Using primary sources to teach historical thinking

Teach students to analyze primary sources like a historian. Framework: Sourcing, Contextualizing, Close Reading, Corroborating (Stanford History Education Group - SHEG). Activity: Give students two primary source documents about the Boston Massacre—one from a British officer, one from a colonial patriot. Analysis Steps: 1. Sourcing: Who wrote this? When? Why? Is it reliable? 2. Contextualizing: What was happening at the time that might influence this account? 3. Close Reading: What claims does the author make? What words do they use to persuade the reader? 4. Corroborating: How do the two accounts differ? Where do they agree? Which account is more believable and why? This moves students from memorizing facts to interpreting evidence.