Best Practices | TeachingHistory.org

Welcome to Best Practices

Photo, We <3 Students Who <3 Reading, Mar. 9, 2010, Enokson, Flickr

Use the Stanford History Education Group's curriculum to teach historical investigation.

Reading Like a Historian

In Using Primary Sources

An 8th-grade teacher asks: Was early 20th-century America a "melting pot" or a "salad bowl"?

What Does It Mean to Be an American?

In Teaching in Action

Screencap, Native American mask detail, 18 Jul 2012, American's History in the M

In this series of exercises, students are presented with Native American masks and must contextualize them.

Interactive Exercises—Analyzing Artifacts

In Using Primary Sources

Spotlight on Elementary Education

Oral histories and interviews are a unique form of historical documentation. This guide by Linda Shopes offers an overview of the various ways oral history can be integrated into classroom discussions. Though some of the techniques will have to be adapted for elementary students, the ideas Shopes presents are extremely useful. FIND OUT MORE »

Example of Historical Thinking

Scholars, students, and teachers model historical thinking

World War II Memorial

What meanings does the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, have? [...] »

The Salem Witch Trials

Absolving the guilty and punishing the innocent. Historian Elizabeth Reis [...] »

The Election of 1932: Photographs of FDR

What can a photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 reveal? Donald A. [...] »

An Introduction to Historical Thinking and Reading

Watch this flash movie for a peek at how historians read and question [...] »

FDR's Second Inaugural Address

What is the key line in Franklin D. Roosevelt's second inaugural address? [...] »

Teaching in Action

Teachers demonstrate promising teaching practices

Reading and Thinking Aloud to Understand

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

How to Introduce Students to Primary Sources

Introducing your students to primary sources for the first time? Watch [...] »

Using Primary Sources

Strategies for analyzing primary sources

Evoking the Past

When visiting historical sites, sometimes you need a visual/emotional "hook [...] »

Reading Like a Historian

Use the Stanford History Education Group's curriculum to teach historical [...] »

Teaching with Textbooks

Techniques for promoting historical inquiry

Building a Conversation between Textbooks, Students, and Teachers

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

Children’s Voices from the Civil War

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

Opening Up the Textbook

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

Learning Menus: Textbooks a la Carte

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

Using Historiography to Analyze the Mexican-American War

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