This lesson may be completed in whole or in part, depending on the needs of your students and the time that you have. FOCUS QUESTION In what ways is equality a proposition, or belief, worth fighting for? LESSON OVERVIEW Students will consider whether equality is important to our democracy as they develop a deep understanding of the literary and historical value of the Gettysburg Address through a game-based close reading of the text. LESSON OBJECTIVES Analyze primary sources … [Read more...]
Citizen U: Multidisciplinary Civics Lessons
November 5, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Citizen U integrates inquiry-based civics across core curriculum disciplines—English-language arts, math, science, and social studies—in elementary, middle school, and high school grades. Created through a grant awarded by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources TPS program, Citizen U is a collaboration of the Barat Education Foundation, the Constitutional Rights Foundation, and DePaul University’s Office of Innovative Professional Learning. Get the Lessons! Download a lesson … [Read more...]
Citizen U Webinar: Should the Government Ever Censor the Press?
October 22, 2018 by Leave a Comment
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. Webinar recording Lesson Plans Middle School: Freedom of the Press, Censorship, and … [Read more...]
Citizen U Webinar: Teaching About Journalists & a Free Press
October 8, 2018 by Leave a Comment
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 Plans Elementary: Journalists and a Free Press Middle … [Read more...]
Citizen U Webinar: Teaching About Dolores Huerta & the United Farm Workers
September 10, 2018 by Leave a Comment
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 elementary, middle and high school students. View webinar recording. Related … [Read more...]
Teaching Now: Using Primary Sources to Create a Lincoln Assassination Newscast
February 12, 2018 by 2 Comments
This is a guest post from Tim Anderson, a middle school English teacher and Google Certified Educator at Sulphur Springs Elementary School in Jonesborough, Tennessee. There often seems to be a disconnect between students and historical events. Connecting literature to history helps make it come alive for students. Since my eighth graders are studying the Civil War, I chose to have them read Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, a fast-paced thriller about the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth pieced … [Read more...]
Featured Source: Round the World with Nellie Bly
January 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Zoom into a more detailed image of this source. Explain what you can determine about Nellie Bly just by looking at this source (be sure to point out the details that support your findings). Read the following articles to learn more about Nellie Bly, Jules Verne and Elizabeth Bisland. Describe what you learned. Nellie Bly from America’s Library “Bly and Bisland.” The St. Paul Daily Globe (St. Paul, Minn.), December 16, 1889 (left column) Play the game with some friends. Then use a … [Read more...]
Featured Source: Phrenological Delineation of His Character
July 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Divide the characteristics listed in this source into positive and negative traits; use a dictionary to help you. Which characteristics listed do you possess? Read this short article to find out who was assassinated, or killed, by Charles Guiteau. What else did you learn from the article? Use a dictionary to discover what phrenology is. What three groups of people does Professor Otto say phrenology can surely help? Do you agree with the professor? Why or why not? More about … [Read more...]
Analyzing Primary Sources: Learning from Maps
May 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Oh, the wonderful worlds we discover when we look at maps! The original infographics, maps help us visualize places, features, activities, distributions, routes, and more. The Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS) consider maps a type of informational text for grades K-5 and the analysis of primary source maps is particularly emphasized in CCSS Reading Anchor Standard 7—Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as … [Read more...]
General Order No. 3 informed slaves in Texas of the Emancipation Proclamation. Check out our 
Statue of Liberty arrived in New York. Check out our 
Countries met to plan rebuilding of Europe. Check out our