Contextualization

Bellwork 1/23 Look up the word contextualization. What does it mean to you and this class?

What is contextualization? To read like an Historian, you must be able to contextualize what you are looking at. Meaning: the act or process of putting information into context; making sense of information from the situation or location in which the information was found.

Historical Reading Skills Students should be able to… Contextualization Historical Reading Skills Questions Students should be able to… Prompts Contextualization What else was going on at the time this was written? What was it like to be alive at this time? What things were different back then? What things were the same? Use context/background information to draw more meaning from the document. Infer historical context from document(s) Recognize that documents reflect one moment of a changing past Understand that words must be understood in a larger context I already know that ____ is happening at this time ... From this document I would guess that people at this time were feeling... This document might not give me the whole picture because ...

Read the essay on page 647 – you will have 10 minutes Explain why context is a crucial consideration in the study of world history. The central task of world history is not to present endless facts or particular cases. Rather, it is to establish contexts or frameworks within which carefully selected facts and cases take on new meaning. In world history, every event, every process, every historical figure, and every culture, society, or civilization gains significance from its incorporation into some larger context or framework.

Bellwork 1/24 What is contextualization and what did you learn that you found most interesting? Get your notes and paper out to prepare for the Socratic Seminar. You will have 30 minutes to prepare. Those not leading the essential questions, will prepare analytical questions to ask after the presenters have finished to continue the discussion. I will pass out directions for the Socratic Seminar and then we will get the desks ready. After the seminar all desks must be returned to their original location for the following classes.