As a primary school teacher my focus is on building basic academic skills in ways that are developmentally appropriate for my students. That means we focus most of our time on reading, writing, and math while ensuring that we have chances to play and explore our world.

As one can imagine, this leaves little time for social studies and science. I have standards and objectives to teach in these areas, but they are prioritized below the others. As a result, I look for ways to integrate them into other parts of our day.

Some ways to do so are obvious. When we are working on nonfiction reading skills I carefully choose books about Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, or life in the past. As we explore writing reports I will gently nudge my students towards something about the past that has caught their interest. I stock my classroom library with biographies, history trade books, and historical fiction at appropriate reading levels. I choose read alouds that offer a window into the past, such as Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression by Kate Lied, Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting, or books from the American Girl or Magic Tree House series.

In addition to those options, I also try to integrate our exploration of history into other areas. One way I do so is to have my students talk to family members and adults in the school about their own histories. Homework might be to ask someone in the family how their experience in school was different from that of my students or what going to the movies was like when they were young. During our morning meeting the next day we’ll talk about what their family members shared with them.

We study data and graphing in math in first grade and I use this as a chance to learn about the past. My students will fan out around the school and interview teachers, administrators, secretaries, lunch room helpers, and custodians about their lives in first grade. They might ask how many channels they had on TV then, did they wear seat belts or ride in car seats, how many telephones were in their house, etc. (I do try to send my students off to interview only those staff members old enough to make a difference here. Our just-out-of-college teachers won’t offer answers different enough to be noticeable.) Then we graph the answers they got from staff members and my students’ answers and look at the differences.

History is fascinating to young children, but it is also very nebulous. They struggle to understand something they can’t see. I try to build it into our days throughout the year to ensure that we are talking about and exploring history as much as possible. I want to correct misperceptions, expose them to surprising ideas, and generally encourage an interest in understanding how our world has changed over time.

Early elementary studies in history often focus on specific people. As students mature they are able to explore history over the course of periods of time and consider how certain events impacted other times and people. However, our youngest students do not have the necessary background knowledge and life experience to do so. As a result, early elementary history standards tend to be about individuals from the past.

My 1st graders study George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington Carver, at least according to our state standards. My school district has added Eleanor Roosevelt to that list, one assumes in order to have at least one woman. The standard relates to U.S. leaders and their contributions to our country.

I don’t think anyone would argue that the above individuals contributed to our country. However, I do think there are concerns with this approach. While heroes taught in this way can be inspirational, I believe we are setting our students up for disappointment in those heroes when they find out they were, in fact, human. In addition, making them too heroic risks many students today finding them not inspirational but intimidating, or at least unrelated to their own lives.

I believe that one of the benefits of studying how individuals have contributed to our country is to show children the possibilities for their future. My students, however, will not see themselves in any of these people. The majority of these individuals lived in prosperous situations, at least as adults. We can study Franklin and Lincoln’s early years with limited financial resources, but they are still white men, and a log cabin doesn’t resonate with a child living in an apartment with two other families. Carver also rose from difficult circumstances, but they are circumstances that are very difficult for young children to understand. My students are mostly first-or second-generation immigrants. They speak another language at home. They will struggle to see similarities between their lives and the individuals we study.

Also, studying individuals through their contributions shows one side of them only. Washington and Franklin certainly did contribute significantly to the development of our country. However, the way they are presented to young children suggests a near perfection to these men, a lack of complexity. In a few years, when they learn more about them, these students will be shocked to learn that Washington owned slaves and that Franklin fathered an illegitimate child, whose mother’s identity is unknown. We teach about Lincoln’s rise from difficult financial circumstances to become president of the United States. Students learn that he abolished slavery. They see him as a savior for an entire group of people without recognizing the complexities of his views on race.

