Welcome to Teaching Materials

Resources for Units on Early American Government
In Ask a Master Teacher
Tennessee's Social Studies Curriculum
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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
Tenement Life

Students examine primary sources related to the life of an immigrant girl [...] »

American Presidents

Analyze letters written by America's presidents to learn more about these [...] »

English Language Learners

Instructional strategies and resources for ELL
Uncovering Human Agency
Photography, My Desk, 15 March 2006, Flickr CC

Use this strategy to help students discover historic actors—the people, [...] »

Summarizing and Paraphrasing
Photo, Year 3~Day 106 +77/365 AND Day 837: U.S. History, Old Shoe Woman, Flickr

Paraphrasing and summarizing exercises help ELL students improve at [...] »

Teaching Guides

Explore new teaching methods and approaches
Crop It

Use this four-step learning routine to deeply explore visual primary sources [...] »

Tramping Through History: Crafting Individual Field Trips

Go forth, and contextualize! Give students the opportunity for solo [...] »

Applying KWL Guides to Sources with Elementary Students

To engage with a source, ask, "What do I know, what do I want [...] »

Structured Academic Controversy (SAC)

Are classroom discussions about winning the argument or about understanding [...] »

Mormons and Westward Expansion: A Guide for Pre-Service Teachers

Teachers guide students to create interactive digital maps detailing the [...] »

Ask a Master Teacher

Researching the Role of the Map in History Teaching
Poster, Map Your Course. . . , 1941-1945, Office of Emergency Mgm't., NARA

Need to understand the theory behind maps as a history education tool? Look [...] »