Synthesizing Historical Significance

America in Revolution and ConflictOctober 29, 2011

Fran Macko, Ph.D.fmacko@aihe.info

Framing the Session

• What historical events, people, themes and issues are important to remember?

• How do historians determine historical significance?

• What strategies can history teachers use to help their students understand and reflect historical significance?

What is Historical Significance?

• The concept of historical significance is a variable, not a fixed one.

• Historians select and emphasize certain facts and information and de-emphasize others.

• The resources that historians value the most become the basis for their accounts of an event.

What are the criteria for determining historical significance?

• Contemporary significance– How important was it to

the people of the time?

• Profundity– How deeply were

people affected?

• Quantity– How many people were

affected?

• Durability– How long lasting were

the effects?

• Relevance– How does it help us

understand current issues and events?

How does understanding historical significance support learning?

• Central to the critical reading and analysis of history is an understanding of historical significance.

• Understanding historical significance:– supports students in making connections across texts.– supports students in moving beyond the memorization of

facts and dates.– supports students in thinking critically about content.

• Once students have acquired new content information and concepts they can use the framework of historical significance to rework, apply, and extend their understandings.

What are some strategies for teaching historical significance?

• Popular strategies for understanding historical significance are:– Fact Pyramid– SPAWN– Timelines– RAFT

What is RAFT?

• RAFT is a writing strategy that:– gives students the opportunity to project themselves into

unique roles and look at content from unique perspectives. – can be used to explain processes, describe a point of view,

envision a potential job or assignment, or solve a problem.– can be used for assessment, class presentations, portfolio

projects or as a response to content.– provides a focus for writing.

• RAFT requires students to think critically about their reading or viewing in order to take on a new role, match the audience to the role, create a format that would fit that role, and cover specific topics from the content.

What are the steps in the RAFT strategy?

• Review the RAFT acronym with students, explaining what each letter stands for:– R – Role (role of the writer)– A – Audience (to whom or

what the RAFT is being written)

– F – Form (the form the writing will take, as in letter, song, etc.)

– T – Topic (the subject focus of the writing)

• Scaffold the strategy by beginning with a prescribed RAFT to model the process.

• Use a specific text or image to model the strategy.

• Provide a completed RAFT graphic organizer.

• Stress that RAFT writing allows for creativity, but must accurately reflect the content just learned.

• As students become more proficient in the strategy, have them develop their own list of possible roles and audiences, formats and topics.

• This allows students to demonstrate their understanding of historical significance and multiple perspectives and synthesize their learning through writing.

What types of sources can be used as prompts for RAFT?

• RAFT is a flexible strategy that can be used with a variety of sources.

• These sources can be used as prompts for RAFT writing.

• Primary Sources• Non-Fiction• Fiction• Interviews• Artifacts• Videos• Periodicals• Poetry• Music• Art

The RAFT Graphic Organizer

RAFTR A

F T

R= Role What role (s) will you assume as writer?

A= Audience Who or what will be the audience for writing?

F= Format What format will the writing take?

T= Topic Define the topic, determine questions to be answered and point to be made.

Modeling the Strategy The Great Depression

Modeling the Strategy: Using an Image as a Prompt

Prescribed RAFT Assignment

RAFT

RReporter

APeople who read the newspaper

FInterview

TLiving conditions

• Working with a partner generate a list of interview questions that would match the role, audience, and content of the RAFT assignment.

• What factors would influence what questions a reporter would ask of the people in the image?

On Your Own

• Working with a partner:– discuss the image

and create 2 possible RAFTs.

– discuss the text and create 2 possible RAFTs.

Other Images for RAFT

Text Resources for RAFT

• Song: “Brother Can You Spare a Dime”

• Letters from distressed farmers to FDR

• Letters from children to Eleanor Roosevelt

• FDR’s Fireside Chats

• WPA administrators' reports on economic conditions in Pennsylvania and Oregon

• Government-produced radio dramas

• Poetry: Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Walt Whitman

Adapting RAFT to Your Classroom

• How might you use RAFT in your social studies classroom?

• What adaptations can you make?

Extension and Differentiation

• The student selects the role and audience and the teacher selects the format and topic.

• Students write the RAFT in small groups.

• Students write from the perspective of an historical character.

• RAFT is used a pre-writing activity before a small group or class discussion.

• What other extensions or differentiations can you think of?