Common Core Strategies with Primary Texts

1. Common Core Strategies with Primary Texts Patricia Carlson History Teacher Williamsburg Middle School Arlington, VA

2. Session Objective:Participants will consider new approaches to teaching history and apply Common Core strategies for reading, analyzing, and evaluating primary source texts. Agenda: • Introductions and “Fist to 5” Informative Assessment • Whole Group SCIM, A Primary Source Reading / Analysis Tool • John F. Kennedy Speech, • Participant’s Choice of Tools and Corroboration • Daisy Bates Letter • 3-2-1 Post Assessment

3. Common Core Anchor Standards in Reading Key Ideas and Details • R.CCR.1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. • R.CCR.2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. • R.CCR.3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. Craft and Structure • R.CCR.4: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. • R.CCR.5: Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole. • R.CCR.6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas • R.CCR.7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.* • R.CCR.8: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence. • R.CCR.9: Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take. Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity • R.CCR.10: Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

4. Fist to Five – Informative Assessment On a fist of 1 – 5, (5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest rating), evaluate yourself using the following questions: • How comfortable and skilled am I in using primary sources with my students? • How regularly do I use primary sources in my classroom? • How successful have I been in finding the primary sources I need to accomplish my learning objectives?

5. Turn to an “elbow partner” and discuss the following: • Share a primary source experience you have had with your students. • How does using primary sources increase relevance and rigor in the classroom?

6. SCIM Reading / Primary Source Analysis Tooldeveloped by David Hicks, Peter E. Doolittle and E. Thomas Ewing, Virginia Tech Source Description – Title, Author, Audience, Date, Place, Subject Summarizing Stage – What type of primary source text is it? What does the text definitely tell us? What specific information or details does it provide? Contextualizing Stage – What was happening locally, nationally, and globally at the time the document was produced? When, where and why was it produced? Who produced it? Inferring Stage – What is suggested by the text? What conclusions can be drawn from the text? What biases are indicated In the text? Monitoring Stage – What is missing from the text in terms of evidence that is needed to answer the Investigative or Research question? What ideas, terms, or images need further defining? What questions from previous stages need to be revisited in order to closely read and analyze the text satisfactorily?

8. Investigative / Research Question: How did leadership and community impact the Civil Rights Movement?

9. John F. Kennedy Speech On June 11, 1963, President Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard, ordering them to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa to allow two African-American students to register for classes. Prior to this action, Governor George Wallace, blocked admittance of these students to the university. That evening, Kennedy addressed the nation. In his speech, he argued that segregation was a moral problem and invoked the founding principles of the United States. ( Listen to Recording.) Kennedy's speech was his first and only major civil rights address, but in his speech he called on Congress to pass a civil rights bill. President Lyndon B. Johnson, invoked his memory to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

10. Participant’s Choice and CorroborationDaisy Bates Letter Now, in pairs or trios, choose a Reading / Analysis Tool to closely read the Letter from Daisy Bates to Roy Wilkins. Consider how this letter corroborates the facts and fears mentioned in the JFK speech. • Making Sense of Letters • First Read / Second Reading • More SCIM and add a C for Corroborating Stage – How might additional primary and secondary sources confirm or conflict with the earlier text and relate to the Investigative / Research Question.

11. 3-2-1 Post Assessment • What are 3 things you learned today about content or process, especially as it relates to reading primary source texts? • What 2 questions do you still have? • What 1 classroom application comes to mind?