1. Sourcing, Contextualization, and Corroboration
Directions: get your notebooks out.

2. Sourcing Sourcing is the act of questioning a piece of evidence.
Before reading the document ask yourself:
Who wrote this?
What is the author’s perspective?
Why, when, where was it written?
Is it reliable? Why? Why not?
Directions: write down the information on this slide in your notebook.

3. Contextualization
Contextualization is thinking about or providing information about the situation in which something happens.
Ask yourself:
When and where was the document created?
What was the same/different then?
How might the circumstances in which the document was created affect its content?
Directions: write down the information on this slide in your notebook.

4. Corroboration
Corroboration is using multiple source of evidence or information to support or help prove a statement, theory, etc.
Ask yourself:
What do other documents say?
Do the documents agree? If not, why?
What are other possible documents?
What documents are most reliable?
Directions: write down the information on this slide in your notebook.

5. Lunch fight, part I
Directions: in a group of 3-4:
Assign roles: writer, reader, facilitator, presenter.
Review the scenario.
Answer the questions (one answer sheet per group)
Be prepared to discuss your responses with the class.
Answer sheet will be turned in at end of the period, include all group member names and assigned roles.
Scenario: Imagine that you are the principal of a school and you just found out that there was a fight in the lunchroom during lunch. You’ve asked many students and teachers who witnessed the fight to write down what they saw and who they think started the fight. Unfortunately, you have received many conflicting accounts that disagree about important details of the fight, like who started it, when it started, and who was involved. It’s important to remember that NO ONE is lying.

6. Class Discussion

7. Class Discussion Guiding Questions
Why might people see or remember things differently?
Who has an interest in one person getting in trouble instead of another? Who was standing where? Could they see the whole event?
The plausibility of the stories themselves (e.g., issues of exaggeration and how the stories fit into what is known about the students’ prior histories). Is the story believable? Trustworthy?
Time: Do stories change over time? How might what we remember right after the event differ from what we remember a week later? Does time make the way someone remembers something more or less trustworthy?
Physical Evidence: What physical evidence might affect who/what you believe (bruises, missing objects, etc.)?

8. Cafeteria Context: What happened in the cafeteria?
Lunch fight, part II
DIRECTIONS:
Maintain the same group roles (reader, writer, facilitator, presenter)
Use a sheet of paper and copy the graphic organizer (right); make sure to use the entire page so that you have enough room to write;
Utilize the evidence from the Lunchroom Fight Evidence sheet to complete the table. Each row in the table should have at least two pieces of evidence.
Graphic organizer will be collected at the end of the period.
Town Context: What is happening in the town that might explain the lunchroom fight?
Who said this?
Explain if this source is reliable or not and why.
School Context: What has been happening in the rest of the school (for example, in English class)?
Cafeteria Context: What happened in the cafeteria?

9. Class Discussion

10. Exit Slip
Explain why or how each historical analysis skill (sourcing, corroboration, and contextualization) are important in in the study of history.