Treaty of Traverse des Sioux (1851) Slideshow Presentation
During the course of completing the graduate certificate of history, one experience in which I effectively interpreted and synthesized primary and secondary sources in context was an assignment from the Minnesota to 1862 course about the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux. In this assignment, students were required to create a presentation that could be used in a secondary history course about the treaty between the government and some of the Dakota bands. In order to successfully construct the presentation, I used secondary interpretations to outline actions and actors for the government and to frame the Dakota perspective. Then, I analyzed the primary text of the treaty to contrast its literal meaning versus how it was comprehended by the Dakota. Finally, I provided space for discussion of important relevant connections from the recent past. The project is situated well in context because I used knowledge gained through the course to create a narrative framework for the presentation. It would translate directly into a secondary classroom as it was developed specifically with this purpose in mind; the slideshow is ready for classroom use. While it is always challenging to fully assess all of the motivating factors for historical figures, this presentation attempts to use the into-through-beyond style of inquiry in synthesis of both secondary and primary sources. Generally, this assignment demonstrates my philosophy of primary/secondary source synthesis because both types of sources are necessary to frame the others and to offer a complete explanation of a topic.
Treaty of Traverse des Sioux Outline and Slideshow |