I'm looking to clean up how I do document/artifact analysis with my kids this year. I've tried using pre-made sheets from various sources but they just don't stick. They all cover the same basic ideas (who made it, is there bias, what does it say, etc.) but they are so generic that little memorable comes from them. I'm hoping I can make some sort of acronym with 4-5 steps that are easily remembered that we can use over and over but so far I haven't gotten very far. So, how do you do such analysis with your kids?
I often modify the questions developed by the National Archives. In terms of point-of-view analysis, I have used ACORNPEG with my students the past few years with great success (not my original idea): Audience, Class; Occupation; Religion; Nationality; Political Affiliation; Education; Gender I have also used SOAPSTone. Here's a link with more detail: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/preap/teachers_corner/45200.html
I hear you on this one! I feel like they don't really take away anything ... I have also used the pre-written questions from the National Archives, and then molded them to fit whichever artifact I was having the students analyze. I have also tried to make it a little more fun for the students (actually, I was using one of your techniques, Mr.R!) by creating a sort of "detective" file where the students were trying to solve a case or a mystery using only the artifacts provided.
