Welcome to Teaching Materials

This guide explores the relationship between secrecy and the First Amendment by exploring two interrelated legal problems: the rights of leakers and the press to publish secret information; and the bureaucratic process by which information is classified as secret in the first place. These issues are at the heart of recent conflicts about whistleblowers and classified information – individuals like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden have faced jail time for sharing secrets with the public.

Free Speech Teaching Guide 3: The Problem of National Security Secrets
In Teaching Guides
Photography, London Archive Research, 16 Sept 2008, Flickr CC

Have a specific topic you desperately need to locate primary sources for? We're here to help.

Locating Resources on Teachinghistory.org
In Ask a Master Teacher
Digital image, black and white, Spy Shadow, 2010

Paring down a larger idea to answer one specific question.

Researching for a Research Topic
In Ask a Master Teacher

Spotlight on Elementary Education

History is made by those who are unafraid to push the envelope and redefine the society in which they live. Encourage your students to examine the men and women who worked to make America what it is today with this creative activity. FIND OUT MORE »

Lesson Plan Reviews

Evaluate key elements of effective teaching Watch the INTRODUCTORY VIDEO
Watergate and the Constitution

To indict or not to indict? Watergate raised complicated questions [...] »

What Really Happened? Comparing Stories of the First Thanksgiving

Take a variety of perspectives into account before moving past the first [...] »

View All »

English Language Learners

Instructional strategies and resources for ELL
Using Primary Sources with English Language Learners

Primary source analysis activities can help include English Language [...] »

Reframing English Language Development
The storming of Chapu[ltepec] Sept. 13th [1847]

Discover how to teach English learners history and historical thinking.

[...] »
View All »

Teaching Guides

Explore new teaching methods and approaches
The Research Paper: Developing Historical Questions

Research papers are not an archaic form of assessment. Learn how to help [...] »

Internationalizing History

Discover the resources you need to "globalize" your U.S. history lesson [...] »

Teaching with Timelines
Image, Squared Circles-Clocks, 25 Oct 2006, Leo Reynolds, Flickr CC

Construct an ongoing, shared classroom timeline in middle and elementary [...] »

Using Old Maps as Tools to Explore Our World

Maps show far more than how to go from point A to point B! Discover how to [...] »

Free Speech Teaching Guide 1: The Birth of the Modern First Amendment and How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind

This guide focuses on the history of free speech in one crucial year ( [...] »

View All »

Ask a Master Teacher

Setting the Tone: Introducing Students to World War II
Photo, Flowers for soldier in a tank, 1945, Nationaal Archief, Flickr Commons

Whichever lesson you pick, make sure it meets your learning goals.


[...] »
Browse Questions »