Reading Like a Historian: Teaching Literacy in Middle and High School History Classrooms

Reaching beyond textbooks, this is a guide to teaching “historical reading” with middle and high school students. This practical resource shows you how to apply Sam Wineburg’s highly acclaimed approach to teaching, Reading Like a Historian, in your classroom to increase academic literacy and spark students’ curiosity. Each chapter begins with an introductory essay that sets the stage of a key moment in American history―beginning with exploration and colonization and the events at Jamestown and ending with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Following each essay are all the materials you’ll need to teach this topic―primary documents, charts, graphic organizers, visual images, and political cartoons―as well as suggestions for where to find additional resources on the Internet and guidance for assessing students’ understanding of core historical ideas. Reading Like a Historian will help you use your textbook creatively and give you ideas for how historical instruction can enhance students' skills in reading comprehension. Get started today and watch the excitement unfold in your classroom!

Sam Wineburg is the Margaret Jacks Professor of Education and Professor of History (by courtesy) at Stanford University, and author of Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts. Daisy Martin is the Director of History Education at teachinghistory.org, the National History Education Clearinghouse funded by the U.S. Department of Education and housed at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Chauncey Monte-Sano is assistant professor of history and social studies education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Maryland.