Historical Literacy Skills

Historical literacy skills should be the foundation of any history class. These skills are interchangeable between grades and subject. History is no longer about memorizing facts (Names, dates, events, etc), but analyzing the sources to draw conclusions about history based on the evidence. Students will be able to analyze, think critically and become historians using these basic historical literacy skills.

The best place to get started using historical literacy skills is SHEG - Stanford History Education Group. Beyond the Bubble has some really great DBQs [Document Based Questions] Assessments

Information on this page comes from the SHEG website

Sourcing

Sourcing asks students to consider who wrote a document as well as the circumstances of its creation. Who authored a given document? When? For what purpose? This poster reminds students before reading a document to ask:
• Who wrote this?
• What is the author’s perspective?
• Why was it written?
• When was it written?
• Where was it written?
• Is this source reliable? Why? Why not?

Contextualization

Contextualization asks students to locate a document in time and place and to understand how these factors shape its content. This poster reminds students when reading a document to ask:
• When and where was the document created?
• What was different then? What was the same?
• How might the circumstances in which the document was
created affect its content?

Corroboration

Corroboration asks students to consider details across multiple sources to determine points of agreement and disagreement. This poster reminds students corroborating documents to ask:
• What do other documents say?
• Do the documents agree? If not, why?
• What are other possible documents?
• What documents are most reliable?

Close Reading

The close reading poster helps students evaluate sources and analyze rhetoric by asking them:
• What claims does the author make?
• What evidence does the author use?
• What language (words, phrases, images,
  symbols) does the author use to persuade
  the document's audience?
• How does the document's language indicate
  the author's perspective?