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Reading

The past left receipts. But to understand history, students have to read like historians. And sometimes, that can feel like a daunting task. That’s why we’ve collected a bunch of ready-to-use teaching strategies and materials that will help you support students in building historical literacy and critical thinking skills, one ingredient at a time.
Reading

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How to Teach Reading: Tools for Teachers

Reading Guide External link

Explore strategies for instructing and supporting literacy skills in the social studies classroom.

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WH Three-Step Reading Worksheet External link

Have students analyze text at three different levels to develop a deeper understanding.
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Three-Step Reading for Graphic Biographies External link

Help students read more than the words on the page with this tool.
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WH AP Three-Step Reading Worksheet External link

Help students analyze text and connect the information they read to the AP® themes.
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BH Three-Step Reading Tool External link

Help younger students analyze text at three different levels to improve their literacy skills.

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Teacher Chat: Reading

Five young students work with laptops while a teacher watches on.

Blog: Small Tweaks, Big Impact: How to Differentiate a World History Lesson Plan External link

Practical ways to differentiate a high school World History lesson on the Atlantic Revolutions—content, process, reading strategies, and product—so every student hits the goal.
Primary-Source Power

PD Video: Primary Source Power External link

Give students a strong purpose for reading each source with analysis tools and focused feedback. Find the video in our Teaching Moves collection.
discussions

Getting More Out of Reading in Social Studies External link

Explore teacher-created strategies for scaffolding the three-step reading process.

discussions

Teacher-Tested Reading Strategies External link

Students often struggle with reading text. Find new approaches to keep students engaged and help them make sense of historical articles.

Teach Tomorrow: Lessons on Reading

Lesson 1.2.4
World History 1750
The World in 1750
1750 – 1914 CE
Reading History
Learn how to skim for gist, read for details, and make connections with the three-step reading process.
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Lesson 1.4
World History Origins
Origins of History
History and Memory
Each of us has a history, and each of us has memories. What’s the difference between history and memory? Learn how to read graphic biographies and discover the answer.
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Reading Materials and Resources

Introduction to Three-Step Reading
World History 1200
Activity

Introduction to Three-Step Reading External link

Three-Step Reading is a strategy that helps you critically analyze what you read, and yes, it has three steps. And this strategy isn’t just for this course—you can use it with anything you read!
Unit 1 Introduction: History Stories
A detailed illustration of a crowd of villagers carrying coffins to the cemetery. Holes are being dug and coffins lowered into them.
World History 1200
Article

Unit 1 Introduction: History Stories External link

Learning history is key to understanding the present. Multiple perspectives, testing claims, and framing all play a crucial role in shaping our analysis of the past.
How to Read Comics
World History 1750
Activity

How to Read Comics External link

Graphic biographies might look simple at first, but there are layers of meaning embedded in them. Explore how to read a comic with historian Trevor Getz.
Getting to Know Comics
World History 1750
Activity

Getting to Know Comics External link

Keep track of important details as you learn how to read comics.
Three-Step Reading for Graphic Biographies
World History 1750
Activity

Three-Step Reading for Graphic Biographies External link

This tool will help you read more than just the words on the page. Fill out this worksheet as you read the first graphic biography in the course.
George Washington Carver
Cartoon image of George Washington Carver
Big History
Graphic Biographies

George Washington Carver External link

In the post-Civil War American South, scientist George Washington Carver worked to restore both the land and those who farmed it.

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Resources to Connect Climate Change and Reading

You can’t always take what you read at face value. Help students build the skills to evaluate evidence critically and decide for themselves what to believe.

Lesson Plan: Reading and Climate Change External link

Using claim-testing strategies, students examine evidence about Earth’s climate record, practice citing strong textual evidence, and develop their own evidence-based claims about the causes of climate change.

Low angle view of two scientists wearing warm clothes and using tools to core ice in Utqiavik, Alaska.

Article: How Do We Know Climate Change Is Real? External link

Dig into four charts about global temperatures, emissions, and the correlation between them.

Activity: Claim Testing: Earth’s Climate Record External link

Practice your claim-testing skills by evaluating what you’ve read in the data exploration and making a claim of your own.

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