Teaching Tools:

The Historians Tools: Analyzing Primary Resources http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons The Library of Congress Learning Page Lesson Plans' site illustrates how to use the following resources to learn more about constructing lessons with primary sources: Using Primary Sources in the Classroom, Lesson Framework, The Historian's Sources, and Media Analysis Tools.

Document Analysis Worksheets http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/ The following document analysis worksheets have been designed and developed by the Education Staff of the National Archives and Records Administration:Writte Document,Photograph,Cartoon, Poster, Map,Artifact, Sound Recording,and Motion Picture.

How to conduct oral interviews http://www.nebraskastudies.org/tools.html Suggestions on how to how to conduct and utilize oral interviews. One of the teaching tools listed on the Nebraska Studies website.

Interpreting Political Cartoons http://www.nebraskastudies.org/tools.html This information is located in the "tools" section of the Nebraska Studies website and contains cartoon interpretation activities to provide students with practice in dealing with editorial cartoons in an analytical and critical way. Most social studies standards stress the importance of students developing the skills necessary to analyze documents and images.

Reading Quest http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/readquest Strategies for reading comprehension which includes: Venn diagram, world map, questioning the author, History Frames/Story Maps, etc. Instructions = directions and explanation of the strategy. Print = download and view or print document with a document reader software.

Human Rights in the U.S. and International Community http://www.unl.edu/HumanR/teach/ This is the first of a projected series of modules on international human rights. Whether you’re a teacher or a student, you can use this material in basic courses in government, civics, history, or other social sciences. This site is intended as a resource and not as a full-fledged course on human rights. Students may use it for research projects. Teachers may pull out a unit or even a page at a time to fit in with their current courses. The content you find here correlates with: McRel Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks as well as with Nebraska Social Studies Standards Contains: images, maps, lesson plans, glossary, timelines, etc.

Webquest Templates http://webquest.sdsu.edu/LessonTemplate.html A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The model was developed in early 1995 at San Diego State University by Bernie Dodge with Tom March, Templates provide an easy way to get started creating your WebQuest. There is also a link http://webquest.sdsu.edu/LessonTemplate.html to "Anatomy of the New WebQuest." Unlike the old WebQuest template, which consisted of just two separate web pages, the new template is an interconnected system of smaller sections designed to fit within a frame.

Bloom's Taxonomy Breakdown http://nerds.unl.edu/pages/preser/sec/articles/Blooms.pdf A chart that illustrates the following: Roles, Process Verbs & Products from Bloom?s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain.

Index Graphic Organizers http://www.graphic.org/goindex.html Contains a wealth of graphic organizers listed in a chart format that provides details on which graphic organizer you would use to assess such topics as: decision making, comparing and contrasting, sequencing, causal, etc. Graphic organizers listed include venn diagram, comparison/contrast, spider map, cause and effect, etc.

Teacher Helpers: Assessment and Rubric information http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html Discovery Channel School contains multiple links to websites that provide models and discussion of rubrics and graphic organizers.

CyberGuides: Teacher Guides and Student Activities http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cyberguide.html CyberGuides are supplementary, standards-based, web-delivered units of instruction centered on core works of literature. Each CyberGuide contains a student and teacher edition, standards, a task and a process by which it may be completed, teacher-selected web sites and a rubric, based on California Language Arts Content Standards. Even though this site was created for use by Literature teachers in California, it offers a wealth of suggestions on how to utilize literature in the classroom and could well be integrated into social studies courses at all grade levels. Sample lessons relate to (senior high) 1984, Night, Reflections of the Harlem Renaissance, The Grapes of Wrath, Animal Farm, All Quiet on the Western Front, etc. (K-8)Charlotte's Web, Freedom Train, Harriet Tubman, etc.

History Matters. "Making Sense of Documents" http://historymatters.gmu.edu/browse/makesense/ This website helps students and teachers make effective use of primary sources. "Making Sense of Documents" provides strategies for analyzing online primary materials with interactive exercises for topics such as: Making Sense of Oral History, Making Sense of Films, Making Sense of Maps, Making Sense of Letters and Diaries, etc. "Scholars in Action" provides analysis of selected political cartoons, blues songs, photographs,letters, abolitionist speeches, etc. by scholars.

