Tinker v. Des Moines

Timely Connections: Constitutional Rights of Students

Every year the United States celebrates Constitution Day on September 17. How much do you know about U.S. constitutional rights? Did you know that those rights are different in the context of public schools? School officials have significant leeway when instituting and enforcing rules to maintain a safe environment conducive to learning but, over the…

duck and cover

Primary Source Learning: Film & Video

Analyzing Primary Sources: Learning from Video Recordings Teaching with the Library blog posts Adding Sound to the Silence: Students Build on Silent Films March 16, 2023 All-American News: Newsreels for African American Audiences February 7, 2019 Explore Library of Congress Professional Development Videos April 11, 2017 Exploring America’s Cinematic Heritage through the National Film Registry…

Stone fence in Litchfield, Connecticut

Learning from the Source: Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?

Overview By pairing primary sources with poetry, students consider the proverb, “Good fences make good neighbors” in the context of their own lives as well as in a local, national or global context. Lesson Steps Display the primary source image and analyze it together as a class using the Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis…

TPS Spotlight: Civics! An American Musical

TPS Spotlight: Civics! An American Musical

Civics! An American Musical is a part of the Library of Congress’ Teaching with Primary Sources Program. Created by FableVision in partnership with Maryland Public Television, Maryland Humanities, and Tufts’ Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), Civics! An American Musical is designed to teach middle school students the inquiry process…

VP Curtis

Primary Source Spotlight: Charles Curtis

Politician Charles Curtis of Kansas was, as he liked to tell audiences, “one-eighth Kaw Indian and a one-hundred per cent Republican”.  He was a member of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, serving as Senate majority leader from 1924 until his inauguration as the 31st vice president in 1929. Representative Curtis…

Voices for Suffrage

TPS Spotlight: Voices for Suffrage

Voices for Suffrage, part of the Congress, Civic Participation, and Primary Sources Project supported by a grant from the Library of Congress, is an interactive web application for students in grades 7-12 that promotes primary source analysis, reading comprehension, and supporting inferences with evidence. This web-based learning application contains over 700 primary sources from the…

inauguration

Primary Source Spotlight: U.S. Presidential Inaugurations

“I Do Solemnly Swear…” U.S. Presidential Inaugurations primary source sets “I Do Solemnly Swear…” Inaugural Materials from the Collections of the Library of Congress online exhibition Inaugurations: Stepping into History presentation An Orderly Transition The Inaugural Address Looking Back and Looking Ahead Select historical newspaper articles The Inaugural–The Past Reign, the Coming Reign The Herald…

TPS Maryland Humanities

TPS Spotlight: Maryland Humanities

Maryland Humanities, a Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program Consortium member, partnered with Maryland Public Television and the Maryland State Department of Education to create the Thinkport Inquiry Kits— primary source sets designed to prepare students to analyze primary sources and conduct primary source research. The kits may also be used by teachers…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Does Your Vote for President Count?

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Does Your Vote for President Count?

Work in a group to discuss what you can learn from this historical newspaper article (download .pdf) just by examining the headline, illustrations, the introduction (the first three paragraphs), and the section headers. What questions do you still have? Divide the reading of the article among your group members so that each reads 2 or…