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Course: World History Project - Origins to the Present > Unit 1
Lesson 1: History Stories | 1.0BEFORE YOU WATCH: What Makes History Usable?
Use the “Three Close Reads” approach as you watch the video below.
Use the “Three Close Reads” approach as you watch the video below (next in the lineup!). If you want to learn more about this strategy, click here.
First read: preview and skimming for gist
Before you watch, you should skim the transcript first. The skim should be very quick and give you the gist (general idea) of what the video is about. You should be looking at the title, thumbnails, pictures, and first few seconds of the video for the gist.
Second read: key ideas and understanding content
Now that you’ve skimmed the video transcript and taken a quick peek at the video, you should preview the questions you will be answering. These questions will help you get a better understanding of the concepts and arguments that are presented in the video. Keep in mind that when you watch the video, it is a good idea to write down any vocab you read or hear that is unfamiliar to you.
By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:
- Bob Bain describes a long debate that politicians and educators have “waged war” over, about what should be taught in the history classroom. What are the two sides and what do they argue?
- What was the big driving question Bain’s students in Detroit studied?
- What did students do over the course of the school year, after they shared the stories they collected?
- What did looking at multiple narratives help students do?
- According to Bob Bain, what makes history usable?
Third read: evaluating and corroborating
Finally, here are some questions that will help you focus on why this video matters and how it connects to other content you’ve studied.
At the end of the third read, you should be able to respond to these questions:
- How might looking at the stories of the history of your city help you understand the present better?
- How might looking at the stories of the history of your city help you understand the future better?
Now that you know what to look for, it’s time to watch! Remember to return to these questions once you’ve finished watching.
Want to join the conversation?
What did looking at multiple narratives help students do?
As students learned to interpret the events of the past in new ways, they explored how these accounts supported, extended, or contradicted the stories they carried with them. They also addressed the possibilities of utilizing multiple stories to make sense of the past, present, and future.
Students were able to locate themselves within a bigger past that ties to their world now by utilizing the power of narrative.
However, it also enables them to perceive their city's history in a far more nuanced and complex light—through the eyes of various people, at multiple levels, over a long period of time.(9 votes)
my answers:
1. the 2 sides were content and skill
Content - a set of essentials or core facts, dates, and events
Skill - How to "do" history, think and read like historians do. This group believes they should have critical thinking.
2. "Why do people thru-out history move in n out of Detroit?"
3.
-They point out the differences and similarities in their stories
-They investigate the patterns of migration
4. It helped them see how different and similar things were from multiple points of view. Every point of view is different in a way. They saw their city as a more complex place filled with complex people.
5. Knowing what happened in the past affects your judgement of things in the present.
6. I would know what happened long ago and understand why things in my city are the way they are. Like the students, I might view my city as a more complex place than before I had learned about my city's history.
7. Using what I know about my city's history, I'd be able to understand the future better because history can repeat itself, but we can also prevent history from repeating itself.
Might not be accurate. I don't always understand everything.(9 votes)
In my opinion, what makes history usable is the fact that we, as human beings, tend to make the same mistakes by a refusal to learn the lessons that mistakes teach. Not only our own mistakes, but those of others, too. Look at how the mistreatment of human beings has continually reoccurred in history due to a lack of responsibility in wanting to learn the lessons that history teaches.
Be smart.(7 votes)
How were catapults useful to kill large groups of men when they could only go so far?(6 votes)
I think history is important because not all history we want to repeat(4 votes)
what do you mean by that(0 votes)
- Ques 3.) What did students do over the course of the school year, after they shared the stories they collected?
Answer) Students collected these stories and also compared the differences and similarities between their ideas and within their ideas.
Students looked for, analyzed, and interpreted evidence to consider various reasons why different people—indigenous people, European settlers, African-Americans, immigrants from Asia, Mexico, or the Middle East—migrated to and from Detroit and how it compared to other communities both in the US and elsewhere.
Students used primary sources and other historians' interpretations of these events to create narratives about migration to and from Detroit.
Students examined individual, community, national, and global stories as they moved from the present to the earliest origins of human presence on Earth and back again.(2 votes)- Students collected these stories and also compared the differences and similarities between their ideas and within their ideas(1 vote)
- Bob Bain describes a long debate that politicians and educators have “waged war” over, about what should be taught in the history classroom. What are the two sides and what do they argue?
What was the big driving question Bain’s students in Detroit studied?
The big drive question was about history and why it was important
What did students do over the course of the school year, after they shared the stories they collected?
They went to different cities
What did looking at multiple narratives help students do?
According to Bob Bain, what makes history usable?
What makes history usable is the facts and details about it(2 votes) 
My answers:
1.
Side A: A set of essential or core facts, names, dates & events. Content & Facts
Side B: How to do history, read & think like historians. Skills, Critical Thinking
2. "Why do people throughout history move in & out of the Detroit area?"
3.
a. They are asked what they themselves know about history in general. From personal stories that connect to the larger world
b. The students compare & contrast the differences from the stories they have collected
c. Investigated changes in migration patterns to Southeast Michigan and considered why different types of people move in & out of the community & compared to other communities in the US.
4.
Consider how these different accounts supported, extended, or challenged the stories they brought with them. Consider the different implications with the past, present & future.
Situate himself within a larger history that connects to their world today
See the history of the city in a more complex way
Help students learn better about the history of the subject they are in
5.
Make decision about the present using stories of the past
Create multiple stories about the past
Adding narratives.
6.
It helps me by understanding why my living conditions are in a certain way based of the effort my family and the city has done.
7.
It helps to predict and decide whether the city is able to use its history to improve on its mistakes to ensure future prosperity.(2 votes)- Ques.) According to Bob Bain, what makes history usable?
Answer)
We are regularly flooded with stories from our past that may have been fabricated to persuade us to react in a certain way; and certainly, all of us must make judgments about our present that includes comprehending past happenings.
We all need to grasp crucial content and facts in both circumstances; we all need critical thinking abilities to make informed decisions; and we all need to know how to deconstruct, develop and work with different stories about the past that influence how we think and act in the present.
Stories are an essential component of what makes history usable, and they have long been overlooked by formal institutions and academia in their focus on historical facts and thinking process.(1 vote) - What was the big driving question Bain’s students in Detroit studied?(1 vote)