To begin the second half of the school year, Teaching with the Library of Congress highlights recent Library of Congress initiatives and selected blog posts that might spur some classroom activities or lesson plan ideas.
Every family has its own story, which each member has their own power to shape. Exploring the stories of the families that are depicted in historical artifacts can not only help students discover the rich variety of families that have formed and re-formed throughout history.
Those of you who are regular visitors to our twitter feed may remember seeing occasional tweets about the blog From the Catbird’s Seat from the Poetry and Literature Center at the Library. There are many wonderful posts From the Catbird Seat, but of special interest to many teachers will be the “Teacher’s Corner.”
In the Sources and Strategies article, we explained that receipts for personal expenses such as these - for initiation fees, annual and lifetime membership dues, taxes, and donations - can provide starting points for conversations with students about a wide variety of economic topics from personal spending to investing to stewardship, and more.
The Library also decided to try something new. Members of the Learning and Innovation team contacted two local high schools with active media production programs for students and asked whether they might be interested in learning about the Omar Ibn Said and helping us tell its story through film.
Recipes, like music scores, are especially interesting to me because they can still be used in the way the author originally intended. Though one cannot read historic newspapers to stay apprised of current events, or read historic letters to stay in touch with friends, "American orphan"; Amelia Simmons can speak through the centuries to help the reader get dinner to the table.