Middle-school teacher Christine Valenti explains how she introduces the vocabulary of the Bill of Rights to students and how necessary it is to have a good understanding of the Amendments and their language before teaching the topic.
These three collections of essays, commissioned from distinguished scholars are designed to deepen content knowledge in American history and offer fresh ideas for teaching. Essays include many links to primary source texts in the National Humanities Center’s Toolbox Library. Divining America: Religion in American History features 36 essays, divided into three subcategories: "The 17th and 18th Centuries," "The 19th Century," and "The 20th Century." Topics range from "Native American Religion in Early America" to "The Christian Right," and include Puritanism, the First and Second Great Awakenings, abolitionism, Islam in the U.S., African American Christianity, American Jewish experience, U.S. Roman Catholicism, and Mormonism. Nature Transformed: The Environment in American History features 17 essays, divided into "Native Americans and the Land," "Wilderness and the American Identity," and "The Use of the Land." These focus on the changing ways in which North Americans have related to the natural world and its resources. Topics include, “The Columbian Exchange,” “The Effects of Removal on American Indian Tribes,” “Cities and Suburbs,” and “Environmental Justice for All.” Freedom's Story: Teaching African American Literature and History addresses topics ranging from the early 1600s through to contemporary times. These 20 essays include, “How to Read a Slave Narrative,” “Segregation,” “The Trickster in African American Literature,” “Jazz in African American Literature,” and “The Civil Rights Movement: 1968-2008.” Essays provide an overview of the topic. “Guiding Discussion” offers suggestions on introducing the subject to students, and “Historians Debate” notes secondary sources with varied views on the topic. Notes and additional resources complete each essay.
In 2008, the Smithsonian launched History Explorer, in partnership with Verizon's Thinkfinity. Designed as a portal into the National Museum of American History's online resources, the site lets users search or browse the museum's resources. Use the keyword search to look up artifacts, interactives/media, lessons/activities, primary sources, reviewed websites, reference materials, and worksheets; narrow the search by selecting grade levels, historical era, resource type (artifact, lesson, worksheet, etc.), and/or cross-curricular connection.
Or browse by content type, using the tabs at the top of the page—"Lessons and Activities" contains more than 300 resources designed for teacher presentation; "Interactives and Media" contains more than 100 resources including audio, video, or interactive components; and "Museum Artifacts" contains more than 300 artifacts suitable for object-based learning. All individual entries list related content and relevant National History Standards and teaching strategies.
"Themes" offers collections of resources for major U.S. history topics such as immigration and civil rights; "Books" lists synopses for nearly 300 books suitable for reading levels varying from preschool to adult; and "Teacher Resources" includes information on teaching with primary sources, webinars, and joining the Thinkfinity Community. Check "Web Links" for links out to more than 100 history websites, chosen for design, usability, and content.
History comes alive when students volunteer at their local historical society museum and they learn the art and value of historical preservation. This service-learning project bridges the needs of a museum that was understaffed with the opportunity for students to practice being historians.
Every community across America has a story to tell through its architecture, its people, its use of space, its resources, and its role in the larger American narrative. Our town has a rich history that dates back to the colonial period and like many small towns, we have a historical society with a museum that houses a rich collection of historical documents and artifacts that tell the story of our past. However, because of limited funds, a lack of proper materials for preserving items of historical value, and few volunteers, we were in danger of losing much of this collection. As a history teacher I’m always searching for ways to make the study of history relevant to my students. Providing them with an opportunity to volunteer at the museum seemed like a perfect way to marry the interests of our local community with my objectives as a history teacher. I hoped that through this experience my students would develop greater appreciation for preserving history and an understanding of the methods used in historical preservation. This partnership could also help bring the museum into the 21st century by creating a database of the museum’s collection that could be shared with the public and school groups. In addition it would give students a glimpse into the work of historians, preservationists, archivists, and archaeologists.
