Teaching with Primary Sources

In the future, I would like to work as an elementary-level general education teacher. Primarily working with younger grades, I lean more towards teaching in the first grade level. Primary resources are the materials of history that were created during that time. These sources encourage students to develop their critical thinking skills by analyzing raw materials that have not been altered. These resources cultivate wonder and curiosity by providing students with first hand information that is accurate to the time they are learning about. These resources are often times unfamiliar to students, usually receiving information that has been published times and times again by different authors. These tools also offer students the ability to compare the past and the present as accurately as possible. The use of primary resources also allow students to make their own interpretations, rather than being exposed to others early on. Students are able to bring in their own perspectives and knowledge into a piece of unbiased information, to make their own opinions of what it means. These authentic materials help students to engage in their learning and connect history to real world experiences.

Here is an example of the primary sources we plan to use for our lessons:

Aztec Codex

Old Map of Mexico (1846)

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Lesson 2 Reflection

For our second lesson, we looked into the History of Mexico. During this lesson, we focused into the Aztec period of 1347 to 1522. We started out the lesson with a cut-and-paste pretest to see what the students already knew. For this pre-test students cut out either a short definition or a photo and matched it with the vocabulary words. We then moved to talking about our vocabulary words. The poster was covered up with papers, so students would be able to focus in on one term at a time, while also having the opportunity to reveal the next word. Each word and definition, after being read by us, would be read together as a group to further their comprehension. Once we established an understanding of the vocabulary words, we showed students examples of primary sources. These were Aztec codex's from over 500 years ago, where students would analyze the imagery and discuss each column of the I...

Lesson 4 Reflection

Our fourth lesson was about Mexico's economics. The lesson started with a short pretest where students matched a picture or short definition to the correct vocabulary term. After this, students were introduced to the new vocabulary words. The poster was covered up with papers, so students would be able to focus in on one term at a time, while also having the opportunity to reveal the next word. Each word and definition, after being read by us, would be read together as a group to further their comprehension. After going over the first half of the vocabulary, they participated in a group activity with an interactive T-chart about goods and services. Students were randomly given cards that had either a good or a service, and they had to figure out and glue them under the right category. For our brain break, students were told a sentence that was about a surplus or scarcity, and they would tap their shoulders (if sur...

Lesson 3 Reflection

Our third lesson was about Mexico's civics. We had students complete a short cut and paste pre-test to have an idea of their current understanding of the topic. This test consisted of either a picture or a short definition and students had to glue it under the correct vocabulary word. After this, students were introduced to the new vocabulary words. The poster was covered up with papers, so students would be able to focus in on one term at a time, while also having the opportunity to reveal the next word. Each word and definition, after being read by us, would be read together as a group to further their comprehension. To provide students with a better understanding of the vocabulary words, they participated in a group activity researching a specific branch of government. They were split into three groups and assigned one branch of government (either judicial, executive, or legislative) and were given a folder that contai...

ELED 436 Olivia Tetreault

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