Week 3

I really enjoyed working with the primary sources in class last night. I really liked the way we were given textbook information followed by primary sources and were repeatedly amending the claims we made about the causes of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. I loved this because it really forces students to question everything. When I was in school it was always “well, that’s what the textbook says so it must be right.” In my experience, textbooks leave out many critical pieces of the story and certainly the more interesting aspects! Primary sources are an excellent way to show students that there is not always a drastic and immediate cause and effect. From reading the textbook information, it seemed like the arrest of Rosa Parks was a direct and critical cause of the boycott. Through reading primary sources, students are able to piece together that the boycott was actually a long-time coming rather than a spur of the moment decision. To add to this, I might show them something that implicates that the arrest of Rosa Parks was even a part of this plan and let them debate whether they thought that was reliable information or not based on even more primary sources. Further research might be a good opportunity for a project for a summative assessment.