Practice 1: Analyzing Historical Evidence Practice 2: Argument Development Students will be assessed on their ability to… Primary Sources Describe historically relevant information and/or arguments within a source. Explain how a source provides information the broader historical setting within which it was created. Explain how a source's of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience might affect a source's meaning. Explain the relative historical significance of a source's point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience. Evaluate a source's credibility and/or limitations. Secondary Sources Describe the claim or argument of a secondary source, as well as the evidence used. Describe a pattern or trend in quantitative data in non-text-based sources. Explain how a historian's claim or argument is supported with evidence. Explain how a historian's context influences the claim or argument. Analyze patterns and trends in quantitative data in non-text-based sources. Evaluate the effectiveness of a historical claim or argument. Make a historically defensible claim in the form of an evaluative thesis. Support an argument using specific and relevant evidence. Use historical reasoning to explain relationships pieces of historical evidence. Consider ways that diverse or alternative evidence could be used to qualify or modify an argument. **For each historical period, students will be given a variety of different types of primary sources (textual and visual) from which to practice discovering and analyzing the author’s point of view, the author’s purpose, audience, and historical context. For samples of primary sources see pages 11-19. AP History Reasoning Skills (College Board)
Skill 1: Contextualization Skill 2: Comparison 3: Causation Skill 4: Continuity and Change Over Time Describe an accurate historical context for a specific historical development or process. Describe similarities and/or differences between different historical developments or processes. Describe causes or effects of a specific historical development or process. Describe patterns of continuity and/or change over time. Explain how a relevant context influenced a specific historical development or process. Explain relevant similarities and/or differences between specific historical developments and processes. Explain the relationship between causes and effects of a specific historical development or process. Explain the difference between primary and secondary causes, and between short- and long-term effects. Explain patterns of continuity and/or change over time. Use context to explain the relative historical significance of a specific historical development or process. Explain the relative historical significance of similarities and/or differences between different historical developments or processes. Explain the relative historical significance of different causes and/or effects. Explain the relative historical significance of specific historical developments in relation to a larger pattern of continuity and/or change. *Students will engage in developing and strengthening these skills of historians through their homework reading/questions and specific classroom activities/lessons per historical period. Among these is the U.S. History Legends Timeline activity in which each student selects the most impactful/significant event, idea, or person for each period, draw an image to be added to the classroom timeline, and answer the following questions: what makes it more impactful than other options? What were causes and effects of your choice? (long-term and short-term) What was the context? Did it affect the outcome? How or why? How does it compare it to another event, idea, or person? What similarities and differences are there? What changed because of the event, idea, or person? What stayed the same? Students will also have the opportunity to group with other students and defend their