156 - Strategies for Reading, Understanding, and Teaching Secondary Sources

Saturday, July 20

8:30 AM - 9:45 AM

Location: Building: Dolphin • Floor: Lobby Level • Europe 8

Committee(s)

JF

Jennifer Foray

Associate Professor of History
Purdue University

Introducing various assignments and classroom strategies, this session will examine how AP History teachers and students can use a wide range of published secondary sources. It aims to make the process of locating, and examining, secondary sources accessible and even enjoyable. The session will devote particular attention to historical thinking skills concerning sourcing—how historians gather and employ evidence in the service of an argument--by focusing on the information and arguments hidden in footnotes, for instance. We will explore different approaches for fostering student engagement with popular and academic histories, paying particular attention to questions concerning agency and authority (both historians’ and students’). Participants will learn how to incorporate into their classroom an array of secondary sources that might otherwise seem daunting and inaccessible, and they will leave the session with sample activities and assignments they can use in their own classrooms.