Listen to a man remembering his first day at school, one part at a time.
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Read each slide. Find out what a source is, and meet two kinds we will use: a memory and a record.
Here are eight of the 27 schools in the government's record for Clogher parish in 1824, the same part of County Tyrone where the man in the memory grew up.

Look at the rows in the table.
The memory we heard had three parts: the first day, only three scholars, and a barn in summer. Keep those in mind as you sort.
Sort each card. Is it a fact, or what someone thought or felt? Say why.
In your copy, finish these three lines.
Only the memory tells us ...
Only the record tells us ...
They differ because ...
Words you may use: readers, Parliament, money, one boy's life.
Think back to the memory and the record.
What can each source tell us about country schools, and why do the two views differ?
What can each source NOT tell us?




A boy's memory and a government record both tell us about country schools, but each from a different place. Who made a source, for whom and why, changes what it can show and what it leaves out.
When two people describe the same place today, what might make their views differ?
Every lesson in the course is ready to teach like this one. See what else comes with it, and how to order it.