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Help your elementary school students get more out of historical biographies.

Well-behaved Women [and Men] Seldom Make History
In Teaching Guides
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 to the history classroom.

Brain-based Research
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This guide focuses on the history of free speech in one crucial year (1919), exploring how one influential Supreme Court justice changed his mind about the value of antiwar speech and in the process wrote opinions that have shaped our attitudes to free speech ever since. It provides students an opportunity to see the First Amendment evolve at a crucial hinge in its history, and it also provides them an opportunity to think about how far the rights to free speech should extend during wartime.

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

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
Civilian Conservation Corps

Examine the role of African Americans in the Civilian Conservation Corps [...] »

What Really Happened? Comparing Stories of the First Thanksgiving

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

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English Language Learners

Instructional strategies and resources for ELL
SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Review, Recite

Learn about SQ3R, a note-taking system for English Language Learners to help [...] »

Supporting Text Comprehension and Vocabulary Development Using WordSift
screen shot-wordshift home page

Help English learners understand basic concepts with this interactive tool [...] »

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Teaching Guides

Explore new teaching methods and approaches
Free Speech Teaching Guide 3: The Problem of National Security Secrets

This guide explores the relationship between secrecy and the First Amendment [...] »

History of Education and Indigenous Americans: A Guide for Pre-Service Teachers

Help students reflect on the purpose of learning history and of education in [...] »

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

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

Free Speech Teaching Guide 4: Mandel v. Kleindienst (1972): Censorship via Visa

This guide traces the history of ideological visa denial to explore [...] »

Rethinking "Westward Expansion": A Guide for Preservice Teachers

Help students reconsider the how the expansion of the United States from [...] »

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Teaching World History: An Idea Guide

Not sure how to go about devising World History lesson plans and activities [...] »

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