Elementary Educator's Guide to Primary Sources: Strategies for Teaching

Following a year as Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress, librarian Bober has written an accessible guide to using primary sources in the elementary school classroom. This thoughtfully organized book can be read in any order. After defining primary sources, Bober provides sources for finding them, but he notes that successfully using them in the classroom requires careful preparation. The author walks readers through five strategies for guiding students' analysis of documents. He also clarifies the role of the teacher and offers sample classroom narratives. For each type of source, he includes tables that suggest questions to use with the "see, think, wonder" strategy. Regardless of the primary source and strategy, Bober stresses that the analysis should relate to the curriculum. Ideally students will each have a copy of the source that they can annotate as they conduct an analysis and participate in discussion. Educators should consider teaching objectives and students' needs when choosing a compelling source, whether an image, text, sound, or moving picture. Bober points out that the support teachers can give will depend on the format they have chosen.