Reading Like A Historian Curriculum

 




This year, we are using the Reading Like a Historian Curriculum from Stanford History Education Group (recently renamed Digital Inquiry Group). ⁣

I’ve been asked several questions about the curriculum and how we’re using it; following is an overview: ⁣

The curriculum provides free lessons consisting of Teacher Guides, Student Resources, and Primary Source Material. ⁣

The curriculum focuses upon the skills of sourcing, contextualizing, evaluating, corroborating, and close reading. ⁣

Using primary sources (and well adapted portions of primary sources), the curriculum teaches students to be historians while practicing and honing the skills that historians possess. ⁣


Reading Like a Historian is a skill based curriculum, not a comprehensive history curriculum. ⁣

It moves chronologically through either American or World history, but it isn’t intended to cover history comprehensively. ⁣

The lessons can be sorted by time period, in order to be broken up according to your personal history cycle. ⁣

I am using the American lessons as our American History this year. ⁣

I am prioritizing the skills I want us to intentionally hone, and choosing to forgo the comprehensive nature of a spine or a curriculum in order to solidify, build, and refine the skills that Building Like a Historian intentionally focuses on. ⁣

We are using the 20 lessons in the Colonial and Revolutionary sections of the curriculum, which gives me space to stretch some of the lessons out over multiple weeks; each lesson varies in its available content. ⁣

I’m also extending some lessons with video and books in order to pull the chronological threads while will prioritizing the skill building nature of our focus this year. ⁣

We’re utilizing all of the components of the lessons, including the power points, discussion prompts, documents, and student worksheets. ⁣

The lessons would also work well added into a curriculum as specific events are encountered, and we may continue to use the lessons in this way as we move on to a comprehensive curriculum next year. ⁣

I’d say the curriculum is ideal for upper elementary- high school. ⁣

Are there any other questions I can answer?

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