Our social studies classrooms are filled with students from many different backgrounds. This article aims to help middle grades (grades 6-8) social studies teachers consider how trade books that feature the global South can be paired with primary historical texts in order to help students develop perspective consciousness. Social studies educators…

Middle grades students read, write, speak, listen, and research as they interview a partner and write an article, write a personal memoir, take partner photographs, and use the Internet to find pictures and information illustrating their partners interests. Results are shared in the form of a poster and a classroom presentation. During the fifteen…

Based on John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand the universal nature of Steinbeck's characters' struggles and some of the complex forces affecting their lives; and the value of primary source material in presenting an authentic picture of a given period in history.…

Writers are influenced by their environment including family, community, lifestyle, or location. One such writer was Mark Twain. With this lesson plan the learner will become familiar with and analyze life around Mark Twain's hometown, Hannibal, Missouri, during the latter half of the 19th century by using various online and print resources to…

In this lesson, students work with primary documents and latter-day photographs to recapture the experience of traveling on the Oregon Trail. The learning objectives of the lesson are: (1) to learn about the pioneer experience on the Oregon Trail; (2) to evaluate a historical re-enactment in light of documentary evidence; and (3) to synthesize…

Illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of oral histories through an oral history assignment that helps students understand the impact of the Vietnam War on the "Vietnam generation." Suggests introductory materials and lists exemplar interview questions for students to use in interviewing soldiers who were on active duty and those who…

This teaching unit, "Civil Rights Movement," is the tenth in a series of 10 units about Alabama state history, part of a project designed to help teachers integrate the use of primary source materials into their classrooms. Although the units are designed to augment the study of Alabama, they are useful in the study of U.S. history,…

Traces the history of the Civil Rights Movement in St. Louis, Missouri from 1954 to 1968. Provides a lesson plan on the movement. Includes editorials published in the "St. Louis Post Dispatch" on the civil rights activities of 1963. Outlines civil rights organizations of the 1960s. (RW)

Presents a lesson in which students use primary sources to learn about the organizing strategies used in the fight for women's suffrage. These sources will provide insights into the past and help students develop appreciation for the hardships suffragists endured. Includes objectives, procedures, and suggestions for activities. (LS)

Uses the text of the Declaration of Sentiments, written at the 1848 women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Familiarizes students with key personalities and organizations in the women's movement and illustrates the significance of the history of women's rights. Provides discussion questions and related activities. (LS)

Each issue in this bicentennial series features articles on selected U.S. Constitution topics, along with a section on primary documents and lesson plans or class activities. Issue 14 features: (1) "The Political Economy of the Constitution" (K. Dolbeare; L. Medcalf); (2) "A 'New Historical Whooper': Creating the Art of the…

In this lesson, students will explore daily life in the 13 original British colonies and its influences in the late 1700s for two families in different colonies--Delaware and Massachusetts. The lesson asks students to become historical detectives and learn to gather information from artifacts and make inferences about the lives and time they…

The realities of slavery and reconstruction hit home in oral histories from the Library of Congress. In this unit of study, students research slave narratives from the Federal Writers' Project and describe the lives of former African slaves in the United States--both before and after emancipation. From varied sources, students can sample the…

Lesson plans include an application by James D. Laney for teaching the concept of economic scarcity to first graders, and an activity requiring seventh graders to report on the origins of Texas towns by Pat Hazlett. Glenda Hayes and the Center for Civic Education offer activities for U.S. history, U.S. government, and world history. (LS)

Students gain from a sense of the living history that surrounds Harper Lee's novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird." Through studying primary source materials from American Memory and other online sources, students of all backgrounds may better grasp how historical events and human forces have shaped relationships between black and white and…