Primary Sources — SIRS Decades

SIRS Decades is now available on a trial basis for Nemaha Valley patrons. The strength of this resource is its digital images — including digital images of actual letters, memos and other documents created during the 20th century.

Locating information within SIRS Decade:

1. Searchable by decade
• Ex: Enter the search term ‘fashion’ and change the decade to the 1970s
2. Searchable by type of document
• Ex: Enter the search term ‘Kennedy’ and select only letters, documents and speeches
• Results include a digital image of the notes from a meeting regarding US support of dissident South Vietnamese generals in 1963
3. Click on a decade for a description of the decade and a list of major topics of that decade
• Follow links within the description to minor topics

Since this resource is available on a trial basis, it will not be available after Nov. 4th.

What is a Primary Source?

Due to the emphasis on basing historical research on primary documents, students are now faced with the issues of not only locating primary sources but also with telling the difference between a primary source and a secondary source.

The Kansas standards for social science defines a primary source in a fairly strict manner:

“Primary source – a first-hand account of an event, person or place (official document, diary, letter, historical photograph, oral testimony)”
[from page 235 of Kansas Social Science Standards dated August 2005]

The web site Primary and Secondary Sources provides the clearest explanation of the difference between primary and secondary sources. Below is an excerpt from that page.

“Where the confusion begins –
You can’t always determine if something is primary or secondary just because of source it is found in. Articles in newspapers and magazines are usually considered secondary sources. However, if a story in a newspaper about the Iraq war is an eyewitness account, that would be a primary source. If the reporter, however, includes additional materials he or she has gathered through interviews or other investigations, the article would be a secondary source. An interview in the Rolling Stone with Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes would be a primary source, but a review of the latest Black Crowes album would be a secondary source. In contrast, scholarly journals include research articles with primary materials, but they also have review articles that are not.”

Motivation Resources for NCLB

Below are links to the various resources included in the Oct. 5th staff meeting notes.

Documenting Achievement of Highly Mobile High School Students

How Do We Motivate the Unmotivated — EducationWonk Blog

Take a Chance — Let Them Dance by Sir Ken Robinson

Increasing Student Engagement and Motivation: From Time-on-Task to Homework by Cori Brewster & Jennifer Fager

Darene Brown’s Online Research Journal - Links to three web sites discussing student motivation

Motivating the Unmotivated by Ronald W. Luce

Strategies that Work: Rewards

Strategies that Work: Motivation

College Bound by Peter Plastrik and Doug Ross — Redesigning public high schools for success

Maximum Strength Motivation Makers — from 1993 (scroll down page to locate article)