In a recent Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) workshop, gathered to learn about the power of teaching with primary sources, a teacher was concerned that she needed to “change everything” to address anchor standards for reading. As we discussed ideas for using primary sources in the classroom (already a good sign, right?), we realized that some small activities, such as close attention to reading a title, can be very powerful.
One way to engage students with what they're reading, without turning an extra-curricular club into a class, is to introduce Library of Congress primary and secondary sources related to a particular book, a particular author, or to reading in general.
Primary sources from the Library of Congress are powerful tools for engaging students and fostering natural curiosity. You can help students learn to harness that curiosity in ways that will focus and direct research.
The Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institute matched my experience with the Writing Project, and refined and drew focus to everything I have learned as a teacher.
These resources offer an enormous variety of choices and unleash students' imaginations as to how they want to tell the story. We start with the available analysis tool and teacher’s guides and work from those to expand our projects.
Kids of any age enjoy playing Hide and Seek. It all starts with the very young playing "peekaboo", discovering their own view of the world and their place in it.
Vary the game with any visually rich primary source, such as Mulberry Street, for a quick but worthwhile classroom activity. A quick scan of this print reveals a crowd on a busy street. But a closer look draws in the viewer to see specific people. The setting includes items that suggest a feast for the senses--horses, wagon wheels, a cigar, a baby, fresh vegetables, and more.
It didn't occur to me until recently that my math lesson was missing a primary source. After a simple search for "tetrahedron" or "tetrahedral kites" on the Library of Congress Web site, I was fascinated to find primary sources that could have enriched my geometry and measurement lessons.
If you’ve ever wondered how early elementary students develop historical thinking skills, check out this lesson with a group of kindergarten historians. The Class of 2025 demonstrated their educational readiness while engaged in analyzing primary sources from the Library of Congress.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, changed the lives of many Americans. On the homefront, one of the most dramatic changes was the transformation of the lives of Japanese Americans.