Welcome to Best Practices
Spotlight on Elementary Education
Example of Historical Thinking

How does the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in Washington, DC, depict Grant and [...] »

On the website Historical Thinking Matters, a student reads aloud a [...] »

Today, we accept paper—and electronic—money as a fact of life. Historian [...] »

What was it like being a small farmer in the 1700s? Follow a tour group [...] »

Jefferson, surprised by the Louisiana Purchase? Maybe not. Historian Leah [...] »
Teaching in Action

Discover the multiple strategies 5th-grade teacher Jennifer Brouhard uses in [...] »

An 8th-grade class analyzes letters about the Emancipation Proclamation.
[...] »Using Primary Sources

Use this guide developed by PBS and the Antiques Roadshow to teach [...] »

See this Flash movie for a peek at how historians read and question sources [...] »
Teaching with Textbooks

Make the most of your textbook—engage students in close reading and analysis [...] »

Class discussion and personal inquiry builds an interactive relationship [...] »

Show your students how to challenge the authority gap between the textbook [...] »

Allow students to see that history as we know it is interpretation, [...] »

Turn your textbook into a conversation by scanning its language for biases [...] »