We started our time together by watching M.C. Escher’s Day and Night. We made the connection between writing history as looking for what others may not see and bringing it to light. Then, we talked about perspective using the images in the woodcut. We also reviewed the work of the master historian, David McCullough, through a video interview where we were looking at the author’s notes/preface to three of his novels (The Johnstown Flood, Mornings on Horseback, and The Great Bridge). Students gleaned from McCullough that if it is unavailable, write about it so people can read it.  Start writing immediately, and further research needs will surface. For subjects who have an enormous amount of evidence already, find something intriguing to research and write about. Sometimes, the subject finds you.  Research what is happening contextually in the time period of your topic, and the research must be organized to be understood. 

Next, we reviewed a video on how to think like a historian and worked in groups to create reference posters on how historians are storytellers, scientists, and lawyers.  Finally, we watched a video on how to read and analyze historical documents.  We also created reference posters for the five steps of reading and analyzing. 

Tomorrow, we will begin looking at texts and filtering them through the lens of a storyteller, scientist, or lawyer, as well as the steps of reading and analyzing documents.  We will also be making our first attempts to create a story.