1. 7/8 World History
Week 1
Sources of History

2. Monday
Do Now
When you are preparing to go to college, every minute counts! Name three ways you have noticed people waste time in class, and how you can prevent it.
Objective
Students will understand and practice important classroom procedures.

3. Homework:
Procedures Handout, if not completed in class
Student Survey

4. Tuesday
Do Now
If you wanted to know more about a friend’s culture (family, food, traditions, etc.) what would be two different ways to learn about it?
Objective
Students will understand how anthropologists use cultural information about the present to understand cultural practices from the past
Students will understand how ethnographies are created.

5. Key Terms Term Definition Sentence Culture
The beliefs, traditions, and ways of life that a group of people share
After I travelled to China, I wanted to learn more about Chinese culture.
Anthropology
The study of human cultures
My anthropology teacher taught me about the religions and languages of Native American groups.
Participant observation
When you learn about a group by making yourself part of that group, and living life the way they do.
I wanted to know more about Mexican culture, so I did participant observation and lived with a family in Mexico.
Ethnography
The report a person writes about the experiences during participant observation
My ethnography about Mexican culture talked about the way the family I stayed with lived.

6. Notes: Anthropology
Anthropology helps us understand the past by understanding cultures in the present.
By looking at how a group lives right now, sometimes it helps us understand how they lived longer ago.
Anthropologists look for patterns in human lives that they can use to understand all humans throughout all time.

7. Exit Ticket
What kind of information did you notice the anthropologists included in their ethnographies? Why do you think they chose to include this information?

8. Block Day
Do Now
What do you think would last longer: a story you tell your sister, or a letter you write to your sister? Why?
Objectives
Students will explore bias in written culture.
Students will differentiate between primary and secondary sources.
Students will successfully produce a secondary source.

9. Key Terms Term Definition Sentence Written culture
Writing and documents from the past that tell us about the lives of people in that time period and place
By studying the written culture of France, I can know more about what it was like to not have a toilet.
Bias
When someone has a reason to not be honest
I asked the ice cream man whether he thought cake or ice cream were better. He said ice cream, but I think he was biased.
Primary source
A piece of writing that was written by someone ACTUALLY EXPERIENCING AN EVENT OR TIME PERIOD
If I go to a Taylor Swift concert and write about her music, I am writing a primary source because I was actually there.
Secondary Source
A piece of writing that describes a time period or event, but the author wasn’t actually there. She summarizes primary sources.
If I read three different primary sources about a Beyoncé concert from 2003, and then write a summary based on all three of them, I am writing a secondary source.

10. Notes: History
History is the study of written culture, which means that historians mostly work with old documents to figure out what the past was like.
The problem with only using documents is that sometimes the person who wrote that document a long time ago might have been biased—they might have had a good reason to not be honest about what they were writing.
Each document only shows what ONE PERSON or ONE GROUP thought about and experienced in the past.
Not every culture had a writing system (an alphabet or way to write things down), so only people who knew how to write got to tell their side of the story.
Historians can’t change the fact that they only get part of the story most of the time.
This is why they rely on others for more information.
For example, when Christopher Columbus came to the Americas, he wrote about what happened when he met them. Even though he was violent with them, of course he is not going to write about what a terrible person he is. He is biased. But his writings are all that we have, so the Native Americans don’t get to tell their side of the story because they didn’t have a writing system.

11. Notes: Types of Sources
Even though all writings are biased because they only show what one person thinks, some writings are more likely to be accurate than others.
PRIMARY SOURCES are thought to be more accurate because it comes from a person who was actually there.
Examples of primary sources are:
Journals
Newspapers
Letters
Laws
Pictures
SECONDARY SOURCES are good because they put lots of different opinions together in one place, but they are written by someone who wasn’t actually there, so they aren’t quite as trustworthy.
Examples of secondary sources are:
Textbooks
Articles written by historians
Stories about the past
Websites about history
Your history teacher

12. As you read… Think about… Is this a primary or secondary source?
Is there evidence of bias in this source?
As a historian, how would you get past this bias and get to the real facts of what happened?

13. Exit Ticket Is this a primary or secondary source?
Is there evidence of bias in this source?
As a historian, how would you get past this bias and get to the real facts of what happened?

14. Friday
Do Now
Imagine you were digging in your backyard and you found a human skull! Write at least 5 questions you would have about the skull, and 1 person you might go to to find out more about it.
Objective
Students will understand how material culture gives historians and archaeologists information about the past.

15. Key Terms Term Definition Sentence Artifact
an old object that is found (usually buried in the ground) that tells us about people in the past.
She found several artifacts in the mummy’s tomb including jewelry, pottery, and clothing.
Archaeology
The study of artifacts
If you study archaeology, you will travel all over the world in search of important artifacts.
Material Culture
A collection of artifacts that teach us about a certain group of people and time period
Material culture helped us to understand what life was like in ancient Egypt.
Remains
Complete or partial skeletons of humans or animals
The remains of ancient humans tell us what their lives were like

16. Notes: Archaeology
Archaeologists are important because they find evidence that helps historians understand past cultures.
By finding artifacts, archaeologists help historians prove what past cultures were like (if they think they already know) or help historians figure out what past cultures were like (if they don’t know yet).
Artifacts help bring even very old cultures to life for anyone who sees them in a museum
Archaeology is a good and trustworthy source for information about the past because it is not very biased.
Biased means that you have an opinion about something or a reason to want something to be a certain way, which means you might not be 100% honest about your evidence.
For example, if a historian spent her entire career trying to convince people that the Mayan people never ate corn, they might ignore evidence that proves that the Mayans DID actually eat corn. This historian is biased because it would be embarrassing if they were wrong.
Archaeology provides evidence that can’t be ignored, changed, or thought of in different ways, so it helps reduce bias.

17. Notes: Archaeology
Archaeologists focus their attention on three main things:
Structures (buildings)
Remains
Garbage
Why Garbage?
Garbage is what people tend to leave behind, because they don’t care about it anymore. Everyone makes garbage, and that garbage can tell you a lot about what a person’s life is like. You can learn whether someone was rich or poor, old or young, male or female, what kind of food they ate, what kind of clothes they wore, what kind of technology they had, etc.

18. Exit Ticket
On a 1/4 sheet of paper, answer the following question in at least 2 sentences:
Why is archaeology important if you are trying to learn about the past?