Election years bring increased engagement during discussions of current events in Social Studies classrooms.  Washburne students have been engaged in discussions and research about many key topics:  the economy, the environment, and social issues.  The strength of the teaching and learning at Washburne is that the same energy can be found while discussing topics that are no longer current events - but key issues from earlier periods in history.

 

The Stanford History Education Group has developed an approach to teaching history entitled "Reading Like A Historian".  Students learn historical reading skills such as sourcing, corroboration, contextualization, and close reading.  As an example, in a recent classroom visit, Washburne students were discussing the beginnings of the American Revolution.  The students had already gained background knowledge of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" and were now provided with two primary source documents: letters written by Loyalists.  Students grappled with a central historical question:  Why did some colonists support England and oppose independence?  The discussion in the classroom was lively as students scanned the documents for supporting evidence and made inferences about life in the colonies.  This approach invigorates the teaching of history and hones students' reading skills.