Welcome to Best Practices
Spotlight on Elementary Education
Example of Historical Thinking
Smithsonian Barbara Clark Smith looks at what a colonial newspaper article [...] »
Historian Allida Black analyzes FDR's April 28, 1935 Fireside Chat. What [...] »
Use autobiographies to deconstruct views of slavery and historical heroes. [...] »
How do the buildings and artifacts at Mount Vernon reflect the lives of the [...] »
Challenge students to gather evidence from multiple primary sources. Here, a [...] »
Teaching in Action
A 4th-grade teacher shows strategies for encouraging and supporting student [...] »
The fictional Alphonse the Camel provides insight for one classroom.
[...] »Using Primary Sources
Textbook illustrations are often overlooked as historical evidence.
[...] »
See this Flash movie for a peek at how historians read and question sources [...] »
Teaching with Textbooks
Turn your students into 'master chefs' by using learning menus that allow [...] »
Show your students how to challenge the authority gap between the textbook [...] »
The language of history textbooks challenges English language learners and [...] »
Make the most of your textbook—engage students in close reading and analysis [...] »
Turn your textbook into a conversation by scanning its language for biases [...] »