not just helpful to read as someone wanted to justify using primary sources in the classroom, but as someone who truly believed in the importance of social studies education. As professionals I believe that sometimes there is a need to refresh our sense of purpose, in my mind this is the sort of book one could use to do so. Being one of the largest pieces of research I used I was able to pull a lot of useful information from their work. For the purpose of this paper I will focus on what I took from chapter ten, the chapter they dedicated to Inquiry. In chapter ten they claim to base their view of inquiry on John Deweys analysis of reflective thought. They discussed how Dewey says important beliefs should be grounded in evidence: they should result from conscious inquiry into the nature, conditions, and bearings of the belief .

During my time at KU we discussed Deweys view on education frequently, so I found it a nice refresher on Deweys views on education. They quoted Dewey as describing inquiry as active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends. On page 188 they define the process of Historical Inquiry as they view it. Their process includes asking a question, gathering and evaluating relevant evidence and reaching conclusion based on that evidence. Based on this simple process I have a foundation on which I could build my class. Also on page 188 they do clarify that they have found no empirical investigations proving inquiry is better, but when understanding is needed, inquiry appears to be one of the best ways to get there. While a lack of empirical proof could be used against my argument for the need of an Inquiry class, the inclusion of inquiry in the Common Core shows they must believe there is enough reason to use it. Another idea promoted by Barton and Levstik had to do with using inquiry as an equitable form of measurement. The district I was promoting the existence of an Inquiry class to is highly diverse and is always seeking a way to serve all students. In addition, the students in my classroom already fall into the category of students who have a lower baseline of historical information than peers from other schools. Barton and Levstik discuss how students come from all sorts of different backgrounds- some may have more of a connection to traditional school AND school narratives, they provide the example of answering the question who was Columbus? Students from certain backgrounds have an advantage from the start. The process of inquiry makes them all start at the same point. This will also force those who think they already know all of the answers have to consider different ways of thinking- they may question their beliefs.

Barton and Levstik show how inquiry results in learning to make decisions based on evidence. Inquiry provides students with the skills necessary for their lives as active citizens. Inquiry is transparent- all students have the right to ask questions and all have the right to come to their own conclusions if they can support it with evidence. All of these ideas made me feel both that I was on the right track with my ideas and course plans as well as inspired me to keep working to improve them.

Beyond the sections of Chapter Ten that provided me with validation and motivation there was also a section on the tool of inquiry, this section would be invaluable in helping not just inspire my class, but to help clarify the how not just the why. For my teaching this is an area that I have struggled the most, with both before and after I read this section. Inspiring students to create a meaningful question (as they describe as important below) has been difficult for me and is one area I am trying to focus on for improvement. On page 197 Barton and Levstik discuss the importance of the quality of the question in creating good inquiry. They note that when students dont have meaningful questions, we can hardly be surprised that their familiarity with the process is inadequate. They clarify that inquiry may only reach its full potential only when students engage in the entire process.

In his Teaching for the Common Good Barton brings up some of the observations he writes about in his other work, in this chapter, specifically a point he brings up in his Breaking Through the Myths article (discussed in an earlier review). His myth number 6 about sources not being inherently fun. In this work he discusses how, although they can be placed into activities that make them fun, the focus on should be on giving them enduring significance. 198

Barton and Levstik make the same observation many of the researchers made, and I have witnessed in my few years of teaching and a couple years of attending conferences- primary

sources are all the rage. They discuss how most of the activities being presented and used lack difficulty, perplexity, confusion and doubt. The available activities have students using documents only to help explain how given primary sources illustrate facts they have learned else ware-not show any reasoned judgment. Barton and Levstik argue that without those characteristics we will fail to gain the real goals of teaching through inquiry- preparing students to participate in a democratic society. Primary sources Inquiry help Democracy because they provide:
practice in the process of reaching judgments based on evidence, it makes the process of knowledge construction clear, and it may lead to deeper comprehension than transmission-oriented instructional strategies. Perhaps most important, the use of inquiry may contribute to great equity in students access to historical knowledge

Fickel, Letitia Cope Hochstrasser. Teacher Culture and Community: An Ethnography of a High School Social Studies Department. Louisville: University of Louisville, 1998. Print. One of the most interesting studies I came across had to do with a class created in Kentucky. It seemed as though I had found the perfect example of a class model to follow or at the very least, study and learn from. The research done about about teachers in a Kentucky school who had created a freshman class in order to teach skills they thought necessary to succeed in history classes. They developed a class for freshman to help students begin building a base of conceptual and factual knowledge and skills that would facilitate more complex learning in History and other electives. This course would allow them to help students cultivate a common set of social science inquiry skills and sensibilities.

However, the citation and quotes you just read were cited in another book; Accountability, Assessment, and Teacher Commitment: Lessons from Kentucky's Reform Efforts. The

work which was to be one of the greatest finds in my research was an unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Regardless, just knowing that it had been done before was exciting. Whitford, Betty Lou., and Ken Jones. Accountability, Assessment, and Teacher Commitment: Lessons from Kentucky's Reform Efforts. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 2000. Print.

