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 Tool. After, ask students to consider and discuss the mood and tone of the image and what feelings it brings to mind. Ask for two student volunteers to … [Read more...]
Literature Links: The Great Gatsby & Primary Sources from the Roaring Twenties
December 6, 2020 by Leave a Comment
This three-part lesson from the Library of Congress* provides students with insight into the historical context of the 1920s and helps them recognize how popular culture reflects the values, mores, and events of the time period as they synthesize fictional events and primary sources. In a culminating project, students create a newspaper containing multiple types of content using both historical resources and content from the The Great Gatsby. Lesson resources Part I: Using Primary … [Read more...]
Literature Links: The Women of Copper Country
March 5, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Anna Klobuchar Clemenc (Clements), also known as “Big Annie” and America’s Joan of Arc, is the central character in The Women of Copper Country, a historical novel by Maria Doria Russell. Set in Upper Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula in 1913, the novel chronicles the work of Anna and the Ladies Auxiliary of the Western Federation of Miners. A significant event is the Italian Hall disaster. Christmas Eve, 1913, a citizen falsely shouted fire in the crowded building as children of union members were … [Read more...]
Literature Links: Esperanza Rising
December 12, 2019 by Leave a Comment
This lesson is available through Emerging America, a TPS Consortium partner from Massachusetts and was created by Elena T. Danek. Access the full lesson plan by clicking the link below. Historical Fiction: Setting Study through Primary Sources of the Novel Esperanza Rising This two-day lesson is based on students acquiring a better understanding of the effects the Great Depression had on migrant workers and their children as portrayed in the novel: Esperanza Rising. The use of photographs, … [Read more...]
Learning from the Source: Gettysburg Address Game On
November 12, 2018 by Leave a Comment
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...]
Closing night performance of Orson Wells' Macbeth. Check out our 