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EDU415 Resource Collection

Gwyneth M. Hudson

Geneva College

EDU415: Content Literacy in the Secondary Classroom

Dr. Michal Wargo

October 4, 2022
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Primary vs. Secondary Sources – Standard CC.8.5.6-8.I.

a. Trade Books to Use For This Topic

Anderson, S. (2020) The Story of Benjamin Franklin: A Biography Book for New

Readers. Rockbridge Press.

Fraught with helpful graphics and written for young readers, this book details

in simple exposition the life and times of Benjamin Franklin. While it is

written for younger readers, if I were to have students in a fourth or fifth grade

classroom who were reading below reading level, the language and

vocabulary would be just about perfect for them. Thus, this book would serve

to supplement the reading of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography in an

enlightening way by making the information accessible to students.

Franklin, B. (2016). The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Dover

Publications

In this personal recounting of the events of his own life, Benjamin Franklin

details, with great personality and honesty, lessons he learned over the course

of time, as well as inventions that he developed, people that he knew, and the

like. The book is an easy-to-read primary source that would prove useful in

giving students a glimpse at what it means to study from a first-hand account.

Marsh, S. J. (2018). Thomas Paine and the Dangerous Word. United

States: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

This picture book biography of Thomas Paine details his life from childhood

through penning one of the most powerful pieces of persuasive writing

perhaps the world has ever known. Like Common Sense itself, it proves to be
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a short and easy read for middle schoolers, but would serve to dovetail nicely

the reading of Common Sense, which would be more difficult than this text.

The reading of this book would acutely highlight the difference in the nature

of a primary versus a secondary source. Finally, it would give students a

broader picture of who Thomas Paine was as an individual.

Paine, T. (2016) Common Sense. Dover Publications.

Common Sense is a primary source written by Thomas Paine. His goal in the

piece is to persuade the colonists that revolting against Britain is basically just

“common sense.” Thus, he invokes a number of different arguments as well as

powerful rhetorical technique in accomplishing his end. It is really quite a

short read and not incredibly hard, so I think it would be ideal for students to

at least read some of it for the experience.

a. Teacher Media Source

b. https://teachingamericanhistory.org

This website boasts an archive of historical documents, as well as a tool

for organizing documents chronologically, which is useful for locating

primary sources. Thus, that is what I would use this website for, primarily

– finding primary sources to use in my lessons, as well as potentially using

the tool to help me place documents in a historical framework.

c. Student-Friendly Media Source

https://teachingamericanhistory.org/

I selected the same website as both the teacher resource and the student-

friendly media source, because I do think it is very easy to use. As an

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archive, there are not a whole lot of extra bells and whistles it contains.

This website would be a great resource for students to use if I gave them a

research project in which they needed to cite first-hand accounts as part of

their argument. It could also help them to better understand how a writing

fits with its place and time in history.

d. Two Other Media Sources

i. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1og03RKuhU

This video, found on YouTube, explains the difference between a primary

and a secondary source. It also provides a number of examples of the

different kinds of sources, as well as a little oral quiz at the end. The video

has fun music behind it but is clearly not just meant to be entertaining. I

would use it in my classroom as a kind of activating and assessing prior

knowledge activity. Before I go ahead and explain the topic, I would let

the video remind the students of something they likely will have heard

before. Then, I would pause the video for the quiz at the end and let them

actually record their answers, so that I could collect their papers and

quickly determine how much they remember from previous years.

ii. News-O-Matic EDU

News-O-Matic EDU is an app that serves to deliver news stories to kids.

Just like a print newspaper, it brings the latest news updates and factual

articles each day of the week. One cool feature of the app is that the

reading level can be changed depending on the students with whom the

teacher plans to use it. In covering the topic of primary and secondary
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sources, I would encourage students for one week to keep up with the

stories covered, using their own judgment as to whether the story was

written by a first-hand observer or is a second-hand account.

2. Point of View – Standard CC.8.5.6-8.F.

a. Trade Books to Use For This Topic

Bradley, K. B. (2011) Jefferson’s Sons: A Founding Father’s Secret Children.

The Penguin Group.

