GLC05471
(Detail) George Washington, print. 1853. Washington crossing the Delaware.
eaching with primary sources is an exciting and innovative way to allow your students to do history. History is no longer simply a subject that students study; it becomes a mode of intellectual exploration. This guide is specially designed to help you make effective use of the primary source documents contained in The Boisterous Sea of Liberty. It also suggests a variety of classroom activities that bring the realities of American history to life.
Transcribing Primary Sources
Reading documents from an earlier period is often a very demanding difficult task. The ink may have faded, the handwriting style may be unfamiliar, and words may be spelled differently or irregularly.
Before your students read a transcription of a particular document, you might ask them to try to transcribe a handwritten letter by themselves. The Boisterous Sea of Liberty contains many reproductions of original letters that will give students an opportunity to experience the challenge of reconstructing the words that past writers used.
Reading Maps
Maps are essential, if often overlooked, historical sources. Maps can offer students a visual representation of the location, events or the geography and topography of an area, and the layout of a city. In addition, maps can illustrate earlier peoples' erroneous and incomplete picture of the world.
The Boisterous Sea of Liberty contains a number of reproductions of historical maps. Your students might compare these maps with their modern-day counterparts to see how they differ.
In order to show your students how difficult it is to draw an accurate map, you might also ask them to map their own city or state and compare it to a published map.
What If?
History is full of fascinating "what ifs" and "what might have beens." Today, we refer to such speculations as "counterfactual history." It is always interesting to speculate how differently events might have worked out. This can be a very valuable task, as well, since it helps us to better understand why events worked out the way they did.
Debating the Issues
History is an intellectual battleground, challenging, exciting, and of inherent relevance to students. It allows us to debate critical issues, explore controversies, and make moral judgments. This section identifies some of the important and provocative questions raised by each period in American history.
Making Ethical Judgements
One cannot study history without encountering profound moral issues. This special section suggests ways to develop your students' critical thinking skills by asking them to wrestle with complex, often troubling moral dilemmas.
Interpreting Primary Sources
This section identifies the critical issues raised by the 366 documents contained in The Boisterous Sea of Liberty and provides answers to pivotal questions.
eaching with primary sources is an exciting and innovative way to allow your students to do history. History is no longer simply a subject that students study; it becomes a mode of intellectual exploration. This guide is specially designed to help you make effective use of the primary source documents contained in The Boisterous Sea of Liberty. It also suggests a variety of classroom activities that bring the realities of American history to life.
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