History Bellringer Why do I need to know

History Bellringer: Why do I need to know this? !

What is history? • History: The study of past events; human past

Who studies history? • A historian is a person who studies how people lived in the past

Why do I need to know history? History helps us learn what happened to our country and world in the past. We can learn from past successes and failures. History also improves your reading, writing, and criticalthinking skills

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

Bellringer: • How do we know what happened in the past?

What is a primary source? • Primary Source: first hand account; eyewitness – Official documents – Photographs – Artwork – Political cartoons – Journal/Diary entry – Memoir – Newspaper/speech from that time period

What is a secondary source? • Secondary Source: a retelling of an event – Textbook, Encyclopedia – Research paper – Article written years after an event

Analyzing Primary Sources • The most important job of historians! • Best way of understanding the past – Why?

Steps for Analyzing Primary Sources 1. Determine: – Who wrote the source? – When was the source written? – What type of document is this source?

Steps for Analyzing Primary Sources 2. Read the document – Search for: • Why was the source written? What is its purpose? • Who is the author’s audience?

Steps for Analyzing Primary Sources 3. Identify facts and opinions – Facts: can be proven – Opinion: A person’s beliefs or feelings

• Fact: • Opinion:

Analyzing Primary Sources 4. Check for bias: – Bias: giving favor for or against something

People do not often create records for the benefit of historians. They produce them for other reasons… Chris Hinton, 1998 Based on this statement, historical sources often contain (1)facts that are completely balance and reliable (2)accounts that represent all points of view (3)evidence that can be biased (4)summaries that detail research about the distant past

Exit Ticket • What materials will a future historian study to gain insight into our lives?