Have you ever seen a statue take a selfie? That’s what a first grader in Lisa Seymour’s class saw in a photo from the Library’s online collections.
How did we find out about this? Through one of the many great conversations we’ve had on the Library’s Twitter account for educators, @TeachingLC.
@TeachingLC is a powerful tool for the Library’s education team in many ways. Most obviously, it lets us share unique primary sources and teacher resources from the Library on a timely basis. But it also serves as a venue for teachers to give us feedback, exchange ideas, and share the discoveries that they make with their students.
Tweets from teachers give us–and our followers–intriguing glimpses into their classrooms, showing us the observations and inferences their students make while working with the Library’s collections.
Marisa B, a Louisiana school librarian and Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institute alum, showed us how students used a document from our Immigration primary source set to explore multiple viewpoints.
Meanwhile, SMS/Teacher Librarian Sheri Levasseur documented the ways in which students used the primary source analysis process to examine photos related to 20th century genocide. The notes on the board allow us to see students’ observations and reflections on a primary source, as well as the questions their analysis provoked.
Tweets from teachers are not only gratifying to us; they also help us build the Library’s K-12 education program, as we learn what teachers find valuable and students find engaging. Even the regular “Thanks” and “Love this!” retweets give us information about how we can better support teachers.
So please join the conversation! Follow Teaching with the Library of Congress at @TeachingLC, and we’ll look forward to hearing from you.