Bell Ringer Describe something that has happened in your past that affects your behavior today.

Unit 1 What Does a Historian Do?

 Guiding Question: What types of things can history reveal about the past?

 History - the study of people and events of the past  Explains why things are the way they are  the wheel  carts  automobiles  Helps understand the present  Helps make choices about the future

 Historians  Definition: people who study history  Examine causes of past events Reflect: If you could, what part of history would you travel to and why?

 Guiding Question: What are historical periods?

 Periods of History  One way to measure time is to label groups of years  DECADE – 10 years  CENTURY – 100 years  MILLENIUM – 1,000 years

 ERAS (a.k.a EPOCH) – large periods of time marked by important events  Prehistory - 5,500 years ago  BEFORE WRITING WAS INVENTED  Ancient History – ends A.D. 500  Middle Ages – between A.D A.D  Modern History – A.D Today

 Calendars – a system for arranging days in order  Julian Calendar  Created by Julius Ceasar, a Roman leader  Was not precise (exact), we do not use this calendar  Gregorian Calendar  WE USE THIS CALENDAR TODAY  Created by Pope Gregory 13 th  Much more accurate

 Dating Events  Before the birth of Jesus  B.C. – before Christ  B.C.E. – before Common Era  Numbers count backwards  After the birth of Jesus  A.D. – anno domini  C.E. – common era  Numbers c ount forwards *There is no year 0*

 Timelines show:  Passage of time  Order of events  Amount of time between events  Key parts:  Title  Time period  Specific events Reflect: When would a historian use a calendar? When would a historian use a timeline?

 Guiding Question: What do students of prehistory look for?

 History and Science  Prehistory – before the invention of writing  Archaeology – looks for artifacts people left behind  Artifacts – objects made by people (tools, jewelry, weapons)  Paleontology – looks for fossils  Fossils – preserved remains of plants and animals  Anthropology – studies cultures over time  Uses both artifacts and fossils Reflect: How are archaeologists, paleontologists, and anthropologists like detectives?

 Answer this question on a separate sheet of paper: What is a historical era? Name, Date, Period

Bell Ringer Pick one of these objects: A microwave A newspaper An iphone What would this object tell a future historian about the way we live today?

 GQ – What types of evidence do historians use to understand the past?

 Evidence – shows proof that something is true  Can be items or documents

 Primary Sources – first hand pieces of evidence  Come from a historic event  Secondary Sources – created after the event  Written about an event after it happened  Can be biographies, text books, history books

 Reliable Sources – historians make sure sources are giving them information that is true  Who created it?  Why did they create it?  What was it created for?

 Point of view – each source has an attitude about its subject  Bias – a point of view without a good reason  Can’t always be trusted Reflect – Choose a subject and write a paragraph with your own point of view.

 GQ - How do we write about history?

 Historians use primary sources as clues  They infer explanations of events  Secondary sources help to show different points of view

 Historians come to a conclusion and create more secondary sources  Conclusions – final decision based on reasoning  based on all the clues you have collected

EXIT TICKET Why are primary sources better clues than secondary sources?