In the first Teaching with the Library of Congress blog post, Stephen Wesson noted that, “This will be a place where Library staff can informally present teaching strategies, highlights from the collections, and the latest on new programs and teaching resources. At the same time, we hope it will be a forum where teachers share experiences, exchange ideas, provide feedback on what the Library has to offer, and take the conversation on teaching with primary sources into new territory.”
The blog and its readers did that and more. Readers responded with great enthusiasm, and passed along or re-posted their favorite blog entries. Some comments started conversations among the Library’s staff, and those conversations led to new blog posts and deeper conversations with you, our readers. We have been overwhelmed by the responses to our posts and humbled by your compliments.
We wanted to revisit staff favorites, posts that received the most comments, and some that were highlighted by teachers who work with the Library. Here’s the list, in no particular order. We hope you’ll let us know some of your favorites.
The Wright Brothers’ Crumpled Glider
Guest written by Johnathan Abreu, this entry encouraged students to explore what inventors do to find success and how to persevere in spite of difficult odds.
Top Ten Tips for Facilitating an Effective Primary Source Analysis
Stacie Moats’ list of tips on how to facilitate a primary source analysis was extremely popular with the teacher-mentors.
Theodore Roosevelt’s Thanksgiving Truce
This post showed how a political cartoon can be used with students of various grade levels.
Occupying the Bonus Army Protests
Though Danna Bell-Russel’s reflections on the Bonus Army received no comments through the blog, it was extremely popular on Facebook with 48 likes and 34 shares. Social media to the rescue!
Dealing with Difficult Subjects in Primary Sources
A favorite of the staff and blog readers, this post spawned a follow-up entry featuring reader comments.
Farm Security Administration Photographs: Harvest Time
Anne Savage offered suggestions on how to develop classroom activities incorporating images of harvest time around the United States.
Stephen Wesson’s question about why there was a suddenly flurry of interest in the lesson on the novel To Kill a Mockingbird had the largest number of comments of any entry on this blog.
Cheryl Lederle wrote about how one might define a primary source and the importance of considering “the time under study.”
What is the Library of Congress
Many blog readers were interested in learning more about the Library of Congress and making comments on how they use the Library’s online resources
Selecting Primary Sources: Knowing Your Students
Former Library of Congress Teacher in Residence Sara Suiter discussed how to select primary sources that are appropriate for your students.
Have we missed any of your favorites? Do you have any early nominees for 2012? Please let us know in the comments.
Comments (3)
Interesting post and thanks for sharing this..
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