1. Reading Like a Historian
Sourcing, Contextualization, Corroboration

2. Sourcing-Before reading the Document
First thing is to
SOURCE the document
What do we do when we SOURCE the document?
We see what we can find from the authors perspective

3. Sourcing-Before reading the Document
What type of document is it?
When was it written?
Who wrote it?
Was it really written on that day?

4. Document A: Barker (Modified)
19th. At 2 o’clock we began our march by wading through a very long stream up to our middles. About 5 miles away from a town called Lexington, we heard there were some hundreds of people collected together intending to oppose us. At 5 o’clock we arrived there and saw a number of people, I believe between 200 and 300, formed in a common in the middle of the town. We still continued advancing, prepared for an attack though without intending to attack them. As we came near them, they fired one or two shots, upon which our men without any orders, fired and put them to flight. We then formed on the Common, but with some difficulty, the men were so wild they could hear no orders; we waited a considerable time there, and at length proceeded on our way to Concord.
Source: Entry for April 19th, 1775, from the diary of Lieutenant John Barker, an officer in the British army Battle of Lexington

5. Contextualization Asks us to locate items in a document such as:
Time and place
To understand how these factors shape its content. Contextualization helps students when reading a document to ask certain questions.

6. Contextualization
Now we need to read the document CAREFULLY and contextualize. This Means:
To try to picture what was happening at the time, such as
What was happening at the time?
What was different at that time?
Time and place (When and where was the document created)?
How might the circumstances in which the document was created affect its content?
To understand how these factors shape its content. Contextualization helps students when reading a document to ask certain questions.

7. Contextualization helps students, when reading a document to ask:
When and where was the document created?
What was different then?
What was the same?
In creating the document how might the circumstances affect it’s content?

8. You Imagine the setting
What was it like to be alive in the past?
What things were different back then?
What things were the same?
What did people and places look like back then?
**What were people worried about or hoping for?

9. Document A: Barker (Modified)
19th. At 2 o’clock we began our march by wading through a very long stream up to our middles. About 5 miles away from a town called Lexington, we heard there were some hundreds of people collected together intending to oppose us. At 5 o’clock we arrived there and saw a number of people, I believe between 200 and 300, formed in a common in the middle of the town. We still continued advancing, prepared for an attack though without intending to attack them. As we came near them, they fired one or two shots, upon which our men without any orders, fired and put them to flight. We then formed on the Common, but with some difficulty, the men were so wild they could hear no orders; we waited a considerable time there, and at length proceeded on our way to Concord.
Source: Entry for April 19th, 1775, from the diary of Lieutenant John Barker, an officer in the British army Battle of Lexington

10. Modeling for students

11. wading through a very long stream
This makes me think and realize that the soldiers were probably cold, wet and tired.

12. saw a number of people, I believe between 200 and 300,
I bet when they saw so many minutemen they were jumpy and nervous. That is a lot of minutemen.
Did the text book say how many minutemen there were?
I am just wondering:
Could he just be imagining that there were a lot of minutemen? There was a lot going on at that time.

13. they fired… This British soldier makes it clear who fired first.
The soldier stated The colonists shot first.
I just wonder if he is telling the truth about this. He might be covering his back.
If the battle ended up starting the war, you can bet there would be an investigation into who fired first.

14. What should students be able to do?
Use context/background information to draw more meaning from document
Infer historical context from document(s)
Understand that documents reflects one moment in changing past
Beware that words must be understood in a larger context

15. Document B: Mulliken (Modified)
We Nathaniel Mulliken, Philip Russell, (Followed by the names of 32 other men present on Lexington Green on April 19, 1775)...All of lawful age, and inhabitants of Lexington...do testify and declare, that on the nineteenth of April, about five o’clock in the morning, we proceeded towards the Green, and saw a large body of troops marching towards us. Some of our men were coming to the Green, and others had reached it, at which time, they began to disperse. While our backs were turned on the British troops, they fired on us, and a number of our men were instantly killed and wounded, not a gun was fired by any person in our company on the British soldiers to our knowledge before they fired on us, and continued firing until we had all made our escape.
Lexington, April 25, 1775.
Source: Sworn by 34 minutemen on April 25 before three Justices of the Peace.
Battle of Lexington

16. Corroboration- comparing two documents
Which account do you find more reliable?
Why?
Are there any facts that both accounts agree on?

17. Closed Reading Evidence from Text

18. What should students be able to do?
Identify author’s claims about event
Evaluate evidence/reasoning author uses to support claims
Evaluate author’s word choice understand that language is used deliberately

19. Evidence from the Text What claims does author make?
What evidence does the author use to support those claims?
How does this document make me feel?
What words or phrases does the author use to convince me that he/she is right?
What information does the author leave out?

20. Evidence from the Text
I think the author chose thee word because they make me feel….
The author is trying to convince me... (by using/saying)

21. Review

22. Sourcing Before reading the Document

23. Sourcing-Before reading the Document-Review
Who Wrote it?
What is the author’s perspective?
Why was it written?
When was it written?
Where was it written?
Is it reliable? Why? Why Not?

24. Sourcing-Before reading the Document
What type of document is it?
When was it written?
Who wrote it?
Was it really written on that day?

25. Contextualization helps students, when reading a document to ask

26. Contextualization helps students, when reading a document to ask:
When and where was the document created?
What was different then?
What was the same?
How might the circumstances in which the document was created affect its content?

27. Contextualization You Imagine the setting
What was it like to be alive in the past?
What things were different back then?
What things were the same?
What did people and places look like back then?
What were people worried about or hoping for?

28. Corroboration comparing two or more documents

29. Corroboration-comparing two documents
What do other documents say?
Do the documents agree? If not Why?
What are other possible documents?
What documents are most reliable?

30. Corroboration-comparing two documents
Which account do you find more reliable?
Why?
Are there any facts that both accounts agree on?

31. Closed Reading Evidence from Text

32. What should students be able to do?
Identify author’s claims about event
Evaluate evidence/reasoning author uses to support claims
Evaluate author’s word choice understand that language is used deliberately

33. Evidence from the Text What claims does author make?
What evidence does the author use to support those claims?
How does this document make me feel?
What words or phrases does the author use to convince me that he/she is right?
What information does the author leave out?

34. Evidence from the Text
I think the author chose thee word because they make me feel….
The author is trying to convince me... (by using/saying)