As we study these individuals in my 1st-grade classroom we create a data retrieval chart to which we can continually refer. It includes their names, the dates of their lives, their contributions, and other interesting facts. I include the other interesting facts for two reasons. The first is that my students are often fascinated by things that aren’t really contributions and we need a place for those. Second, this is a window of opportunity for me to highlight human aspects of these individuals. Through the resources we use to study these leaders—books, videos, websites—I can draw out interesting facts that might surprise my students. I can point out that George Washington was a slave owner and we can talk a bit about that. We can count how many elections Abraham Lincoln lost on his route to the presidency. We will list on our chart their contributions and many positive or neutral interesting facts, but I will attempt to ensure that the men and women we study are seen as people, people who gave much to our country but who were still human beings.

As teachers we have a responsibility to know more about the individuals we teach than the standards state. While the complexities of people may be more than young students can grasp, we can be more careful about how we present individuals. It is easy to glorify historical figures but we should present them as human beings and look at their achievements through that lens. That will help our students see the possibilities in all they have to offer.

For those of you who couldn’t make it to Chicago on January 7 for our workshop, “Teaching the Past in a Digital World: New Perspectives for History Education,” at the American Historical Association (AHA) Annual Meeting, you not only missed the balmy 50 degree temperatures (not bad for Chicago in January!), but also quite a few great resources worth sharing. Here’s a recap:

After a welcome by Anne Hyde of Colorado College, I provided a brief overview of Teachinghistory.org. With about half the audience already familiar with the site, I was able to get everyone up to speed and highlight a few new features, including the newly unveiled Favorites tool, as well as the new Spotlight Pages. Responding to a commonly asked question about world history, I highlighted the many teaching materials and best practices that can apply to all historical topics, whether you teach the American or the French Revolution.

Fitting for Chicago, Dr. Daniel Graff from the University of Notre Dame introduced ideas and resources to help teachers integrate labor history into their teaching. He provided a packet of primary sources that participants analyzed in small groups and then discussed as a whole group. The workshop helped me see new classroom connections for bringing labor history into discussions about slavery, women’s history, and the civil rights movement.

My colleague, Rwany Sibaja, presented an interactive workshop with handouts on teaching American history with digital tools. He introduced the participants to Vimeo, Prezi, and Animoto among others. I always learn new things from my Teachinghistory.org colleagues (Rwany introduced me to Prezi last year) and you can check out some of his write-ups on various tools in our Tech for Teachers section.

Next up, Paul Kolimas of Homewood Flossmoor High School moderated a session with fellow Homewood Flossmoor High School teachers Jeff Treppa and John Schmidt. They offered a presentation on a “new school” approach to the classic research paper. It was interesting to see how their techniques related back to Teachinghistory.org’s emphasis on historical thinking skills. The audience had lots of questions, so they definitely hit on a popular topic.

Molly Myers of Lindblom Math and Science Academy then turned our attention back to digital tools, focusing her talk on how she uses technology for the 3 c’s: collaboration, communication, and community building. Her presentation helped me see a lot of new possibilities and I particularly loved hearing how Molly turned to Twitter to get input from teachers on #SSChat about how they use digital tools for her presentation.

We ended the workshop with an inspiring talk by Patricia Nelson Limerick, vice-president of the AHA’s Teaching Division and professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She titled her talk, “Facing Down Fear: Innovation, Experimentation, and Adrenaline in the Teaching of History.” The talk lived up to the title. She spoke about the importance of trying new things, even things you might fear such as using new technology. She also talked about the importance of personal connections in the classroom (and in life) and raised the question of whether digital tools enhance or distract us from these personal links. She graciously agreed to write up her talk for Teachinghistory.org, so look for her post in the coming weeks.

So from adrenaline to Vimeo, we covered a lot of ground in Chicago. Our next stop? Kansas City for the National Council for History Education conference, March 22-24. Hope to see you there!

In 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102.42, permanently designating May as Asian Pacific American Month. Just as with other heritage months, May is barely enough time to scratch the surface of the many strands of history the month memorializes. In May 2009, Teachinghistory.org suggested some places to start digging. Continue to dig this year, with more suggestions.

