Teacher Commentary
When modeling, use the historical thinking strategies that are appropriate to the text. Stop before a. of point 1 (annotate just the date, source and first paragraph). You will probably use some strategies that students have already named, and some new strategies. Take some time to point out the ones from the toolkit, and to name and add the new strategies. It may be helpful to “annotate” the annotations in a different color pen. The second layer of annotations represent metacognitive notations about what you were doing, for example, noticing the date, remembered what else was going on at that time, etc. Once you’ve named those strategies, they can be added to the “Strategies we use to make sense of text” list. In my experience, having the students notice and name the strategies they and their peers already use is more effective at building their disciplinary reading strategies than giving them a pre-determined list. It affirms their own agency as learners who can build their own tools, rather than needing the teacher to provide them.