Integrating Technology: TPS Civics Interactives

Integrating Technology: TPS Civics Interactives

Engage K-12 students with primary source learning through these online interactives focused on civics. Bean Creative Case Maker features twenty pre-made civics challenges that teachers can share with their middle school students, or customize and annotate specifically for their needs. targeted to grades 6-8 Fablevision Civics! An American Musical has students use Library primary sources to…

Integrating Tech: Post-It App & Primary Source Analysis

Integrating Tech: Post-It App & Primary Source Analysis

In a TPS Network resource album available to the public, elementary teacher librarian and former teacher in residence at the Library of Congress, Tom Bober (@CaptainLibrary), outlines how his students analyzed an historical newspaper article using the See Think Wonder strategy that layered in the Post-it® app for iPad to help organize students’ thinking. The…

Integrating Technology: Primary Source Crowdsourcing Campaigns

Integrating Technology: Primary Source Crowdsourcing Campaigns

By the People is a Library of Congress project that invites anyone to transcribe, review, and tag digitized images of manuscripts and typed materials from the Library’s collections. This is a great literacy activity for students. Come check it out by clicking the links below! By the People Campaigns People Susan B. Anthony Clara Barton: Angel…

Integrating Technology: Beyond Words

Integrating Technology: Beyond Words

The Beyond Words project invites people of all ages to identify cartoons, illustrations, photographs, and maps from World War I historical newspaper coverage found in the Chronicling America historic newspaper collections. All data generated will be in the public domain and available to anyone. The three tasks include marking, transcribing, and verifying. Mark: Locate images not…

Finding Resources: Browsing the Primary Source Nexus

Finding Resources: Browsing the Primary Source Nexus

There are two ways to browse content on the TPS-Barat Primary Source Nexus: by content category or by using the top navigation menus. Content Categories Each post on this blog is assigned to one of five categories listed in the Browse Content Categories box in the middle column on the homepage. Primary Source Picks: curated…

Integrating Technology: Making Myriopticons

Integrating Technology: Making Myriopticons

OK, so this post isn’t about digital technology but it does present an idea for combining history with a maker lab of sorts that incorporates math, engineering and art. Let’s take a look at a blog post from In Custodia Legis, which features, “A Historical Panorama of the Rebellion” myriopticon, a toy manufactured by Milton Bradley around 1865….

Finding Resources: Accessing Contemporary Articles

Finding Resources: Accessing Contemporary Articles

In our new Timely Connections section, we will be linking contemporary articles to primary sources and teaching ideas. Some of the articles may come from websites, such as The New York Times and the The Washington Post, that restrict access to their content. Most sites provide subscription discounts to educators and allow anyone to access…

Integrating Tech: Let’s Recap & Primary Source Analysis

Integrating Tech: Let’s Recap & Primary Source Analysis

This is a guest post from veteran teacher Heather Klos, an 8th grade U.S. history teacher and the Social Studies department chair at Crownover Middle School in Corinth, Texas. Primary sources are one of the most valuable tools we have as social studies teachers.  What better way to incorporate primary sources for the 21st century learner than through…

Tech Tool: Creating a Google Form Zoom-in Activity

Tech Tool: Creating a Google Form Zoom-in Activity

This is a guest post from Sara Conyers, a middle school history teacher at Longfellow Middle School in Falls Church, Virginia. Creating a Zoom-in primary source analysis activity using Google Forms is quick and easy. Step 1 – Select Image Select a primary source image that will challenge your students to dig deeper into the meaning and…

Integrating Tech: Zoom-in to Primary Source Analysis

Integrating Tech: Zoom-in to Primary Source Analysis

This is a guest post from Patti Winch, the Middle School Social Studies Specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in Virginia. I first learned about Zoom-ins about 10 years ago when taking a class with Northern Virginia’s Teaching with Primary Sources program or TPSNVA.  Zoom-ins were originally developed by a FCPS teacher and subsequently shared…

Using Sources: Chronicling America Newspaper Pages

Using Sources: Chronicling America Newspaper Pages

Historic newspapers contain a wealth of information about the past, providing a snapshot of social and cultural values of a certain place and time. You will find news stories, feature articles, editorials, cartoons, advertisements, stories, poems, art and more. All of these can be useful to help contextualize events and people from history. According to the Center for History…