Bradley’s book serves as a narrative telling of what it would have been

like to be one of the illegitimate slave children of Founding Father and

former President Thomas Jefferson. Written as a story from the

perspective of three of his slaves, students will also understand more

deeply the real hypocrisy that was going on as America preached

Enlightenment ideals, yet kept others in bondage.

DuVal, K. (2015). Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American

Revolution. Random House Publishers.

In no cursory manner does Kathleen DuVal examine neglected aspects of

the Revolutionary War in her book Independence Lost. Rather, she takes

four hundred sixty-four pages to dive into the lives of several individuals

who were not British colonists, but who still played vital roles in the

American War for Independence. In doing so, she adds complexity to the

narrative historians usually tell, even going so far as to make the point that

some rebels aligned themselves with the American cause for reasons other

than that they simply thought America should be free from Britain. This
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books seems like a fantastic read – a thoroughly personal perspective on

history in an accessible format for upper level readers in a middle school

social studies classroom.

Loewen, J. W. (2019). Lies My Teacher Told Me: Young Readers’ Edition:

Everything American History Textbooks Get Wrong. The New Press.

James Loewen pulls no punches in this adapted version of his book as he

dismantles some of the notions Americans have surrounding certain key

aspects and events of our country’s history. Starting with the idea of

“heroification,” he proceeds to look into these aspects and expose some of

the uglier truths that get skated over in history books. While I am not sure

I would just put this out on a classroom shelf in a fourth grade classroom, I

think it is definitely helpful in making sure our class is developing an

honest view of American history.

Orgill, R. (2018). Siege: How General Washington Kicked the British Out of

Boston and Launched a Revolution. Candlewick Press.

Roxane Orgill makes adept use of verse in this full-length book about the

siege of Boston that kicked off the Revolutionary War. While history

textbooks do not usually cover this event at much length, her choice of

writing style dramatizes the event in what is yet a very down to earth kind

of way. I think it would prove to both excite the students about the subject,

as well as to get them to think about it from the point of view of the

everyday people who experienced it.

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b. Teacher Media Source

i. https://www.zinnedproject.org/period/revolution/

The Zinn Education Project offers a variety of lesson plans, as well as

other teaching materials, from the perspective of African Americans

throughout our nation’s history. As a teacher, I will use this resource to

give my lessons a balanced perspective, coming at the topic from more

than one angle. Moreover, I will strive to construct entire lessons that

come at an event from the perspective of an African American.

c. Student-Friendly Media Source

i. https://www.along.org/?

source=Google&medium=Paid&campaignid=17539101813&adgroupid=1

39664122484&content=605940701439&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyt-

ZBhCNARIsAKH1177RvVO3hAwd0xw_nV3JikvM2IGULfhDnqeIVR7

h6bOTxIMmeKzZq9kaAvMKEALw_wcB

Much like Flipgrid, if you have ever used that platform, the website Along

allows students and teacher to have online conversations with one another

in creative ways. Basically, how it works is that the teacher poses a

question for students to answer, and they get to pick the way they want to

respond, having the option to choose from either video, audio, or text.

Thus, in the context of varying perspectives, I as the teacher would

probably make some sort of broad, sweeping overstatement and ask

students to think about what a different perspective could be on that

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particular issue or in that particular situation. They would then have the

option to respond to me in whatever way they liked.

d. Two Other Media Sources

i. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfiu_2yfa7M

This video is entitled “Multiple Perspectives in Social Studies” and is

basically just a Power point presentation about different perspectives

historical figures could have on an event. I would definitely use this to

supplement my students’ consideration of Thomas Paine in order to help

them see who he would have been working to convince, since not

everyone was of the opinion that America should revolt.

ii. God’s World Teen, https://teen.wng.org/download-issues

The God’s World Teen magazine would be a great opportunity to show

students how a Christian worldview can examine a story from a different

perspective than other news sources. Thus, in my middle school

classroom, if I teach at a Christian school, I would subscribe to the

magazine and ask students to write about one or two of the articles with

the arrival of each new edition.

