PBS
Primary Sources
Students see how to use primary and secondary sources to investigate history. Whether it is a photograph, book, map, letter, postcard, newspaper, or official document, students can use sources to reconstruct and relive history.
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Analyze a Story or History Completely and Carefully
Start off analysis of a text with a worksheet that asks pupils to complete several tasks. Class members note down a couple of characters or people and their distinguishing traits, describe the most important event, summarize the text...
PBS
March on Washington: A Time for Change
Young historians conclude their study of the events that lead up to and the planning for the March on Washington. After examining videos and primary source documents, they consider the civil rights objectives that still need to be...
New York State Education Department
English Language Arts Examination: August 2014
Tired of searching for complex passages suitable for high school level assessments? A challenging examination includes numerous complex text excerpts as well as question items to match them. Learners analyze literary elements, author's...
Curated OER
Socratic Seminar on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail
Key in the struggle to gain the rights of democratic citizenship was the April 1963 arrest of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for civil disobedience. To deepen their knowledge and understanding of events during the civil rights movement,...
University of Pennsylvania
Using Comic Strips to Teach Multiple Perspectives
Scholars view comics from two different perspectives; one paints the Alfred Dreyfus as innocent, while the other portrays the exact opposite. They solve the mystery of what happened by analyzing the source, working in groups, and...
Teaching History
Jamestown: The Starving Time
Students analyze a variety of primary and secondary sources to determine the cause of the Jamestown starving time during the winter of 1609–1610.
Curated OER
For the Record
Students read a New York Times article in order to examine the importance of cultural artifacts. They create essays from the point of view of one cultural artifact to demonstrate the knowledge they gained by doing research.
PBS
Evaluating Conflicting Evidence: Sultana
What sunk the Sultana? Scholars become investigators to uncover the facts behind the 1865 sinking just after the end of the Civil War. Through group work, videos, and primary documents, they research and analyze why 1,800 men died....
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Common Core Reading Standards: Understanding Argument
What does your class know about logical fallacies? They can find out quite a bit and practice identifying logical fallacies if you follow the steps and use the resources provided here! After reviewing ethos, pathos, and logos, ask small...
National Endowment for the Humanities
From Courage to Freedom: Slavery's Dehumanizing Effects
Learners analyze slavery and its effects on humanity using Frederick Douglass' autobiography. In this slavery instructional activity, high schoolers analyze instances of reality and romanticized myth using a slave narrative. Learners...