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to The Boisterous Sea of Liberty Teaching Guide
Using
The Boisterous Sea of Liberty in Your Classroom
Teaching
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.
Continue to First Encounters
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