Welcome to my series on Teaching the Standards in the Secondary Social Studies Classroom! I hope this series will help you address the standards while being able to keep the course your own. In this post, we will focus on teaching perspective and point of view from a Social Studies standpoint.
Breaking Down the Perspective Standard
The standards are fairly common across Social Studies curriculums. In addition, they are extremely common in ELA classrooms. However, there must be a distinction in the way they are taught between the two.
Compare the perspective or point of view of two or more people on the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
In the Social Studies classroom this standard is actually asking you to attack two skills in one task: Comparing and identifying perspectives. Both are very valuable skills, and when applied in conjunction, they can help the student to better evaluate situations and to better understand the past, present, and possibly future.
Key Questions for Teaching Perspective and Point of View
While this standard is easier to comprehend (by teachers and students!), it is very expansive in its requirements. For my students, and in my lesson planning, I would break this one standard down into the following for each task:
- Identify the perspectives presented on the topic. This is the top strand that must be taught for the rest to matter.
- Who is the author?
- What role did they play in the situation?
- Male/female? Does their gender matter?
- Race/Religion/Status? Does it matter in the situation?
- Analyze the perspective for detail and emphasis.
- What is being said?
- Gather the Who, What, When, Where, How, Why.
- What do they stress as important?
- Do they have a goal? Are they trying to persuade the reader?
- Compare the perspectives for meaning.
- Do the facts match up?
- Where do the align?
- Where do they differ?
- What could account for the similarities or differences?
- Compare the perspectives for significance (in time/situation).
- Whose perspective is more important? Or would have been more important at the time?
- What impact would the perspective have had on the topic/situation?
- What influence would the perspective have had over on others?
- Analyze why each perspective is as it is.
- Is there importance in WHO has presented the perspective?
- Why do you think the topics were important to the author?
- Why are the perspectives important in history?
Types of Resources for Teaching Perspective
To teach and practice this standard, use analysis assignments, class discussions, role playing, and perspective face-offs. Allow students to form their own opinions, based on the information provided in the text, while always emphasizing the importance of considering the differing perspectives when making assumptions about history.
My Sumer Perspectives Assignment is a good example! It asks students to evaluate the perspectives of the different social classes in Sumerian society.
The Big Lessons in Teaching Perspective
And one valuable lesson we can all learn from history and its many perspectives: What is truth to one is a lie to another. No one ever sees the exact same in every situation. History is what we make history out to be. It is what is important to us, and what we choose to apply in our own lives as important lessons.
As my own daughter just stated to me loud and clear, “Mom, I don’t remember everything from your class. I only remember what was important to me!” She is living those lessons in her life today!
For a variety of interactive lessons that can help you to implement this standard, please visit Michele Luck’s Social Studies. Be sure to check out my Analysis Activities and Response Group products! They each offer great ways to help students see the many perspectives in every historical event.
Continue learning more by reading other posts on Teaching the Standards in the Social Studies Classroom!
Happy Teaching!