Teaching the Journal of American History http://www.indiana.edu/~jah/teaching/installments.shtml Each package includes a targeted article, brief comments from the article's author, and a set of annotated primary source materials intended for classroom use. Depending on the targeted article, these source materials might include illustrations, photographs, video clips, audio clips, and excerpts from other primary historical texts. The packages also include links to other history-related Web sites that hold additional relevant materials. Lesson plans change periodically, but the current ones are titled: Flaunting the Freak Flag: Karr v. Schmidt and the Great Hair Debate in Am. H.S. 1965-1975; Co-workers in the Kingdom of Culture: Black Swan Recoreds and the Political Economy of African American Music; The Way of Improvement Leads Homes:Philip Vickers Fithian's Rural Enlightenment; Meta Warrick's 1907 Negro Tableaux and Presenting African American Historical Memory; Damming Afghanistan: Modernization in a Buffer State; Empires, Exceptions, and Anglo-Saxons: Race and Rule between the British and U.S. Empires, 1880-1910; Culture, Power, and Mission to Moscow: Film and Soviet-American Relations during World War II; Evolution of John Doe: Pictures, the Public, and the Scopes Trial Debate.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History http://www.gilderlehrman.org/teachers/index.html The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History offers a growing variety of resources to assist teachers and students. The Institute has pioneered new models of history schools and programs, with proven success in improving academic achievement. It offers professional development opportunities for educators, provides documents and exercises for classroom use, and encourages excellence in student writing with essay prizes. The Gilder Lehrman Institute also promotes learning through exhibitions, lectures, and other public programs. Above all, the Institute strives to improve history education in the U.S., especially by making primary sources and the insights of leading scholars of American history more accessible to teachers and students. Teaching modules cover more than twenty topics that correspond to the major periods in American history and take into consideration the history standards, both required and advanced, to which high school students are held. Each module includes: a succinct historical overview learning tools including lesson plans, quizzes, and activities recommended documents, films, and historic images Modules: The Revolutionary War The Constitution The New Nation The Jeffersonian Era The Jacksonian Era Pre-Civil War Reform Slavery Westward Expansion The Coming of the Civil War The Civil War Reconstruction The Gilded Age The United States Becomes a World Power Progressivism Immigration World War I The 1920s The Great Depression World War II Postwar America The Tumultuous 1960s The Vietnam War America at the End of the 20th Century September 11th The modules were prepared by Steven Mintz, the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of History and the Director of the American Cultures Program at the University of Houston. Another feature offered by the Gilder Lehrman Institute is the History Now American History Online. The December 2004 issue features lessons on Reconstruction Amendments, Slave Narratives, Slave Resistance, and A Cautionary Tale about Evidence. The Internet address is http://www.historynow.org/12_2004/index.html

Graphic Organizers Comparing and Contrasting http://www.region15.org/curriculum/COMPARE_CONTRAST-Landscape.pdf Examples of several graphic organizers that can be used to compare and contrast two or more images or concepts.

EDSITEment. National Endowment for the Humanities http://edsitement.neh.gov/ A large array of lesson plans that relate to History/Social Studies as well as Art and other disciplines.

The Internet Modern History Sourcebook http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html The Internet Modern History Sourcebook is one of series of history primary sourcebooks. It is intended to serve the needs of teachers and students in college survey courses in modern European history and American history, as well as in modern Western Civilization and World Cultures. Modern History Sourcebook now contains thousands of sources

Documents for the Study of American History http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/ Links to a multitude of American history documents from the periods 1000 to 2008.

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/bloomrev/index.htm BLOOM CREATED A LEARNING TAXONOMY IN 1956, and since that time we have learned more about the way that children learn. Teachers have also revised the way that they plan and implement instruction in the classroom. To keep the importance of Bloom's work relative to today's theories, Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) revised Bloom's original taxonomy by combining both the cognitive process, and knowledge dimensions. This new expanded taxonomy can help instructional designers and teachers to write and revise learning objectives.

Graphic Organizers Bibliography http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/visual-learner.html This bibliography contains a variety of links to various types of graphic organizers and some links contain explanations of how to use graphic organizers.

Online information for Native American curriculum http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/native_american.html Bibliography with links to a wide variety of online curriculum materials on Native American history that can be integrated into social studies courses.

Finding online resources from the Federal Govt. http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/govt_resources.html Links to online resources that are available via the Federal Government.

Honoring Native American History and Culture http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/native.html A listing of a wide variety of online links to Native American history, culture, etc.

National Celebrations Celebrating the Contributions of African Americans http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/aa_history.html Listing of links to online resources that cover a wide array of materials related to the history of African Americans.

Teaching Tips for New Teachers http://www.inspiringteachers.com/ Links to online resources related to tips for new teachers as well as a wide variety of tip/information on teaching in general