3. Assessing Graphic Information – Standard CC.8.5.6-8.G.

a. Tradebooks

Hale, N. (2021). One Dead Spy: A Revolutionary War Tale. Bigger and

Badder Edition. Amulet Books.

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Author Nathan Hale’s graphic novel documents the life of the

Revolutionary War spy Nathan Hale all the way up to his death by

hanging. It is a fictionalized version of his life filled with much humor

that is sure to entertain middle schoolers. I would use this book with

the topic of interpreting graphic information, though, to ask my

students to analyze how the author uses humor and the illustrations to

tell the story a certain way.

Hennessey, J. (2008). The United States Constitution: A Graphic

Adaptation. Hill and Wang.

Another graphic novel, this book toggles back and forth between the

actual text of the U.S. Constitution and the background of its framing.

In doing so, it gets at why the Founding Fathers wrote the details they

did into the document. Subsequently, I would use this book to

challenge my students to do the very same thing.

Lewis, J., Aydin, A., and Powell, N. (2013). March: Book One. Top Shelf

Productions.

In this first volume of the March books, readers are taken on a journey

through Congressman John Lewis’s life from his Alabama childhood

to his active role in the Civil Rights Movement. Like the previous

novels listed, this book is a graphic novel, which makes it more

accessible and gets at different aspects of the events that took place.
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Spiegelman, A. (1986). Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. Pantheon Books.

A final graphic novel that explores the effects of the Holocaust on

families, Maus traces the tale of Art Spiegelman’s relationship with his

father, a Holocaust survivor, as well as his father’s experience during

the horror. Spiegelman makes the artful decision in this piece to

portray each of the different people groups as a different animal. In

other words, he portrays the Jews as mice, the Nazis as cats, the

Americans as dogs, and so on. This piece is, therefore, brimming with

layers through which to sift to discover what historical narrative the

author is trying to tell by his use of graphics.

b. Teacher Media Source

i. Google Arts and Culture, https://artsandculture.google.com/

Google Arts and Culture has a plethora of different activities that can be

used in the classroom in helping students examine graphic information.

What I think I would be most likely to use is the virtual field trip feature or

just looking up a piece of artwork to show my students about a certain

time period. This website would be very helpful to me as a teacher

because it allows the user to search for artwork of a certain medium or

from a certain time period. Thus, if I were doing a unit on art during the

Civil War, I could look up Civil War art on the website and find a few

select pieces I want to use as examples in class.

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c. Student-Friendly Media Source

i. https://artsandculture.google.com/

Google Arts and Culture is also an excellent student resource as it offers

young people the opportunity to find artwork and information on it that

can be used towards research papers or projects. There are even games

students can play to explore different times and cultures, which is cool,

though it does not apply directly to the topic of graphic information.

Another great feature of the website is that it allows for the creation of a

gallery. This means that users can save their favorite pieces of artwork to

come back to and look at later. If they grow to have too much, they then

have the option to create categories for all of it. This would be a great way

for students to analyze art as they discover characteristics that they really

like in certain pieces.

d. Two Other Media Sources

i. https://www.punch.co.uk/

Punch is an online database, essentially, for political cartoons throughout

the years. Students and educators can explore the galleries already

compiled by the website creators. More than that, though, they can look

for specific cartoons surrounding certain historical events. This would be a

great resource in a unit on analyzing graphic information, because cartoon

artists are always trying to communicate a message when they draw a

cartoon; thus, I would probably devote a day of class to talking about

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political cartoons and then assign my students to find a cartoon and

analyze it according to the criteria we talk about and develop in class.

ii. https://foliok12.com/

This website is a space where teachers can find and store various

templates for graphic displays of information. While it seems like its

primary usage would be for math, Folio also has a plenty of graphic

organizers that could be used for other subjects, as well. Teachers using

Folio can search for the kind of visual for which they are looking and then

save it to their account, so that the next time they want to use the same

one, they do not have to go looking. I would use this website as the

teacher as I searched for different visual ways that I could help my

students understand information.

4. Writing to Explain – Standard CC.8.6.6-8.B.

a. Tradebooks

Baby Professor. (2017). U.S. Economy in the Mid-1800s – Historical

Timelines for Kids. Speedy Publishing LLC.

