Best Practices | TeachingHistory.org

Welcome to Best Practices

Is reading a piece of historic literature once enough? Not if you want to get the most out of literary sources.

Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener"

In Examples of Historical Thinking

Professor Meredith Lair examines a 1971 political cartoon and what it says about U.S. reaction to the My Lai Massacre and the trial of Lt. Willam Calley.

My Lai Massacre Political Cartoon

In Examples of Historical Thinking

Photography, Montana receives honorary degree from American University, 7 June 1

This source from Cornell University's Olin and Uris Libraries includes guidelines for assessing primary source material.

Critically Analyzing Information Sources

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

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum: Personalizing History

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

Women's Suffrage: Burroughs's Article

In the struggle for women's suffrage, how did African American women [...] »

The Election of 1932: Photographs of FDR

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

Civil War Letters

Historian Chandra Manning analyzes Civil War letters from black and white [...] »

Slave Life at Mount Vernon

How do the buildings and artifacts at Mount Vernon reflect the lives of the [...] »

Teaching in Action

Teachers demonstrate promising teaching practices

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Teacher Bill Kendrat demonstrates the techniques he uses to draw students in [...] »

Causes of World War I

Did two bullets begin WWI? Explore causation in your classroom.

Using Primary Sources

Strategies for analyzing primary sources

Interactive Exercises—Analyzing Artifacts

In this series of exercises, students are presented with Native American [...] »

Reading Like a Historian

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

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 [...] »

The Grammar of History Textbooks Part II: Questioning the Text

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

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 [...] »