Elementary Educator's Guide to Primary Sources: Strategies for Teaching - Softcover

Bober, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1440863865 ISBN 13: 9781440863868

Publisher: Libraries Unlimited, 2018

Synopsis

Focusing on student analysis of primary sources, this book explores several proven analysis strategies to use with students, including methods from the Library of Congress, the Stanford History Education Group, and Harvard's Project Zero.

Many elementary school librarians and teachers want to incorporate primary sources into their lessons but struggle with how to do it. Whether you are starting from the beginning, have used strategies that didn't seem to work, or were underwhelmed by others' suggestions, this book shows you how you can successfully supplement and deepen your students' learning with primary sources.

Focusing on proven strategies for elementary students, the book is divided into four sections, each of which demonstrates the strategies through real-world examples of student work. In the first three parts, it explores the three major considerations for using primary sources, strategies for analyzing primary sources, effectively using primary sources to teach different subject areas, and special considerations for different primary source formats. In the final part, the author shares tips that he has learned after years of bringing primary sources into his elementary school that will ensure success in students' primary source analysis.

About this title

About the Author

Tom Bober is an elementary librarian in Clayton, Missouri, USA; a former teacher in residence at the Library of Congress, a member of the Teachers Advisory Board at the National Portrait Gallery, and a 2018 Library Journal Mover and Shaker.

Reviews

Following a year as Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress, librarian Bober has written an accessible guide to using primary sources in the elementary school classroom. This thoughtfully organized book can be read in any order. After defining primary sources, Bober provides sources for finding them, but he notes that successfully using them in the classroom requires careful preparation. The author walks readers through five strategies for guiding students' analysis of documents. He also clarifies the role of the teacher and offers sample classroom narratives. For each type of source, he includes tables that suggest questions to use with the "see, think, wonder" strategy. Regardless of the primary source and strategy, Bober stresses that the analysis should relate to the curriculum. Ideally students will each have a copy of the source that they can annotate as they conduct an analysis and participate in discussion. Educators should consider teaching objectives and students' needs when choosing a compelling source, whether an image, text, sound, or moving picture. Bober points out that the support teachers can give will depend on the format they have chosen. VERDICT An excellent option for elementary librarians and teachers seeking to take student learning further.-Laura Fields Eason, Parker Bennett Curry Elementary School, Bowling Green, KYα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Edition details

• Publisher: Libraries Unlimited
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1440863865
• ISBN 13: 9781440863868
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 184