Grant, S.G. "High-Stakes Testing: How Are Social Studies Teachers Responding." Social Education 71.5 (2007): 250-54. Print. Grants research reinforced what many more had said, many schools dont allow teachers to teach the way that would best help their students, but teachers who care will try to find a way.
School climate can stifle creativity when the other teachers and administration focus on low-level knowledge and skills. Others are constrained in competitive school climates where standardized scores are important. 252 Ambitions teachers understand deeply both their subject matter and their students and they are wil ling to push hard to create opportunities for powerful teaching and learning despite contextual factors that may be pushing them in different directions. 253

Wells, Gordon. "Dialogic Inquiry in Education: Buildling on the Legacy of Vygotsky." Vygotskian Perspectives on Literacy Research: Constructing Meaning through Collaborative Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999. 51-85. Print. What I gained from Wells work I believed to produce a great change in my classroom, but my students found it very frustrating. It was liberating for me to be able to tell students I do not have all the answers, and even more so to deny giving the students the answer, knowing they will learn more from it if they find out on their own. The students found it very outside of their comfort zone where the teacher had all the answers and all they had to do was listen, write them down and regurgitate them when asked to do so.
Rules for the teacher: 1. Teacher should be co-inquirer: saying I dont know. How could we find out makes for a better Inquiry atmosphere (Ethos) than if the teacher is always someone with the right answers. It is important for the teacher to wonder aloud for students to be able to model. 2. Teachers role as leader and organizer of the communitys activities -the teacher has a responsibility to maintain time and productivity 12. Inquiry is not an activity- it is a stance that pervades all aspects of the life of a classroom community

Buehl, Doug. Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2011. Print. Buels work provided much advice on helping students improve their reading and vocabulary abilities within the classroom, but what I found to be most useful was his comment I now love to discuss with my students.
Historians read disciplinary texts as arguments whereas students read these texts as truth statements. 60

Wineburg, Sam. "Unnatural and Essential: The Nature of Historical Thinking." Teaching History 129 (2007): 6-11. Print. No study into the use of primary sources and inquiry in the classroom would be complete without using the work of Dr. Wineburg. However for the sake of time and space, I will only discuss the impact of his article Unnatural and Essential: The Nature of Historical Thinking. The rules and ideas Wineburg makes throughout his work have both assisted and complicated the ideas I have had for my class. He provides me with the real justification for an entire class based on developing the skill of Inquiry by showing just how important, and how difficult it can be to teach students how to think like students. He also provides for me the simple logic I can give to the leaders of my school, other teachers, parents, students and any other person who wonders why we are spending so much time asking questions about the facts rather than just learning them through memorization and lecture. These are all easy tasks to accomplish with Wineburgs help. However he also points out that when students position themselves to judge they are not following the historical skills we want them to learn. However it seems to be that opportunity to judge that can provide the hook that gets students intellectually and emotionally engaged in the lesson. I struggle to find the right balance, how do I get them fired up about something and then try to keep them cold and analytic disciplined historians? Wineburgs reinforcement of the need to do so makes things difficult, but despite the difficulty will result in a better outcome.
Important Historical thinking requires an orientation to the past informed by disciplinary canons of evidence and rules of argument 6 History must be open to scrutiny 7 When looking at a document students position themselves to judge, historians position themselves t o learn 11 History provides an antidote to impulse by cultivating modes of thought that counterbalance haste and avert premature judgement 11

Fisher, Doug, and Nancy Frey. Background Knowledge: The Overlooked Factor in Reading Comprehension. Rep. Columbus: McGraw Hill Education, 2011. Print. This work done by Fisher and Frey really helped justify many of the changes that were undergone during the evolution of my DBQs. The transition they made from task questions that asked for something with a solid concrete answer such as What are three causes of World War One to one that, in my opinion, is more complex and thought provoking such as Was World War One caused by a just and righteous struggle for a countrys power or was it a consequence of mankinds greed? was justified by work done like that of Fisher and Frey.
Thought provoking questions help students make sense of complex concepts and create opportunities for debate and discussion because they do not have a singular concrete answer.

Friedman, Adam. "World History Teachers' Use of Digital Primary Sources: The Effect of Training." Theory & Research in Social Education 34.1 (2006): 323. Print. Many of the teachers I have talked to when discussing the use of primary sources in the classroom gave similar reasons for not being able to use more documents as Friedman found. I believed this to be a justification on its own to create a class that could help teachers overcome those barriers. The class would give them the time to use the resources and make it so the only standards they would be trying to meet would be those from the Common Core that push the use of primary sources.
Three major barriers to the implementation of digital primary sources in the teachers classrooms time, the emphasis on teaching to the state standards, and limited instructional time to teach the content outlined in the standards

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