I contacted the director of the historical society museum to discuss the possibility of using students in the museum to help with their work. The staff was cautiously optimistic, though concerned about adolescents working with valuable documents. When they agreed, I asked four of my capable, dedicated students who had expressed an interest in this work to help me launch the program. Each year I have added students to the group and currently 14 students work one to two hours weekly under the supervision of a volunteer museum staff member. It has been rewarding to observe my students doing work of great value, and it provides the museum with the work it needs to give the community a glimpse into their past.
1. Contact your local historical society or museum and ask what opportunities are available for your students. I made an initial phone call to introduce myself and to ask about possible projects. I then visited the museum to meet the director and to work out details of the project. 2. Determine the interest level of your students. Students are always looking for ways to improve their chances at college acceptance. This opportunity was intriguing because of its uniqueness and because it would provide them with community service hours that many need for scouting, National Honor Society, or just because they want to be more involved. I also introduce them to the value of historic preservation and help them to recognize the community need to preserve the artifacts and documents housed in our museum. 3. Get approval from school administrators. 4. Provide students with permission slips to be completed by their parents. 5. Conduct an orientation meeting for students and museum workers. This is held at the historical society museum and the museum staff introduces the students to the workplace and discusses the type of projects they will work on. A survey form is provided to the students to gauge their interest and availability. 6. Create a schedule for volunteers indicating dates and hours they are expected to work. I post this in my classroom so that I know who is working on a daily basis. I also maintain an email chain that is shared with the museum staff. 7. Students must have transportation to and from the museum. Students in my district are bused so they are able to use the school buses to get to the museum after school. Parents must provide transportation home. 8. Visit the museum periodically when students are working to encourage them and see their progress. I volunteer one day a week myself and work along with the students, although this is certainly not necessary for the program to be successful. 9. At the end of the season, the museum hosted a special presentation for students, parents, and school administrators to showcase the work of the volunteers. It included a PowerPoint presentation featuring each student and the work that he/she accomplished. This was a wonderful celebration to demonstrate the students’ accomplishments and efforts. 10. Contact your local newspapers to advertise what students have done for the community. This will go a long way in getting support for your efforts and in encouraging more students to participate.
National Trust for Historic Preservation This site provides teachers with a rationale for teaching historic preservation and a series of articles and model lesson plans that can be incorporated into K-12 classrooms. The focus is on teaching students the value of preservation and to provide them with opportunities to be actively involved in the history of their community through preservation projects. Examples of articles range from how to conduct oral histories to how to “adopt” a historic site. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation A step-by-step approach to describe what a historic preservation service learning project looks like. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, in concert with the Preserve America Foundation, is committed to encouraging students to take on service learning projects that will enhance their understanding of American history and allow them to gain a greater appreciation for preservation efforts. The site also includes articles highlighting the commitment of our President and First Lady in recognizing the contributions of citizens who effectively engage in historic preservation projects. National Council for Preservation Education Guide to undergraduate programs in preservation. Teachers and guidance counselors might find this helpful in advising students who have a particular interest in historic preservation programs. Teaching with Historic Places Provides teachers with lesson plans that focus on students acting as historians as they learn about sites that are listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. The lesson plans are categorized by state, theme, time period, and skills. The intent is that students will learn history in a more active way and come to appreciate our nation’s cultural resources.
A special thank you to the members of the local historical society who have patiently guided my students in the art of preservation and provided us with a firsthand opportunity to learn history.
Tennessee teachers, looking for a state-specific overview of U.S. history? Three years in the making, this project of the Tennessee State Museum outlines Tennessee state history from pre-history to the present day. Each of nine chronological sections—"First Tennesseans," "Indians & Cultural Encounters," "Frontier," "Age of Jackson," "Civil War & Reconstruction," "Confronting the Modern Era," "Depression & WWII," "Civil Rights/Cold War," and "Information Revolution"—begins with an introductory essay on the time period. Two to three subsections per time period offer essays on daily life and work, military and political history, civil rights issues, and other topics; users can click down from each subsection to further
essays on even more specific topics.
