Good Afternoon!!!1. NVC

2. History: What the heck IS it?

3. Intro to Historical Inquiry– Melee at Los Altos High School

4. Pre-Assessment (if time)

Essential Question: Who started the infamous Los Altos cafeteria fight of 2009?Homework: CIS signed by Friday

Office Hours

• Every Morning– 7:30-8:00am

• Most Afternoons– 3:30-4:30pm

• Every Evening– ONLINE! – Friend “MVLA Heiken” on

Facebook– 7:30pm-8:30pm

• Also email kevin.heiken@mvla.net

What is History?

• An Account of the Past– Story– Storey– Istor

Story

• What is Story?– a narrative, either true

or fiction, in writing or spoken, that is designed to interest, entertain, or instruct the listener or reader

• Examples?

Storey

• What is Storey?– A floor or level of a

building– Uh what?

• So a man jumps from a building…

Storey

• Your PERSPECTIVE – The manner in which

your personal experiences affect how you view the world

• Examples?

Istor

• What is istor?– Ancient Greek– Meaning “Inquiry”– “Istoria” = History

• Inquiry– To explore or investigate

by asking questions and searching for evidence.

– Historians are DETECTIVES!

Key Terms for the Day

• Source/Sourcing– Primary Source– Secondary Source

• Corroborate/ Corroborating

Source• Source: where you get your

information from!• Primary Source

– A document created during the time being studied

– eye witnesses, diaries, interviews, official records

• Secondary Source– A document created later

by someone that did not experience the event

– Books, articles, your textbook, your teacher

Questions to ask when sourcing…

• Who wrote this?• What is the author’s

point of view?• When was it written (a

long time or short time after the event)?

• Why was it written?• Is this source

believable?

Corroboration• Corroborate: cross-checking

an event to confirm it happened

• Questions to ask…– What do the other pieces

of evidence say?– Am I finding the same

information everywhere?– Am I finding different

versions of the story? Why might that be?

– Where else could I look to find out more about this?

November 5, 2009…

Who started the infamous Los Altos Cafeteria fight of 2009?

Discussion Questions

1. What facts do all the stories have in common?

2. What facts differ between the stories?3. Whose version is most believable? Why?4. What other sources would you like to hear

from to determine what really happened?5. Who do you think started the fight? What

EVIDENCE do you have to support this?

Takeaways from the Day

• History is an account of the past• Accounts differ depending on one’s

perspective• We must rely on the evidence we have to

construct our accounts• We must consult multiple pieces of evidence

in order to build our account• We must question the reliability of each piece

of evidence

Pre-Assessment!!!1!