Best Practices | TeachingHistory.org

Welcome to Best Practices

With the advent of industry and western expansion, U.S. businesses mass produced dreams of affluence and progress.

Daily Objects, 19th-century America

In Examples of Historical Thinking

Teacher Bill Kendrat demonstrates the techniques he uses to draw students in to culturally-familiar stories.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

In Teaching in Action

In the struggle for women's suffrage, how did African American women represent themselves? TJ Boisseau reads an article by activist Nannie Helen Burroughs.

Women's Suffrage: Burroughs's Article

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

Primary Sources as Windows into the Past

Excite students by introducing them to primary sources that answer questions [...] »

Pockets from the Past: Daily Life at Monticello

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

Two Blues Songs

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

Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: Paradox of Liberty

Educators tour the NMAAHC exhibit "Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: [...] »

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

Integrating Language Arts and History

Elementary teacher Karen Eanes hooks her students with engaging historical [...] »

Historical Context and Roleplaying

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

Using Primary Sources

Strategies for analyzing primary sources

Critically Analyzing Information Sources

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

Making Sense of American Popular Songs

Don't overlook song as a way of understanding the past.

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 [...] »

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 [...] »

Using Historiography to Analyze the Mexican-American War

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

Questioning Textbook Authority

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