Links within the essays lead to extracts from primary sources (such as the journal of early explorer Casper Mansker or a recipe for soap), answers to "Dig Deeper" historical questions, interactive activities (including a Chart of Traditional Cherokee Kinships), and related articles and sources on other websites. A slideshow of enlargeable images of primary sources (artifacts and documents) accompanies most essays, and several essays include embedded audio clips.
Each time period includes a "Teacher's Page" (linked from the bottom of the section's top essay), with lessons and extension activities. Thirty-seven lessons and three extension activities are currently live on the site; broken links may be repaired in future.
"Site Search," in the left-hand sidebar by each essay, allows full searching of the site's content.
Critically analyze letters written by America's presidents to learn more about these men.
With a nice set of analytic questions to use with each president’s letter, this lesson is sleek, yet its content coverage is broad. Questions ask students to think about a letter’s audience, purpose and tone and are phrased in student-friendly language. Using several letters across instructional units or in several class periods will provide students with multiple opportunities to develop their ability to critically examine letters as historical documents. The letters for each president vary in both content and difficulty level, some may be more appropriate for your class than others. Students may also need help with considering the President’s words in his own time and contextualizing the letter.
The lesson provides several writing assignments for a closing activity. Assignments 1 and 2 ask students to write about the letter’s purpose and content. These tasks only require students to summarize the information from the earlier part of the lesson so we recommend assignments 3, 4 and 5. Assignment 3 asks students to assess the historical value of the letter and assignment 5 asks students to respond to the letter from the point of view of the letter’s original recipient. Teachers may want to remind students to use quotes and information from the examined letter to support their claims in these writing assignments.
Yes Limited background information about each president's public and private life is available on the the website.
Some of the writing assignments, #4 in particular, will require teachers to provide additional information.
Yes Students read a primary source and write in response to that source.
Yes Questions require students to use evidence to support claims.
Yes Great set of questions guides students through this analysis.
Yes Several of the letters will be difficult to comprehend for some middle and high school students.
Yes Questions in the lesson are designed to help students think about the perspective, intent, and audience of the letter.
No Students write answers to questions and use those answers to complete a final writing assignment. Options 3, 4, and 5 require that students use their analysis and evidence from the letter to make a case. Assessment criteria absent.
Yes Materials are web-based but can be printed for classroom use.
No There are clear skill objectives. Teachers will need to establish objectives regarding specific content.
San Francisco during World War II, Mississippi's Indian Mounds, and Cumberland, Maryland, are just three of the more than 50 cities, towns, and rivers across the U.S. to which this website provides virtual access. In Baltimore, Maryland, a clickable map allows users to wander from the USCGC Taney (the last surviving warship present at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941) docked at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, to the house where Edgar Allen Poe lived in the mid-1830s, to the Union Square-Hollins Market Historic District to learn about Baltimore's oldest public market still in operation, and on to 40 more sites around the city. Each landmark is introduced with photographs, brief essays providing historical context, and tourist information.
Some travel itineraries are grouped by theme. For example, Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement presents information on Arkansas's Little Rock Central High School, Virginia's Robert Moton High School, and the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Many of these sites includes links to lesson plans in NPS's Teaching With Historic Places. Updated regularly, this website is useful for teachers, students, and tourists alike.
The National Archives and Records Administration holds more than 10 billion items addressing the social, economic, political, and cultural history of the U.S. This interactive website makes more than 1,200 of those items available, including official documents, personal accounts, images, maps, and ephemera. Browsing is easy from the main page which presents a rotating cast of eight archival items—from an early engraving of the Declaration of Independence, to a top secret document on dropping the atomic bomb, to an image of Navajo code talkers.
More than 550 tags and a keyword search render the items accessible to those interested in specific topics, such as "Abraham Lincoln" (20 items), NASA (19 items), and "Yellowstone National Park" (three items). Each item is accompanied by a brief annotation providing historical context and related tags, further facilitating browsing. All items can be zoomed for highly detailed viewing and rendered printer-friendly for classrooms without computer access.
The website also provides a variety of tools allowing users to collect and manipulate items. "Create" presents the opportunity to make individualized posters and movies out of any item or group of items from the website. After a free login, users can save and email these creations for future use.