Historical Thinking Planning

     Historical thinking: how can we get students to engage in it? How do we even plan for something that students have a hard time doing? Hopefully this entry and some experiences, both positive and negative in my years of teaching might help others on this issue. So here goes!
     The first thing I do is look at what standards I have to teach for that particular unit. I know there has been a lot of issues with the Common Core, but to be honest, standards are standards and as much change that I have seen in education with the content still does not diminish my ability to teach historical thinking. I usually take those standards and make them into learning goals with "I will be able to" statements. For example:


Content Statement: 19. The United States followed a policy of containment during the Cold War in response to the spread of communism.

Is turned into a learning goal:


I will be able to cite reasons for the Cold War and examine how the US responded.   

     Then I figure out what vocabulary I want the students to know and apply to that particular learning goal. Here is where your professional judgement kicks in: how much vocabulary do I include for each learning goal?? History has the pitfall of drowning students in vocabulary. I had my curriculum director who asked me this question: what vocabulary would you be embarrassed to find out that your students did not know after leaving your class? Now it does not mean you cannot work in the vocabulary during the unit. However I usually have 5-10 words per learning goal. I think if students are going to be engaged in historical thinking they have to know the people, places, events and content that is specific to that time period.
      While I am not the biggest fan of textbooks, I do believe they can add to your arsenal of tools to use when getting your students to think historically. First, you can use it to give them an idea of sequencing which is important in historical thinking. Second, reading that type of informational text is a part of the Common Core and will allow you to do good reading activities that will engage the students. For example, Stump the Teacher is one of my favorites! Have students read 5-7 pages and then try to stump you with questions on anything. It is great way to have your students dig into the content. But remember, historical thinking is not just the text. You have to get your students out of the book and have them engage in primary document reading.
     The second thing I look for are good primary documents. Reading, discussing, analyzing and sharing thoughts on these documents is one of the key features in getting students to think historically. They have to be able to look at the past through the eyes of people who lived it and these types of documents are truly invaluable to that process. A couple of pitfalls here. First, don't give your students lengthy documents that are overly complicated. Make sure to read the document first and if you have to, cut the document down to size. There is nothing wrong with selectively editing a document so your students get the main point of the author (s) without taking away from the meaning. Here is what I did for the Atlanta Compromise Speech by Booker T. Washington:
Atlanta Compromise Speech parts
     Secondly, don't let your students read these alone! Have them in groups to pull the collective genius together. They need to bounce ideas off each other and work through them no matter how difficult they are. You can mix ability group your students too so some of the better readers can contribute to the rest of the group. This has really worked well for me.
     Another tip for primary documents is to hand out note cards or post it notes so if students don't know a vocab word that is in the document, they can write it on the card/post it and you can define it for the whole class. Planning for this takes time and you really have to match the document (s) with your learning goal. Also, to get students to really think historically, using these documents takes a lot of time for them to process so you have to use your documents strategically. 
     I think writing and writing often is key in historical thinking for students. I always plan a lot of writing during my units. Now having said that, it does not mean that only lengthy essays are needed here. I do a lot of formative writing pieces: exit/entry slips, "answering" the learning goals, summarizing, etc. The more students learn how to incorporate "evidence" into their writing, even if it is a few vocab words here and there, the closer we can get them into the historical thinking mode. Incorporating this type of writing really helps you to show students that writing about history is key in historical thinking.
     Once I have most (if not all) of this planned out, assessing the students' historical thinking is next on the planning agenda. I have moved away from the traditional tests of MC, T/F, fill-ins etc in favor of short vocab quizzes with broader, more "historical thinking" type of assessments. What does that look like? Here is an example of our Take Home Open Note assessment for the 1920s:
20s Assessment
     I think the use of political cartoons and thesis defense (even if you give it to them) is very helpful in teaching historical thinking. I think giving students broader, less "this is the correct answer" type questions really adds to the historical thinking mindset. I pitfall of doing this, especially if it is a "take home" or "open note" assessment is the fear of plagiarism or cutting and pasting. However, if you frame your questions in terms of the learning goal and you write good questions, students still have to demonstrate knowledge of the material and you can (and really should) check for students copying, especially if you have your students turn things in digitally. 
  As history teachers, we naturally think historically and the difficult task is to transfer that natural ability to our students. Modelling, using a variety of sources (not just the text) and having the students will all help to engage your students in the historical thinking process. Here are some helpful resources in your journey to historical thinking:
Books 
Choices 
     If you have questions or comments, feel free to contact me:  
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