TeachersFirst's Primary Sources
Discover this collection of tools relating to primary sources and engaging suggestions on using them in your classroom. Primary sources offer direct (firsthand) accounts about events, people, works of art, and more. There are many different types of primary sources: audio and video recordings, speeches, historical or legal documents, eyewitness accounts, and many more possibilities. This curated list includes resources for all grades, compares primary to secondary sources, and countless other topics to explore. Get inspiration from the "In the Classroom" section of each review, offering several suggestions to try in your class. View our even larger tagged list of resources for Primary Sources.
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Our Documents - 100 Milestone Documents - National Archives
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): history day (40), primary sources (115)
In the Classroom
The use of primary sources in teaching has been greatly increased by our digital access to documents like these. Peruse the list of "milestone" documents, and commit to using the photographs on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) when the document comes up in a lesson or discussion. For teachers who are supporting student projects for National History Day, this site also has a link to specific tips, although it appears the site has not been kept up to date with current information on individual competitions. Challenge cooperative learning groups to investigate one of the documents and create a multimedia project of their choice. Looking for some inspiration? How about having groups create a podcast using podOmatic, reviewed here. Or have students create online posters on paper or do it together as a class using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here, or PicLits, reviewed here. Have students narrate a photo of the document (using a FREE and LEGAL photo) with a too such as Google Drawings, reviewed here. Google Drawings allows you to annotate an image with links to videos, text, websites, and more. Not familiar with Google Drawings? Watch an archived OK2Ask session to learn how to use: OK2Ask Google Drawings, here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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H.S.I. - Historical Scene Investigation - College of William & Mary School of Education
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): american revolution (81), atomic bomb (9), civil rights (194), civil war (134), constitution (87), jamestown (7), mysteries (19), primary sources (115), slavery (75)
In the Classroom
You might want to do the first investigation as a class using your projector or interactive whiteboard. Have students help analyze and annotate the information they are learning from the primary sources, using Fiskkit, reviewed here. This way you can also point out different points of view on the topic so students will know to look for this in other investigations. In your blended or flipped classroom, have students complete investigations before beginning any complementary unit. You, your gifted, or more technology inclined students could use these investigations as a model to enhance learning and create inquiries into any unit of study. Use a tool like Site123, reviewed here, a free and easy web maker, to share a project such as this. Have students "become one of the people" in the historical event and put together a online poster or another mutimedia tool of their choice using a site such as Genially, reviewed here, portraying that person and justifying their point of view. This could be done in small groups where each student, or partners, portrays a different (or opposing) character in the event and tells the story from their point of view, citing the evidence to justify that point of view.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Spy Letters of the American Revolution - Clements Library, University of Michigan
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): evolution (85), history day (40), primary sources (115)
In the Classroom
The use of spy letters shows students a different perspective of the Revolutionary War. Have your students use the information about the spies and write a biography. Add a little mystery to your classroom and have students write spy letters from the perspective of people on each side of the war. Have students use the images and information from the site and create a poster using Canva, reviewed here. Post the letters on an interactive whiteboard or projector and use the letters in an English class to discuss letter writing, grammar, and sentence structure. The whiteboard tools can be used to highlight and annotate. Several more examples of fun activities including writing with disappearing ink can be found in the Teacher's Lounge.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History - The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): 1600s (20), african american (109), american revolution (81), black history (123), civil rights (194), civil war (134), colonization (20), foreign policy (12), great depression (28), history day (40), immigration (64), industrial revolution (20), migration (44), native americans (91), primary sources (115), westward expansion (38), world war 1 (72), world war 2 (149)
In the Classroom
Find many lesson plans, resources, and primary documents to enrich your history lessons. Make a splash with visual learners by starting class with artifacts from an era displayed on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Explore primary sources and historic texts as part of a Common Core literacy program cooperating among English, reading, and history teachers. Have your students sign up to enjoy access to all the resources. Enhance learning by challenging cooperative learning groups to choose a specific historical time period and become "experts." Have the groups create presentations to share with the class about what they learn. Use a tool like Slides, reviewed here, or allow students to choose the format of their presentation by using Genially, reviewed here, where they can interactive images, infographics, charts, and presentations of all types, and insert maps, surveys, video, audio and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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DocsTeach - Digital Vaults - National Archives
