Welcome to Best Practices
Spotlight on Elementary Education
Example of Historical Thinking
Ford's Theatre Society's Sarah Jencks leads teachers through Abraham Lincoln [...] »
Jefferson, surprised by the Louisiana Purchase? Maybe not. Historian Leah [...] »
Take a look at artifacts from the past—what might they be? Teachers model [...] »
On the website Historical Thinking Matters, a student reads aloud a [...] »
What was it like being a small farmer in the 1700s? Follow a tour group [...] »
Teaching in Action
Teacher Eva La Mar's third graders become historians, writers, and [...] »
An 8th-grade class analyzes letters about the Emancipation Proclamation.
[...] »Using Primary Sources
Work with oral history interviews as historical evidence.
[...] »
This website by the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery will help students [...] »
Teaching with Textbooks
Show your students how to challenge the authority gap between the textbook [...] »
Make the most of your textbook—engage students in close reading and analysis [...] »
Allow students to see that history as we know it is interpretation, [...] »
Turn your textbook into a conversation by scanning its language for biases [...] »
Class discussion and personal inquiry builds an interactive relationship [...] »