This short picture book explains key details of history during the

1800s in an easy-to-grasp way. It would serve well as a kind of review

text for students to read during their free time, as it would clarify and

put into place some of the pieces that would have been discussed in

class. Thus, it is a simple expository text. I could even use it as an

example to them of what it means to simply explain the details of

history. More than these things, though, it would give students a more
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down-to-earth perspective of some of the topics about which we would

have talked.

Dorling Kindersley Publishing Staff. (2015). What Happened When in the

World: History As You’ve Never Seen It Before! Doring Kindersley

Limited.

A highly visual history text, What Happened When in the World is

basically an encyclopedia of world events and details that correspond

with them. For example, on the spread about colonial America, the

book gives a brief description of the time period and supplements it

with the people and countries connected to the region. Moreover, it

highlights specific artifacts that would have been common at the time.

Overall, this text is a great example of simple historical exposition

done quite uniquely, actually, because of the graphics.

Johnson, Steven. (2018). How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made

the Modern World. Viking Press.

This book by Steven Johnson is a largely expositional text about the

development of six different innovations that we enjoy today: glass,

cold, sound, clean, time, and light (as he characterizes each in his table

of contents). Asserting in his introduction that we often focus too

much on the people, actually, and not enough on the inventions that

have shaped our lives, Johnson does, in fact, go further in assessing

how each connects to the rest of history. Thus, his book provides a
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nice foundation for transitioning students from expositional writing to

persuasive writing or writing for analysis.

Olusoga, David. (2021). The Black History Book: Big Ideas Simply

Explained. DK Publishing.

In this piece, David Olusoga does his best to detail the entire history of

the Black community, beginning at what he sees as the beginning of

the world and following through all the way to the present day. He

sprinkles his explanation with graphics such as maps and timelines in

order to illustrate the things about which he is talking. Not only that,

but he breaks the book into many different sections in order to

categorize each period or event he considers. This book could prove

helpful in my classroom as an example of a work of exposition;

however, I would only use it with my students in small passages rather

than just handing them the whole book to read, because some of the

things he includes do not comport with a Christian worldview. I still

like the idea of a history book completely from another culture’s

perspective, though.

b. Teacher Media Sources

i. https://www.loc.gov/

The Library of Congress offers a huge online catalog to anyone looking

for information. Thus, I would use their website in conducting my own

research for the purpose of expositional writing or for my lessons, which

are largely expositional speaking.

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c. Student-Friendly Media Source

i. https://www.animaker.com/home?

gclid=CjwKCAjw7eSZBhB8EiwA60kCW_QBkMIci7HozvGYPX4dcY8

2SV2Bdn2aRPdpCtLIaAye9oMPy3X6jxoC7DAQAvD_BwE

A website on which users can create their own animated videos, I would

use Animaker in my classroom during a consideration of expositional

writing to have them make their own explanation videos of whatever

subject we were covering at the moment.

d. Two Other Media Sources

i. https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/learning-social-studies

The New York Times online actually offers lesson plans that build on

news articles they publish. I would use the information found on the

website to add to my own lesson plan, demonstrating to students how

information relayed straightforwardly can be useful in better

understanding a topic and laying a groundwork for asking questions.

ii. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWtW0gmh3kg

This video, though designed for students slightly younger than middle

school, nonetheless stands as a prime example of an expositional analysis

of the American Revolutionary War. The makers of the video were simply

trying to convey the details of the conflict rather than themselves craft and

put forth an argument. Thus, I would show this video to my students more

to demonstrate to them how to consider a topic like the Revolutionary War

in an expository way rather than in an persuasive way.

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5. Writing to Persuade – Standard CC.8.6.6-8.A.

a. Tradebooks

Achebe, C. (1996). Things Fall Apart. Heinemann Educational Publishers.

Written by Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart is a

first-hand account of the damage done to African countries and

communities with the advent of European Neo-Imperialism and

colonialism in the late nineteenth century. The story follows the life of

a man names Okonkwo, who, despite his success in his own society,

does not manage well the changes brought about when the British

conquer Nigeria. Thus, the book carries with it the message that

imperialism was not all it is sometimes cracked up to be. It displays

the real effects of the policies that were in place at the time and asks

readers to consider honestly how they might still be going on, as well

as, hopefully, how they can be part changing international

relationships for the better. Thus, I think it would be a powerful piece

to include while covering the topic of persuasive writing in history.

