Welcome to Best Practices
Spotlight on Elementary Education
Example of Historical Thinking
One institution, two very different perspectives. An expert contrasts [...] »
Watch Briana Zavadil White introduce teachers to portraits of inventors and [...] »
What can an inventory tell you about daily life in Delaware in 1804? Curator [...] »
Watch Smithsonian curator Barbara Clark Smith discuss John Smith’s Map of [...] »
Two letters from 1800 Tripoli lead into a story of piracy, privateering, [...] »
Teaching in Action
Teacher Bill Kendrat demonstrates the techniques he uses to draw students in [...] »
High school students use primary sources to question their textbook's [...] »
Using Primary Sources
Transform film from a source of entertainment to a piece of historical [...] »
Virginia Tech’s short video shows how to analyze primary sources and put [...] »
Teaching with Textbooks
Turn your textbook into a conversation by scanning its language for biases [...] »
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, [...] »
Class discussion and personal inquiry builds an interactive relationship [...] »