Modern history textbooks now recognize the internment of Japanese Americans in prison camps during World War II, and its violation of the U.S. understanding of citizenship has increasingly become a core strand in narratives about the war. Digital archives offer rich collections of primary sources related to the internments. Many of these sources feature children, making them a natural choice for drawing students into the story of history. Others focus on law, press, and the choices adults made both during and after the internment years.

• Students describe their own experiences of internment in the University of Arkansas's Land of (Un)Equal Opportunity. World War II-era high-school students' essays, poems, and other documents record the thoughts of modern students' historical peers.
• Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project's archives preserve more than 900 hours of oral history interviews on Japanese American experiences, as well as 10,830 photographs, documents, and newspapers. Browsing them by topic reveals sources on little-covered aspects of the World War II era, such as the experiences of Japanese Hawaiians.

The lives and experiences of all groups in the U.S. overlap and intertwine with each other, and no group's history exists in isolation. Japanese American history didn't begin and end with World War II, nor did it exist in a vacuum. Enter the keywords "registration certificate 1942" into the search box at the Columbia River Basin Ethnic History Archive for a primary source that captures the complicated nature of identity, perception, and categorization in U.S. history. Remember that Chinese and Japanese Americans are not the only groups represented by this artifact—consider what groups' views motivated the creation of this source.

• The Library of Congress houses many more sources on one period of Chinese American experience in its collection Chinese in California, 1850-1925.
• Promise of Gold Mountain: Tucson's Chinese Heritage, created by the University of Arizona, explores the lives of Chinese Americans in an Arizona city.
• For a look into another Chinese American community, the Maine Memory Network preserves images of life in Maine and its changes over time.

Groups within the U.S. have often banded together based on shared identities to push for change. The Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project tells the story of Filipino Americans and unionism in the Seattle canning industry.

World War II, the Korean War, and the whole span of U.S. international history and involvement (and lack of involvement) can shift when seen from different perspectives. The University of Southern California's Korean American Digital Archive includes photographs and documents related to international events—and to daily life.

Both a Pacific Island and a U.S. state, Hawaii has a unique position for Asian Pacific American Month. Many different cultures come together here, including Native Hawaiian, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, among others, and it is one of only four states where non-Hispanic whites do not form the majority. Sources on the history of many of these groups can be found in the digital archives of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

These resources touch on only a scattering of the many Asian American and Pacific American groups represented in the history of the U.S.—and only a scattering of the resources available to teachers. Comment and tell us what you use to teach Asian Pacific American history this month—and the rest of the year. What books, lesson plans, films, primary sources, and other materials have their place in your classroom and curriculum?

Human beings are not perfect. That seems fairly obvious as we see examples of it every day. I prove it to myself quite regularly.

In spite of that, we teach many famous people as if they were flawless. There are several problems with this approach. For one, not only does this give students an incomplete, inaccurate view of those who helped shape our history, it also sets our students up to avoid academic risks. In addition, it suggests that failure or struggles are negative rather than opportunities to grow and learn.

No one in history has achieved greatness without some struggles along the way. Walt Disney declared bankruptcy on the way to success with Disney Studios. Upon Thomas Jefferson’s death his estate was saddled with debt. Winston Churchill’s career is a study in trying again after failing to achieve. If we only teach students about the achievements and successes in the lives of these individuals we create a picture that is inaccurate.

Suggesting that only perfect human beings can change the world or make a difference means students will never see these possibilities for themselves. Knowing that Abraham Lincoln lost about as many elections as he won shows students that failure is a part of life and not a dead end. If they only learn of Lincoln’s childhood determination for education and his eventual presidency they see a man who is too perfect and therefore cannot serve as a role model for their lives.

In fact, failures are often necessary steps on the way to a future success. Thomas Edison saw all his failed attempts as simply pieces of his eventual achievement. Each failure taught him something new. Fearing failure and seeing it as negative make taking risks something to be avoided. Students should see failures as something to celebrate and learn from. As it stands now, unfortunately, we look at failures as shameful and things to be avoided at all costs.

