Best Practices | TeachingHistory.org

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Ford's Theatre Society's Sarah Jencks leads teachers through Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and follow-up activities, in this example of on-site TAH professional development.

Ford's Theatre: Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

In Examples of Historical Thinking

Teaching the Reconstruction? Ford's Theatre's Sarah Jencks leads teachers through Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and follow-up activities.

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

In Examples of Historical Thinking

Today, we accept paper—and electronic—money as a fact of life. Historian Michael O'Malley analyzes an 1876 cartoon criticizing "greenbacks."

Thomas Nast Cartoon

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

Cherokee Law of Blood

A Cherokee Nation Supreme Court document reveals the fluidity of racial [...] »

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

Letters from the Philippines

Letters from U.S. soldiers during the Philippine-American War reveal [...] »

Sourcing a Primary Document

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

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

Teaching the Reconstruction? Ford's Theatre's Sarah Jencks leads teachers [...] »

Teaching in Action

Teachers demonstrate promising teaching practices

Prologue to Studying the Emancipation Proclamation

An 8th-grade class analyzes letters about the Emancipation Proclamation.

Historical Context and Roleplaying

A 5th-grade teacher teaches historical context through roleplaying [...] »

Using Primary Sources

Strategies for analyzing primary sources

Reading Like a Historian

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

George Washington, A National Treasure

This website by the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery will help students [...] »

Teaching with Textbooks

Techniques for promoting historical inquiry

Using Historiography to Analyze the Mexican-American War

Allow students to see that history as we know it is interpretation, [...] »

The Grammar of History Textbooks, Part I: Language Analysis

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

Building a Conversation between Textbooks, Students, and Teachers

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

Questioning Textbook Authority

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

The Grammar of History Textbooks Part II: Questioning the Text

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