Best Practices | TeachingHistory.org

Welcome to Best Practices

How can you get teachers thinking about monuments and memorials as secondary and primary sources? Historians Christopher Hamner and Michael O'Malley started out by introducing teachers to the George Mason Memorial, Washington, DC.

Visiting the George Mason Memorial

In Examples of Historical Thinking

Watch Suzannah Niepold guide TAH teachers through analyzing the differences between two versions of Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way.

Smithsonian American Art Museum: "Westward the Course of Empire"

In Examples of Historical Thinking

Historian Christopher Hamner visits the original Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial with educators. They consider the different purposes the old and new memorials serve.

A Close Look at the FDR Memorial

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

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum: Personalizing History

Make large-scale historic events like the Holocaust personal with artifacts [...] »

Sourcing a Primary Document

See sourcing in action, as a historian reads a document about the Scopes [...] »

Frederick Douglass's Autobiographies

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

Japanese American Internment: Ansel Adams Photos

If the U.S. interned you and your family, how would you respond?

Whitman Ridgway outlines some of the context in which the Bill of Rights was [...] »

Teaching in Action

Teachers demonstrate promising teaching practices

Geo-Literacy Project: Students Explore Their World

Teacher Eva La Mar's third graders become historians, writers, and [...] »

Third Graders Analyzing Historical Sources

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

Using Primary Sources

Strategies for analyzing primary sources

Document Analysis Worksheets

Find the National Archive's worksheets for analyzing a variety of primary [...] »

Making Sense of Documentary Photography

Textbook illustrations are often overlooked as historical evidence.

Teaching with Textbooks

Techniques for promoting historical inquiry

Children’s Voices from the Civil War

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

Learning Menus: Textbooks a la Carte

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

The Grammar of History Textbooks Part II: Questioning the Text

Turn your textbook into a conversation by scanning its language for biases [...] »

Building a Conversation between Textbooks, Students, and Teachers

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

Opening Up the Textbook

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