TELLING A STORY :  HISTORY ASSIGNMENT #1

Today in class you had the opportunity to work with examples of one type of primary document used to analyze and interpret the past in order to construct a story about that past.Other types of primary documents include journals, diaries, government and legal documents, newspaper articles, letters, posters, old radio and television programs, etc. Secondary and tertiary sources include any piece of writing or performance ABOUT an event, another piece of writing, or a performance.ALL the history we read in the form of secondary and tertiary sources ARE INTERPRETATIONS.These interpretations of the past, these stories, these histories, serve the function of shaping and regulating the social needs and aspirations of a community, culture, or country.

 

• One is the story about conflict and control in the evolution of public schooling. 
• The other is about how public schooling in this country serves capitalism. 

 

My first story will focus primarily on the development of schooling for Europeans with brief comments about slaves, indigenous people, African Americans, and immigrant groups.The second story will be about how textbooks function as ideological managers and the relationship of textbooks to capitalism.

YOU will also need to be ready to tell a story about a person, a group of people, or a time period in American history.To gather the information for this story, use the links found on the American History Links or books such as Lies My Teacher Told Me, Peopleís History of America, or Donít Know Much About American History. You should plan on spending 2 or 3 hours searching through and reading the links or reading the books.

 

Your task is to find the stories that usually are not told in public school textbooks or mainstream media.

1. Observe:  pay attention to what is said, what is not said, what evidence is offered, who the author is, and the source of the material. List your observations on a worksheet to be handed in.
2. List, on the worksheet, what you already know about the person, the people, the time in history you are reading about. What discrepancies do you find between your knowledge and your new sources? What questions do you have?
3. Based on your observations and prior knowledge, write down what can you infer or deduce about the history based on the document(s) you read.
4. Create a story to share in small groups Monday of Week 4.  Stories are most effective when they are rehearsed. Make sure you PRACTICE telling your story before you come to class. Then, in addition creating and practicing your oral your story must be written out, webbed, or outlined to be handed in and link this piece to your homepage.