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Posted by: Danna Bell
The Teaching with the Library of Congress blog regularly offers suggestions for helping students practice primary source analysis techniques. Since the launch of the interactive Primary Source Analysis Tool a year ago, thousands of students have analyzed maps, texts, photographs, political cartoons, and more the high tech way.
Posted in: Teaching Strategies
Posted by: Stephen Wesson
Informational text is more important to teachers than ever before, especially with the rise of the Common Core standards. The Library of Congress is an excellent resource for finding and using texts to build students' reading skills.
Posted in: Teaching Strategies
Posted by: Cheryl Lederle
During recent Library of Congress summer teacher institutes, teachers of all grade and ability levels discussed ways to engage students in close observation of primary sources. They agreed that close observation is crucial to deep analysis and a key component of identifying and citing evidence from a primary source. One easy technique to help students improve their observation skill is to use sticky notes.
Posted in: Teaching Strategies
Posted by: Anne Savage
What’s a good way to get started with primary sources? Here’s a guide to blog posts about using the Library’s Primary Source Analysis Tool to begin investigating historical documents.
Posted in: Teaching Strategies, Teaching Tools
Posted by: Anne Savage
If you’ve recently searched online for primary sources from the Library of Congress, you may have noticed some exciting changes.
Posted in: News and Events
Posted by: Danna Bell
We wanted to revisit staff favorites, posts that received the most comments and some that were highlighted by teachers who work with the Library.
Posted in: Teaching Strategies, Teaching Tools
Posted by: Stephen Wesson
The first time I tried facilitating a primary source activity during my post-graduate museum education studies, I only had to guide my peers’ analysis of a single artifact for five minutes. Yet so much of what I learned from this experience later proved invaluable to me when teaching with primary sources “for real.”
Posted in: Teaching Strategies, Teaching Tools
Posted by: Stephen Wesson
Primary sources from the online collections of the Library of Congress can be powerful instructional tools. Analyzing these photos, films, maps, and audio recordings can help students engage with content, build their critical thinking skills, and construct knowledge.
Posted in: Teaching Strategies, Teaching Tools
Posted by: Sara Suiter
Hook your students with historic sights and sounds that are close to home: Primary Sources by State.
Posted in: Lesson Ideas, Teaching Tools