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
Opening Up the Textbook: Rosa Parks

The textbook is examined as one source among many, rather than a final [...] »

Jamestown: The Starving Time

Only 60 settlers out of 600 survived the winter of 1609–1610 in Jamestown [...] »

English Language Learners

Instructional strategies and resources for ELL
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 [...] »

Responding to English Learners’ Writing with the 3 P’s
Middle school student, VA

Use the three P’s (Preparation, Purpose, and Proficiency) to provide [...] »

Teaching Guides

Explore new teaching methods and approaches
Mystery Strategy for Elementary Students

Using the premise of a mystery, elementary students act as history [...] »

Interpreting Political Cartoons in the History Classroom

Political cartoons are often conceptually complex, but offer valuable [...] »

1916 Children's Code of Morality: A Guide for Pre-Service Teachers

Primary sources from the Library of Congress help students explore a [...] »

Concept Formation

In order to understand topics, you must first understand concepts. Learn all [...] »

Structured Academic Controversy (SAC)

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

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Brain-based Research
Photography, My Brain and My Mind, 4 Dec 2006, D. Bjorn, Flickr CC

What's in a brain? Quite a lot actually! Discover how brain research relates [...] »