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): civil rights (194), congress (39), courts (19), first ladies (4), immigration (64), inventors and inventions (71), Juneteenth (22), lewis and clark (14), presidents (121), primary sources (115), slavery (75), womens suffrage (44), world war 1 (72), world war 2 (149)
In the Classroom
Use this site as an anticipatory set for a unit in history or on inventions. Share a collection of images or invention drawings on a projector or whiteboard and ask what the invention will do. Or use the site as the starting point for individual or group projects. After demonstrating on an interactive whiteboard or projector, have students use laptops or lab computers to "collect" resources related to their assigned inventor, decade, or era in American history. Check your school policy regarding accessing student email. If students cannot have their own email accounts, consider using a "class set" of GMail subaccounts (managed by you), explained here. This tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. This would provide anonymous interaction within your class. Students can use their log-ins to collect resources.Since the documents are in the public domain (are not copyrighted), students may also download and use the files as part of other projects, such as video compilations, Powerpoint presentations, or multimedia of any sort. To access the resources in non-Flash format, click the small link to "research this record in ARC" in the detailed view of the item. You can then view and Save As for use elsewhere. Be sure you teach students about copying the URL and relevant information from this ARC page to cite the source and give credit in any presentation they make. This site is excellent for enrichment or projects for the gifted, as well. Include it on your teacher web page for students to access both in and out of class for students who are working in History Day projects or other assignments for your class.
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New York Public Library's Digital Library Collection - New York Public Library
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): images (270), primary sources (115)
In the Classroom
Use this site to search for images that can be used in your classroom for a visual discovery activity. Select 3-5 of the more powerful images, placing them on separate slides of a PowerPoint show. Show each slide to the class for 1-2 minutes each, allowing students time to jot down what they observe, predict and infer about each image. After the class has finished with the slides, have a class discussion based on the notes that students took accompanying a replaying of the slide show. This is a great way to introduce or review a topic in a non-lecture format.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Documenting America - Library of Congress
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): great depression (28), primary sources (115)
In the Classroom
So many of these pictures can be used in your classroom whether it be as for an activity, such as a picture walk or a visual discovery; or as an introduction or supplement to text materials to studying events such as the Great Depression.For use as a visual discovery, select 3-5 images from this site, choosing the most powerful and moving images. Placing the images on individual slides, allow students 1-2 minutes to observe each image. During that time period, students should be taking notes based on what they observe, predict and infer about each image. The more powerful and detailed the image is, the more information students can take out. After the class has observed all the chosen images, have a class discussion based on the notes students took. This is a great way to introduce content in a way that gets students thinking, as well as avoiding the typical lecture format.
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EuroDocs: Primary Historical Documents From Western Europe
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): primary sources (115), Research (83)
In the Classroom
Save this site as a favorite on your desktop and use it as a reference point for finding resources on one of the many European countries. This could be helpful brushing up on your own knowledge or finding materials to supplement a unit. This would be a great resource for a World or European history classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Archives: Educator Resources - National Archives
Grades
4 to 8tag(s): media literacy (102), primary sources (115)
In the Classroom
This is an excellent site for any history, art history, or civics teacher attempting to put forth something more tangible for students to grasp. Click on "Images of the American Revolution," and open up the pictures on the interactive whiteboard or projector. Question students as to the meaning and context of the illustrations, to help them understand how images were used to convey certain meanings. Ask the students to create their own cartoons about something controversial in their town, or about the unit being studied, and encourage them to use some of the same subtle concepts the original illustrators did.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Library of Congress: for Teachers - U.S. Library of Congress
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): primary sources (115), Research (83)
In the Classroom
Use the learning page as a launch pad for planning your own lessons in conjunction with the vast array of resources available from the Library of Congress. Many of the documents and images are in the public domain and can therefore be used as visuals in other multimedia projects created by teachers and students. Be sure to read the permissions. Share an image on your projector or interactive whiteboard or a voice recording to start a lesson. Assign students to explore and explain collections you select. Be sure to check out the self-directed professional development modules, as well.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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