Best Practices | TeachingHistory.org

Welcome to Best Practices

Elementary teacher Karen Eanes hooks her students with engaging historical fiction, art, and primary source excerpts on George Washington's crossing of the Delaware.

Integrating Language Arts and History

In Teaching in Action

What does architecture say about the past and the present? TAH teachers learn strategies for close examination of buildings in Washington, DC.

Reading Place with the National Building Museum

In Examples of Historical Thinking

Two letters from 1800 Tripoli lead into a story of piracy, privateering, slavery, international politics, and war at sea and on land.

The Barbary Pirates: Letter from Tripoli

In Examples of Historical Thinking

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

National Portrait Gallery: Teaching with 19th-Century Portraits

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

The Election of 1932: Photographs of FDR

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

The Barbary Pirates: Letter from Tripoli

Two letters from 1800 Tripoli lead into a story of piracy, privateering, [...] »

Japanese American Internment: Executive Order 9066

How did the World War II internment of Japanese Americans happen? Historian [...] »

Ford's Theatre: Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

Ford's Theatre Society's Sarah Jencks leads teachers through Abraham Lincoln [...] »

Teaching in Action

Teachers demonstrate promising teaching practices

Third Graders Analyzing Historical Sources

A 3rd-grade teacher leads her students through analysis of child labor [...] »

Foundations of American History: John Brown Song

How did people in the North feel about John Brown after his raid on Harpers [...] »

Using Primary Sources

Strategies for analyzing primary sources

Making Sense of Letters and Diaries

Source and approach letters and diaries with historical thinking.

Reading Like a Historian

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

Teaching with Textbooks

Techniques for promoting historical inquiry

Learning Menus: Textbooks a la Carte

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

Children’s Voices from the Civil War

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

Questioning Textbook Authority

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

The Grammar of History Textbooks, Part I: Language Analysis

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

Opening Up the Textbook

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