History from Below
Best Practice
Source Analysis - Argument Development - Reasoning
The Analyzing Historical Evidence and Historical Reasoning skills represent skills that students *should* be familiar with. As part of our curriculum design, my department spirals this specific vocabulary and skill development into all instruction from Grade 6 forward.
Analyzing Historical Evidence:
Primary Sources:
Argument Development:
Reasoning Skills:
Contextualization
Continuity and Change Over Time
Primary Sources:
- Describe historically relevant information and/or arguments within a source.
- Explain how a source provides information about the broader historical setting within which it was created.
- Explain how a source's point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience might affect a source's meaning.
- Explain the relative historical significance of a source's point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience.Evaluate a source's credibility and/or limitations.
- Describe the claim or argument of a secondary source, as well as the evidence used.
- Describe a pattern or trend in quantitative data in non-text-based sources.
- Explain how a historian's claim or argument is supported with evidence.
- Explain how a historian's context influences the claim or argument.
- Analyze patterns and trends in quantitative data in non-text-based sources.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of a historical claim or argument.
Argument Development:
- Make a historically defensible claim in the form of an evaluative thesis.
- Support an argument using specific and relevant evidence.
- Use historical reasoning to explain relationships among pieces of historical evidence.
- Consider ways that diverse or alternative evidence could be used to qualify or modify an argument.
Reasoning Skills:
Contextualization
- Describe an accurate historical context for a specific historical development or process.
- Explain how a relevant context influenced a specific historical development or process.
- Use context to explain the relative historical significance of a specific historical development or process.
- Describe similarities and/or differences between different historical developments or processes.
- Explain relevant similarities and/or differences between specific historical developments and processes.
- Explain the relative historical significance of similarities and/or differences between different historical developments or processes.
- Describe causes or effects of a specific historical development or process
- Explain the relationship between causes and effects of a specific historical development or process.
- Explain the difference between primary and secondary causes, and between short- and long-term effects.
- Explain the relative historical significance of different causes and/or effects.
Continuity and Change Over Time
- Describe patterns of continuity and/or change over time.
- Explain patterns of continuity and/or change over time.
- Explain the relative historical significance of specific historical developments in relation to a larger pattern of continuity and/or change