Exploring Diverse Perspectives in Social Studies With ‘Do Nows’

All too often, teachers feel pressed to meet district- or school-designated benchmarks and effectively prepare students for standardized exams. These benchmarks and exams don’t always include the experiences and perspectives of people from a range of cultural backgrounds, but social studies teachers can support student exposure to perspectives from outside the dominant narrative, or what is typically taught, through a series of “do nows.” 

A “do now” is a brief, seven- to 10-minute activity that serves two purposes: (1) captivate students’ attention and get them focused as they walk in from another class or break time, and (2) review a concept already learned or capture their interest in upcoming material. Harvard University describes a “do now” as an activity that is “effective across educational settings, although mostly in primary and secondary classrooms… an excellent technique for classroom management” and facilitates “student motivation and engagement.” In the Edutopia article “Engaged Teaching: ‘Do Now’ Activities for Your Lessons,” Maurice Elias describes a multitude of purposes a “do now” can serve. 

Before beginning the use of “do nows” as a space for exploration of diverse perspectives, it’s ideal for students to have a good idea of the term identity, and the many forms in existence, in society. An initial “do now” could utilize Facing History and Ourselves’ Social Identity Wheel activity. 

What Kinds of Materials Can You Use?

As a classroom teacher who knows your students, you can find the best material for their “do now.” Since the activity takes only a short amount of time, it is important for the source given to students to be modified and excerpted down to the essential concept that you wish for the students to grasp. The sources for a “do now” can and should take multiple forms, including video, audio, and visual arts.

Resources such as the Library of Congress’s Teacher’s Guides and Analysis Tool and the Getty Museum’s Analyzing Photographs curriculum provide teachers with sources and prompts that support student comprehension and analysis of an array of source types.

Excerpting and modifying sources does not have to be a complex process. As Wineburg and Martin explain in “Tampering With History: Adapting Primary Sources for Struggling Readers,” text-based sources should be excerpted to 200–300 words, with difficult language and sentence formation modified and the font enlarged. This strategy can be applied to secondary sources and any other type of text, and the concept can be used to show clips from a video. The site Primary Source Nexus provides useful steps to modify a variety of sources while also maintaining their integrity. 

Which Topics Work Best?

Selecting a topic for “do nows” can come naturally from reviewing sources that you already have in place and then determining people, topics, events, regions—basically anything—that are historically relevant but marginally mentioned.  

Here are six examples that you could use in a humanities or history class:

• A letter that young Richard Frethorne wrote to his parents could be used during a unit on colonial Virginia to illuminate for students the harsh conditions of indentured servitude that Europeans endured in the mid-17th century, before the enslavement of Africans became the norm. 
• While learning about colonial New England, students can consider the Puritans’ participation in the transatlantic slave trade through shipping Native Americans to be enslaved (including those who surrendered) in the Caribbean during and after the war. 
• A resource on sending commodities such as salted cod to the Caribbean for the enslaved to eat could also be used. 
• Students can read excerpts from Anne Hutchinson’s court case to learn about the ways that she dissented and fought against the Puritan hierarchy. 
• During a unit on the American Revolution, students can reflect on the significant population of Loyalists and fence-sitters, or moderates, who did not wish to separate from England or choose a side, respectively. 
• When studying enslavement in the United States, students can learn about the kidnapping of free Black people who were then sold back into enslavement and how this practice was possible. 

Each source referenced above can be excerpted and modified to fit into the “do now” model.   

How Many Questions Should be Used?

One to two questions accompanying the source for the “do now” would be best—whether they are focused on reading comprehension or are primarily analytical. These questions support the student’s focus and encourage them to connect the material with the class content.

An analytical question could ask students to consider, How does this information complement or complicate your understanding of this part of history? At the end of a unit of study, the “do now” space could be used for students to reflect on a digital or paper sticky note that could be posted in the classroom. For another option, students could draft a text box that could be added into a textbook chapter on the unit’s content, to increase its inclusiveness. 

Once students get the hang of this type of activity, they can spend the time during selected “do now” sessions generating perspectives and identities that they identify as missing, or they can search and find sources that they feel could provide a needed experience or viewpoint. 

All of these examples can contribute to students’ awareness of the diversity of perspective, cultural, and life experiences present in society, as well as their ability to spot when one might be in need of representation.