One thing that really stood out to me in class last night was the “It says… I say… And so…” activity we did in class. While completing the exercise I struggled most with the “It says” column and I liked the “I say” column the most so I was really surprised when the rest of the class said the opposite. I had a hard time pulling straight facts because it is so ingrained in me to read historical articles and texts with the “I say” mindset. I think this is a fantastic exercise as it is for social studies because it’s practice thinking like a historian. I think teaching it as such would make a difference in presentation to classes completing it as well.
This is essentially an outline of the discussions my professors at VCU conducted every class for my MA in History. We’d discuss what the author wrote, what we thought the author meant or was biased toward, and then what we were able to conclude from combining the two with our perspectives. We were taught from the beginning that this is how historians work, so I was really excited to see this sort of activity for elementary students because I never did anything like that in elementary school. It was all worksheets and memorization.
An activity like this is an opportunity to make history come alive for students if you spin it right. Much like getting kids excited about being a scientist or mathematician, this is an excellent way for kids to be excited about being a historian and teach them to love doing history. (A professor once told me you can’t study history. You can read other people’s opinions and research and form your own ideas and that is the doing of history.) I definitely plan to use this with my students. Even though it will be hard for them to learn how to do, I think it does an excellent job of teaching the critical thinking skills needed to do history.
Marlea, Thank you for your reflection! As you can see, not all strategies work for everyone. Based upon your context as a history major you found relevance with “It says… I say… And so…” Add this one to your toolkit and consider developing it in your own way for your lesson plan assigned later in the semester.
I decided later that by providing an example of one way to interpret the protocol I may have biased the thinking of the class. What I did was provide my own interpretations which were not necessarily going to match everyone elses ideas. Sometimes by providing examples instead of guidance for students will not produce the best results even if the best intentions were intended. I find myself reflecting with you right now about my own take-aways from class and have to say that I was reminded of what NOT to do in the future. Providing too much information for students can shut thinking down or be very confusing!
I am glad you shared your thoughts with me about the strategy. I look forward to learning more about how you think during the semester! Lynne