New & Noteworthy

Weekly History Quizzes

From the Constitution to pirates, from John Brown to Chinese food, the teachinghistory.org weekly history quiz is a chance to test your knowledge and skills as well as a chance to learn something new. And you might win a prize! Try this week's quiz or explore past quizzes for you and your students here.

Elementary

Integrating History and Maps

Have your students ever seen a plateau? A butte? A bay? Have you? What do those names and markings on a map really mean? Terri Ruyter and Michele Yokell talk about their Teaching American History project where teachers learned to build models in class to help their students visualize the intersection of history and geography. Watch the video here.

Middle

Rise of the Automobile

Henry Ford and the assembly line—if your textbook's treatment of automobiles begins and ends there, consider enriching it with primary sources. Historian David Blanke takes you beyond the textbook, expanding the standard story of early 20th-century automobiles and offering suggested sources. Read more here.

High

Teaching with Monuments

Your school's nowhere near Gettysburg or Washington, D.C., but you want your students to experience history outside the classroom. Where to start? High school teacher James Percoco suggests scouting your area for statues and memorials—every one tells a story not just about history, but about how its creators wanted history to be perceived. Watch more here.

Historical Thinking

Teaching American History

Jefferson's Confidential Letter to Congress

Primary sources can shed new light on straightforward textbook narratives. Here, historian Leah Glaser looks at a letter from Thomas Jefferson, as President, asking for funding for the Louis and Clark Corps of Discovery. How did Jefferson justify the expense? What did he believe the expedition could accomplish for the U.S.? See more here.

Time Travelers: Teaching American History in the Northwest

Teachers participating in TAH grants learn, explore, and experience history and history teaching in new ways, but why keep all that within each district? Projects can share their resources with a national audience. This grant for Northwestern middle and high school teachers archives audio and video lectures and primary sources by unit, making them easily accessible to others. Read more here.