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2. Exploration of Multiple Sources
Teachers must plan intentionally to offer students support they will need to frequently engage with complex texts. Knowing next steps in content learning which emerge from reading informational texts is important in guiding students on paths of inquiry. These next steps also include reinforcing disciplinary oriented ways of thinking about texts.
The use of diverse sets of sources promotes critical thinking. When using multiple sources in the classroom, keep in mind that It’s fine to select one paragraph or a few pages as a source. You can also identify thirty seconds of a video clip or one diagram as a source. If a source is manageable, students are more likely to recall specific details and, as a result, can more easily compare and contrast those details with new information as they examine additional sources.
As you begin to develop a set of sources, think about how the information provided in each source supports and/or extends the information in the other sources. Try to layer sources so that when students read a second, third, or fourth text, they start to notice details that are the same or they begin to notice information that is different and that can be added to what they learned in a previous text.
Watch this video about how one teacher uses multiple sources to focus students' study of the Civil War: https://www.adlit.org/in-the-classroom/inside-common-core-classroom/classroom-video-modules/integrating-knowledge-and
Questions: How does the teacher utilize each of the sources to guide students to learn about the Civil War? What process do you think the teacher used to decide which sources to use? What strategies does the teacher use to engage students with the sources?
Asking questions is an evolving process and one in which student thinking should begin to initiate questioning. Providing multiple sources for students gives them an opportunity to answer a compelling question using their historical thinking skills of close reading, contextualization, corroboration, sourcing, and using evidence. As students take on a greater role, the questions become more compelling and facilitate further study. Here's an example:
Student's Inquiry Question, "What contributed to the vampire hysteria that swept Europe during the Middle Ages?" points to multiple sources to explore, such as:
- Black Death graves: http://www.livescience.com/27932-14th-century-black-death-burial.html
- Doctors in the Black Death: http://www.cdc.gov/plague/history/ and http://www.doctorsreview.com/history/doctors-black-death/
- Description of the Disease http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-diseases/plague-article/
Supporting students that struggle:
- Be more specific. Give students a choice between a limited number of sources (e.g. 2 sources)
- Develop a WebQuest with clear tasks and defined process steps.
- Use iCharts to support inquiry https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/inquiry_chart.
- Create graphic organizers that demonstrate text structure and orientation of content within text. These are purposefully relational.
- Have students work in Thinking Teams (small groups).
- Use Jigsaw to scaffold reading of various parts of text.