What’s New on the Teachers Site of the Library of Congress? Fall 2022 Edition

As another school year starts, here are some highlights and new resources for teachers from the Library of Congress.

This summer, a variety of natural disasters have taken place around the world. The new Natural Disasters Primary Source Set highlights a number of natural disasters from around the United States over the years. This set can serve as a starting point for discussions on the impact of natural disasters in history, climate science, or community response and involvement.

Another recent addition is a primary source set on Transportation. This set will help students learn about different means of transportation, how they have changed over time, its impact on particular communities, and the effect of transportation on the development of the United States.

In addition to primary sources, the sets include teaching ideas and links to other resources that can enhance classroom activities on these topics.

If you are a civics teacher, make sure to check out the online interactives created by some of our Teaching with Primary Sources partners. They provide creative ways to engage students and help them learn about civics and government. And the interactives are free to use!

Regular readers of this blog–and we hope that includes you!–may have noticed that, during the summer, our regular slate of blog contributors is enhanced by interns and fellows who explore the Library’s collections and contribute posts on content that might be easy to miss. This year, interns contributed posts on:

• using the works of Gordon Parks to understand a certain point in history,
• the impact of nostalgia on soldiers fighting during the Civil War,
• the work of Susie King Taylor in helping enslaved individuals learn how to read,
• using newspapers to document the Black freedom struggle and
• using primary sources to explore the ways in which the built environment can affect people with disabilities

You can also learn about the Library of Congress Literacy Awards and the story map that has been created to help you learn more about the winners and honorees.

In the next few weeks we will introduce our new Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, Teacher in Residence, and more upcoming programs and new resources from the Teachers site.

What sorts of resources and topics would you like to see on the Teachers site? Let us know in the comments.

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