Did+Pocahantas+Really+Rescue+John+Smith?

What is a Structured Academic controversy?

A discussion that moves students beyond either/or debates to a more nuanced historical synthesis.

Rationale

The SAC method provides an alternative to the "debate mindset" by shifting the goal from winning classroom discussions to understanding alternative positions and formulating historical syntheses. The SAC's structure demands students listen to each other in new ways and guides them into a world of complex and controversial ideas.


 * Targeted list of skills in this activity:**
 * Evidence-based thinking and argumentation
 * Questioning sources
 * Synthesizing multiple accounts
 * Evidence-based thinking and argumentation

__Procedure__:

1. Start out by asking, what do you know about Pocahontas and John Smith. 2. Show the clip of the rescue from the 1995 Disney movie "Pocahontas." media type="youtube" key="9iVCxwxYyrM" height="315" width="420" 3. Use the [|timeline] to briefly establish relevant background to the alleged event, then introduce the : Did Pocahontas rescue John Smith? 4. Organize students into four-person teams comprised of two pairs of students. 2. Each student pair reads all documents that represent different positions on the issue. Then then complete a handout that will help track their analysis and prepare their positions. 5. The student teams then come together as a four-person group and present their views to one other, one team of two acting as the presenters, the others as the listeners. 4. Rather than refuting the other position, the listening team of two repeats back to the presenters what they understood. Listeners do not become presenters until the original presenters are fully satisfied that they have been heard and understood. 5. After the sides switch, the teams of two abandon their original assignments and work toward reaching consensus. If consensus proves unattainable, the team clarifies where their differences lie. 6. Finally the a whole class discussion on the question and tie it back to the Disney cartoon. Ask the students: How do the historical sources challenge the Disney movie?


 * Timeline taken from and SAC created from sources taken from "Reading Like a Historian: Teaching Literacy in Middle and High School History Classrooms" by Sam Wineburg, Daisy Martin, and Chauncey Monte-Sano. © 2011 Teachers College, Columbia University. For more information, visit http://store.tcpress.com/0807752134.shtml


 * Directions for SAC taken in part from Structured Academic Controversy (SAC), Teachinghistory.org, National History Education Clearinghouse,