Social
Studies Lessons for High School is designed for social studies teachers to use with their government and history courses. It was developed in response to a shift in education throughout our country: a move away from rote memorization and toward the critical thinking skills necessary for many of the new performance assessment programs.
Each lesson will enable teachers to teach seven specific critical thinking skills in a step-by-step process. The information has been adapted for old media and new media formats. Web sites will be provided that will allow teachers to choose the most appropriate resource for the selected activity. All selections can be copied for classroom use. Teachers may adapt activities to allow students to complete assignments via the web.
Bob
Black is former Teachers Network web mentor. He is a social studies teacher at the Harbor City Learning
Center, located across the street from the historic Edgar
Allen Poe House in Baltimore, MD.
Template
Explanation
Primary source documents are original materials that were written or created during the historical period under study. They were produced by eyewitnesses of, or participants in, the historical events.
Model for Analysis
What is this document? When was it created?
Who wrote the document? Give the background of the author if known.
Who do you think was the intended audience? What is the purpose of this document?
What words are not familiar to you? What do they mean?
Is any part of the document unclear? Why? What is the most important information in this document?
Why is this document important?
Describe how you were able to analyze this document.