Selecting Primary Sources: Point of View & Perspective

When teaching a topic with primary sources, it is important to provide multiple sources that represent a variety of points of views and perspectives. Doing so provides students with practice in critical thinking and evaluating evidence and arguments, skills emphasized by the Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS), particularly CCSS anchor reading standards 4, 6, 7 and 9.

The Teaching with the Library of Congress blog guidelines for selecting primary sources that will help students identify point of view and consider multiple perspectives. Need some examples? Try the Teachers section as well as these primary source learning primary source sets. You can also try the TPS-Barat Primary Source Nexus themed link sets, including culture, events, history, sports and subject areas.