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

Watch Briana Zavadil White introduce teachers to portraits of inventors and [...] »

Smithsonian Barbara Clark Smith looks at what a colonial newspaper article [...] »

Professor Meredith Lair examines a 1971 political cartoon and what it says [...] »

Watch J. Douglas Smith discuss the Massive Resistance policy enacted by U.S [...] »

Use autobiographies to deconstruct views of slavery and historical heroes. [...] »
Teaching in Action

Two practices help students to make sense of primary source documents on the [...] »

An 8th-grade teacher asks: Was early 20th-century America a "melting pot" or [...] »
Using Primary Sources
![Photo, A private interview between a young immigrant and an Ellis Island official. Two staff members [?] are also present., Edwin Levick, New York Public Library Digital Gallery Photo, A private interview between a young immigrant . . . , Edwin Levick, NYPL](/sites/default/files/styles/splash_thumb_images/public/PeopleasPrimary432x240.jpg?itok=K5xxOvl_)
The Bracero Archive’s tutorial shows how to conduct successful interviews. [...] »

Transform film from a source of entertainment to a piece of historical [...] »
Teaching with Textbooks

Help students identify with the past via children who lived through the [...] »

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 [...] »

The language of history textbooks challenges English language learners and [...] »

Turn your students into 'master chefs' by using learning menus that allow [...] »