Best Practices | TeachingHistory.org

Welcome to Best Practices

Analyzing a massive primary source? Divide it up! Teachers at the Smithsonian American Art Museum examine a Thomas Hart Benton mural.

Smithsonian American Art Museum: "Acehlous and Hercules"

In Examples of Historical Thinking

The National History Day’s guidelines for defining and locating primary sources.

Primary Sources: What Are They?

In Using Primary Sources

Screenshot, "Written Document," National Archives

Find the National Archive's worksheets for analyzing a variety of primary sources.

Document Analysis Worksheets

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

Women's Rights: Sarah Bagley Letters

What do these letters from a women's rights activist reveal about social [...] »

Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman

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

Reading for Context

If students lack historical context, they can miss the substance of a [...] »

Ford's Theatre: Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

Ford's Theatre Society's Sarah Jencks leads teachers through Abraham Lincoln [...] »

World War II Memorial

What meanings does the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, have? [...] »

Teaching in Action

Teachers demonstrate promising teaching practices

What Does It Mean to Be an American?

An 8th-grade teacher asks: Was early 20th-century America a "melting pot" or [...] »

Prologue to Studying the Emancipation Proclamation

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

Using Primary Sources

Strategies for analyzing primary sources

Making Sense of Documentary Photography

Textbook illustrations are often overlooked as historical evidence.

Secondary Sources: What Are They?

National History Day identifies secondary sources along with [...] »

Teaching with Textbooks

Techniques for promoting historical inquiry

The Grammar of History Textbooks Part II: Questioning the Text

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

Learning Menus: Textbooks a la Carte

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

Building a Conversation between Textbooks, Students, and Teachers

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

Children’s Voices from the Civil War

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

Opening Up the Textbook

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