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Posted by: Danna Bell
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.
Posted in: African American History, Lesson Ideas, News and Events
Posted by: Danna Bell
Are your students beginning their research for the National History Day contest? Many of the millions of Library of Congress digitized primary sources highlight events that led to triumph or tragedy.
Posted in: News and Events, Teaching Tools
Posted by: Danna Bell
Back in December 2017, a colleague of ours here at the Library published a short piece in the Music Educator's Journal highlighting the many video recordings of musical performances at the Library of Congress hosted on the Library’s YouTube channel. Focusing on videos documenting the American Folklife Center’s Homegrown concert series, Lee Ann Potter (Director, Educational Outreach) noted that these resources offer great value to teachers and students. What is that value, and how can we here at the AFC help realize it?
Posted in: Culture and Folklife, Fine and Performing Arts, Teaching Tools
Posted by: Danna Bell
As Americans anxiously await next week's total eclipse of the sun, many are making plans not only to observe it, but also to record their observations in order to calculate their longitude. Or maybe not...But in 1811, when the solar eclipse that occurred on Constitution Day was visible in central Virginia, that is exactly what Thomas Jefferson did.
Posted in: Science Technology and Math
Posted by: Danna Bell
My son is graduating from high school this coming weekend and I am feeling mixed emotions. On the one hand, I am proud, excited, and looking forward to what the future holds. On the other hand, I feel the winds of change, and with them a bit of sadness and apprehension about what lies ahead. At times like this, I take comfort in knowing that I am not the first person to feel this way. Connecting with primary sources always helps. (Seriously, it does.)
Posted in: Culture and Folklife, Fine and Performing Arts
Posted by: Danna Bell
Now we have a way for teachers to bring Library of Congress professional development programming into their homes and classrooms whenever they want it. The Library's education staff has been building a collection of short videos to help teachers enhance their professional learning. The 40 videos focus on building awareness of the Library's various collections as well as on the effective use of these primary source materials.
Posted in: News and Events, Teaching Strategies
Posted by: Danna Bell
In the November/December 2016 issue of Social Education, the journal of the National Council for the Social Studies, our “Sources and Strategies” article highlighted George Washington’s very first Presidential Proclamation, described many of the more than 7,700 other proclamations issued by the 44 presidents, and invited students to consider the purpose of such proclamations.
Posted in: Government and Law, News and Events
Posted by: Danna Bell
When I learned that Smokey Robinson would be the next recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, I was thrilled. The Gershwin Prize honors a living musical artist’s lifetime achievement in promoting the genre of song as a vehicle of cultural understanding; entertaining and informing audiences; and inspiring new generations.
Posted in: African American History, Fine and Performing Arts
Posted by: Danna Bell
In anticipation of Constitution Day, our "Sources and Strategies" article in the September 2016 issue of Social Education, the journal of the National Council for the Social Studies, suggested provoking student interest in civic responsibility with an 18th century diary entry. The featured entry was that of James McHenry, written on September 18, 1787.
Posted in: Constitution, Government and Law, Revolution and the New Nation (1764-1815)