Best Practices | TeachingHistory.org

Welcome to Best Practices

Ninth-grade teacher Jamie Kimbrough asked her students to stand in Kennedy's shoes. How did they decide to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Recreating the Cuban Missile Crisis

In Teaching in Action

Diaries give a personal view of historical events. Historian Peter Hahn interprets the diary of Robert Ode, kept as he was held hostage in Iran.

The Iran Hostage Crisis: Diary of Robert Ode

In Examples of Historical Thinking

Whitman Ridgway outlines some of the context in which the Bill of Rights was created and arguments surrounding its creation.

Bill of Rights

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

Pockets from the Past: Daily Life at Monticello

What do the contents of pockets say about their owners? TAH teachers model [...] »

Japanese American Internment: Ansel Adams Photos

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

Two Blues Songs

Written primary sources only tell you so much. To learn about history that [...] »

Intertextual Reading of Two Primary Documents

A student demonstrates thinking aloud reading two documents.

Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman

Can you trust a biography? Historian Tiya Miles analyzes an 1869 biography [...] »

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 [...] »

Of the Student, For the Student, By the Student

Sixth graders in Prince William County film their interpretations of the [...] »

Using Primary Sources

Strategies for analyzing primary sources

Key Concepts in Historical Thinking

Improve your historical analysis skills by learning about different types of [...] »

Critically Analyzing Information Sources

This source from Cornell University's Olin and Uris Libraries includes [...] »

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 [...] »

Questioning Textbook Authority

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

Using Historiography to Analyze the Mexican-American War

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

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 [...] »