Guided Primary Source Analysis: U.S. Must Set Pace for Racial Tolerance

Guided Primary Source Analysis: U.S. Must Set Pace for Racial Tolerance

Read the article, then answer the questions below. If you need help, click the links in the Related resources section below. What was happening in the world at the time this article was published? Who was Mrs. Roosevelt and why was what she had to say important? Who else attended the conference and what groups…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: I Am an American Day

Guided Primary Source Analysis: I Am an American Day

Find a partner and have one read the first article and the other the second article. Each person should re-read their article and then analyze the source to answer the questions below. (NOTE: to enlarge the type, click here to read them online) What argument does the article present? What evidence from the text supports…

Primary Source Learning: Being American Primary Source Sets

Primary Source Learning: Being American Primary Source Sets

This curated collection of primary sources was created to help students think critically about what it means to be an American by exploring and analyzing different perspectives and voices, particularly marginalized ones, over time. Thanks to the inspiration of Jen Reidel, 2019-2020 Library of Congress Civics Teacher in Residence, who suggested this theme. Executive proclamations…

Citizen U Webinar: Should the Government Ever Censor the Press?

Citizen U Webinar: Should the Government Ever Censor the Press?

Citizen U lessons infuse civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions across the core subjects in elementary, middle, and high school grades. This interactive webinar featured practice with interdisciplinary civics, inquiry-based learning, and teaching with primary sources, and provided information about free middle and high school lessons that can be used in either ELA or social studies classes….

Citizen U Webinar: Teaching About Journalists & a Free Press

Citizen U Webinar: Teaching About Journalists & a Free Press

Citizen U lessons infuse civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions across the core subjects in elementary, middle, and high school grades. This interactive webinar featured practice with interdisciplinary civics, inquiry-based learning, and teaching with primary sources, and provided information about a free elementary-level lesson that can be used in either ELA or social studies classes. View webinar recording Lesson…

Citizen U Webinar: Teaching About Dolores Huerta & the United Farm Workers

Citizen U Webinar: Teaching About Dolores Huerta & the United Farm Workers

Citizen U lessons infuse civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions across the core subjects in elementary, middle, and high school grades. This interactive webinar featured practice with interdisciplinary civics, inquiry-based learning, and teaching with primary sources, and information about three ELA-Civics lessons about Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers. The lessons reach across grade levels to…

Primary Source Learning to Develop Civic Competencies

Primary Source Learning to Develop Civic Competencies

In the Guardian of Democracy: the Civic Mission of Schools report, Lee H. Hamilton, founder of the Center on Congress and U.S. Representative from Indiana (1965 to 1999), wrote: Citizenship requires both knowledge about government and the ability to be involved in governance. It means knowing how to identify and inform yourself about issues, explore…

Timely Connections: Immigrant Soldiers

Timely Connections: Immigrant Soldiers

The United States is a nation of immigrants, many of whom have served the country in times of need. Below you will find links to news articles about immigrant soldiers, historical background resources, and related primary sources and teaching resources. How does studying sources from the past inform your understanding of the contemporary debate surrounding…

Primary Source & Civic Learning

Primary Source & Civic Learning

The Barat Education Foundation (BEF), a long time member of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program (TPS), began working with the Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) in 2016 to create multidisciplinary lessons that feature primary sources from the Library of Congress and infuse civic learning across the curriculum (stay tuned, coming soon). Primary source learning…

Learning from the Source: Cesar Chavez & Good Citizenship

Learning from the Source: Cesar Chavez & Good Citizenship

This activity is adapted from lessons in the Barat Education Foundation Our American Voice® program. This civics program for 4-8 graders features a spiral curriculum and emphasizes critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills as students learn the fundamentals of American democracy and work to create positive change in their communities. Overview Using Cesar Chavez as an…