We should be presenting historical figures to students in accurate, complete ways. We should be encouraging them to take risks as learners. We should be helping them grow through their struggles and failures rather than avoiding them. This will require significant changes in how teachers approach lessons and students, but history is one area in which we can easily begin.

Many resources available for teaching young children about historical figures present those individuals without any flaws. Teaching a more complete picture falls on us. My class often creates data retrieval charts about famous figures we study. Typically we include the person’s name, dates of birth and death, contributions to our country, and interesting facts. Adding a column about challenges is one way to help students explore historical figures more fully.

Having these ideas in black and white in front of us also allows us to discuss why those challenges or failures might have been important in an individual’s life. Students make connections to their own lives when they talk and explore a historical figure’s contributions and challenges. It allows them to see themselves in our country’s history and to envision their future in powerful new ways.

African American History Month ends, and Women's History Month begins! Take a glance around the internet, and you'll find plenty of resources for teaching women's history—whether it be the Seneca Falls Convention, heroes of the American Revolution and the Civil War, social activists, First Ladies, workers during the World Wars, jazz and blues stars, or presidential candidates. You'll find photographs of many of these women, too—working in factories, on the campaign trail, helping the wounded, conducting scientific experiments.

But who takes these photographs? Who makes these images that become the records of history? Aren't the people behind the camera as significant as the ones in front of it?

Of course they are, though they can easily be forgotten. When we look at photographs of Amelia Earhart, we rarely ask who took the photo. When we're struck by a picture of New York during 9/11, do we ever ask if it was snapped by a man or a woman?

Explore women's history behind the camera this Women's History Month. What have women chosen to capture on film, as they record and live through history?

• The Kansas Historical Society tells the story of Alice Gardiner Sennrich, a professional photographer early in photography's commercial history. Born in 1878, Sennrich purchased a Kansas photography studio in 1902, and ran it throughout her life, including after her marriage. Recognized by the National Association of Photographers, she was also active in the Photographers Association of Kansas (PAK), an organization that had active female members since its founding. You can hear more about Sennrich in this podcast by the Society.
• During the Great Depression, the Federal Government gave photographers, both men and women, work documenting the lives of ordinary U.S. citizens and the social conditions of the day. The Library of Congress's American Memory collection From the Great Depression to World War II: Photos from the FSA-OWI preserves more than 150,000 of these photographs. Try browsing the collections' black-and-white and color photos by creator. Look for women's names and work—and remember to check names with only a first initial and a surname! These may be women, too. Giving only a first initial was (and remains) one way to avoid being judged (at least in print) by gender.
• Photographs aren't always taken as documentation. Sometimes, they're carefully composed as art. The online archive Women Artists of the American West showcases the artwork of 19th- and 20th-century Western women. Photography exhibits include photographs by white women of Pueblo arts and crafts workers (many of them women), taken from 1900 to 1935; modern art photography by Native women; landscape photography by Laura Gilpin (1891–1979); and 1972–1997 lesbian photography (some pages contain nudity). The Women in International Photography Archive, collects essays on more than 25 women photographers.
• For an example of a modern photographer using her work as part of a political journalistic career, check out Jo Freeman.com. A writer, lawyer, and activist, Freeman's site features her photographs of Democratic and Republican conventions, marches and protests, New York after 9/11, the Chicago riot following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, and Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm's 1972 campaign for the presidency.

If photographs aren't enough, branch out into art, journalism, fiction and nonfiction writing, and other ways of recording and responding to the world, all meant for the public eye. What have women created and documented? What were their (myriad, uncountable) reasons for crafting "snapshots" and composing reactions? Women make history when they're behind its lens, as well as in front!

Looking for more resources? Take a quiz on women in history, with our weekly quiz archive! See how well you do on quizzes with subjects like women in the West. Search our Website Reviews, as well—we've reviewed and annotated more than 200 websites with women's history content.

If you'd still like more, these organizations feature content and pages created just for Women's History Month:

• The Library of Congress
• EDSITEment
• Smithsonian Museum of American History and History Explorer
• Scholastic
• The History Channel
• Biography.com
• The New York Times’ Learning Project