Myers, W.D. (2021). Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History.

Quill Tree Books.

While this book does claim to be a biography about Frederick

Douglass, I believe it is actually a piece that can be used in a unit on

persuasive historical writing, because in reading it, students ought to

come away with a new perspective on Frederick Douglass and the

power of their own words. I think that it is not often where a writer
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portrays a certain historical character without casting them in a certain

light, and, as this is a biography meant for younger readers to digest, I

believe the author would be even more keen to do that. The writing in

the book is not childish or “dumbed-down” in any way, but it is still

very straightforward and simple, making it accessible to most readers.

Rhodes, J.P. (2018). Towers Falling. Hachette Book Group.

In this juvenile fiction novel, author Jewel Parker Rhodes explores the

effects of the attack on the Twin Towers in September 2001. The story

is about a young girl named Dèja who is intrigued when her teacher

mentions that they will soon be learning about events that had a

profound impact on their home and community. She gradually learns

about the Twin Towers and is even able to learn more about her

father’s past through the whole experience. Thus, Rhodes’ goal in

writing is to persuade students to care about history. Most students

anymore were not alive for the fall of the Twin Towers, yet the event

profoundly impacted the lives of people that they know. I would

absolutely love to use this book in my future classroom for this reason.

Tonatiuh, D. (2014). Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her

Family’s Fight For Desegregation. Harry N. Abrams.

Although a picture book, this recounting of a true story by Duncan

Tonatiuh narrates the account of Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez as they

challenged the segregated school system in California during the mid-

1900s. I appreciate the fact that the book considers the idea of separate
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but equal from the perspective of a Hispanic family, for the practice

was not only something that affected African-Americans, but many

people who were not white. Because of this, students, I believe, can

come away with a fresh perspective on or a new conviction about the

atrocity of separating schools based on race and how infrequently, if

ever, these schools were of as good a quality as those for whites.

b. Teacher Media Sources

i. https://www.facinghistory.org/

Facing history is a website that fosters thought among teachers about how

they can incorporate current events into the classroom, as well as paint an

honest picture of the history they are portraying. It does this through

connecting teachers to one another, allowing for lesson plans and mini-

lesson plans to be shared, equipping teachers with toolkits, and a variety of

other functions. I would use this in my classroom as I prepare lessons on

persuasive writing in history to gain a more accurate perspective of where

we are as a nation in order to craft a persuasive narrative of change.

c. Student-Friendly Media Source

i. https://www.along.org/?

source=Google&medium=Paid&campaignid=17539101813&adgroupid=1

39664122484&content=605940701439&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyt-

ZBhCNARIsAKH1177RvVO3hAwd0xw_nV3JikvM2IGULfhDnqeIVR7

h6bOTxIMmeKzZq9kaAvMKEALw_wcB
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I would have my students interact with me again on Along in the context

of persuasive writing in history to respond to short prompts. I would begin

the conversation by making some statement of opinion, and then my

students would have to send me a text, a video, or an audio file in which

they would seek to persuade me otherwise.

d. Two Other Media Sources

i. https://www.punch.co.uk/

I would use Punch in relation to persuasive writing by having my students

analyze whether or not a cartoonist is trying to persuade viewers of

something or whether he is just reporting or making fun of a current event

for his time. This would give them opportunity to see persuasive technique

in practice, even if it is with fewer words and more by picture.

ii. https://ed.ted.com/educator?user_by_click=educator

Ted Talks are some of our culture’s most prominent pieces of persuasive

rhetoric, I think. A person has to have an idea and develop a compelling

way to share it in order to craft a really good Ted Talk. The Ted Ed

website actually gives access to a curriculum in which students can learn

the art of presenting their ideas in the form of a Ted Talk, which I think

would be a cool feature to use while covering the topic of persuasive

writing. I would have my students create a historical argument and then

present on it as if they were giving a Ted Talk.