LibGuides: Teaching and Learning with Primary Sources: Teacher Resources

Classroom Presentations

Presentation and Activities
Presentations and activities offer media-rich historical context or interactive opportunities for exploration to both teachers and students.

Lesson Plans

Sample Lesson Plan
Education through Assimlation Lesson by Katie Dorr
Lesson Plans via the Library of Congress
Teacher-created, classroom-tested lesson plans using primary sources from the Library of Congress.
Primary Source Inquiry Questions
Guide students toward higher-order thinking with these questions while analyzing a primary source.

More Resources

Classroom Materials

Themed Resources
One-stop access to the Library’s best exhibitions, activities, primary sources, and lesson plans on popular curricular themes.

Professional Development

Readings

Teaching with Primary Sources Journal
An online publication created by the Library of Congress Educational Outreach Division in collaboration with the TPS Educational Consortium.
History News Service
An informal syndicate of professional historians who seek to bring the perspective of history into current debates over public affairs.

Analyis Tools and Guides

Teacher Guides: Use these documents from the Library of Congress to help guide students to higher-order thnking with thoughtfully chosen questions: Analyzing Primary Sources (PDF, 56 KB)

The following guides provide questions specific to a type of primary source.

Analyzing Books and Other Printed Texts(PDF, 61 KB)
Analyzing Manuscripts(PDF, 71 KB)
Analyzing Maps(PDF, 55 KB)
Analyzing Motion Pictures(PDF, 55 KB)
Analyzing Oral Histories(PDF, 73 KB)
Analyzing Photographs and Prints(PDF, 55 KB)
Analyzing Political Cartoons(PDF, 83 KB)
Analyzing Sheet Music and Song Sheets(PDF, 55 KB)
Analyzing Sound Recordings (PDF, 55 KB)

Analyis Tools designed for student use.

Primary Source Analysis Tool (PDF Version)

Literature Related

World Literature Timelines
Timelines that relate events related to literature to larger historical events. Provided by Norton (a publishing company).

Civics Primary Source Sets

Constitution
Learn through evidence of the process of drafting and adopting the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Learn how these documents have been interpreted over the years.