See What Others Are Doing:

In the Classroom

Here you can explore how other teachers and students have incorporated historical records into their lesson plans, classroom activities, document based questions, and student projects. Some links will provide examples; others furnish resources that will help you develop your own projects. For tips on to use historical records in the classroom follow the links for Document-based questions and then browse through Course One.

• Curriculum Resources

• Student Projects

• History Related Sites

• Listservs for Teachers

Curriculum Resources

• New York State Archives Help for Teachers contains a variety of resources for the teacher including guides to using primary source documents in the classroom and sample lesson plans.

• New York City Chinatown: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Includes three lesson plans that make extensive nguse of New York City government records.

• Westchester County Archives, Teacher’s Corner features a lesson plan about the building of the Kensico Dam, which is part of the mammoth network of dams, reservoirs, and tunnels supplying New York City residents with water.

• A Teacher’s Guide to the Encyclopedia of New York State furnishes information about incorporating the Encyclopedia into local history and social studies lesson plans and educational quizzes about the history of New York State and the Erie Canal.

• Schooling in the Caroline Area in the 1920s and 40s describes a fourth-grade research project and emphasizes how use of historical records expanded students’ knowledge and skills.

• New York Times Learning Network contains information about incorporating current and historical events into lesson plans, and lesson plans for students at all grade levels and subjects.

• The North Hudson Electronic Education Empowerment Project furnishes information on teaching technology skills and activity plans concerning child labor, immigration, African-American women writers, and other subjects.

• FDR Cartoon Archive contains political cartoons documenting attitudes toward President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his policies and information on developing projects that teach history through analysis of cartoons.

• The New Deal Network furnishes primary source documents and lesson plans concerning Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, New Deal programs, WPA oral histories of former slaves, and other aspects of New Deal history.

• History Matters contains almost forty lesson plans using Web-based primary documents, collections of primary source material, examples of student projects, and useful Web links.

• Middleweb Social Studies contains an annotated list of hundreds of links to hundreds of sites that contain historical records, lesson plans, and activity sheets.

• National Archives and Records Administration, Digital Classroom contains more than twenty collections of primary source documents and lesson plans, and information about National History Day and National Archives publications, summer institutes, and workshops for teachers.

• Library of Congress, American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library provides a comprehensive timeline of American history, digitized images and documents from the Library’s collections, and ideas for classroom activities.

• Eye Witness: History Through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It.  A well-indexed collection of first-hand accounts (diaries, newspaper interviews, etc.) of historical events.

• A Virtual Trip on the Historic Hudson River. Text and links based upon William Wade's Panorama of the Hudson River,1846. A Web Site for Students, Educators, and Those Interested in the History, Culture, and Conservation of the Hudson River Valley.

• The Catskills: A Sense of Place. Standards-based lessons that promote appreciation and stewardship of the unique natural and cultural resources of the Catskill Mountain region.

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These student-created sites can help you devise projects for your own students. They can also be an inspiration to and model for students who are working on their own Web-based projects.

• Longwood’s Journey: A Comprehensive History of the Longwood Community.  This middle school project which documents the history of four communities in Suffolk County, features maps and images of historically significant buildings and places.

• The New Deal Art Project, created by eleventh graders, consists of images and written histories of Central New York public buildings and artwork created under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration.

• The Great Carthage Fire of 1884, created by fourth graders, focuses upon the fire that devastated this Jefferson County community.

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History Related Sites

• New York State Department of State, Kids’ Room provides a brief outline of the state’s history, facts about the state and its symbols, a list of governors and their inauguration dates, and other resources.

• New York History Net’s Links for Teachers This site contains a wealth of resources for teachers, information about upcoming events and student competitions, and links to student projects on the Web.

• National History Day in New York State highlights National History Day events in the state, annual project themes, and judging criteria. It also details how to help students develop ideas for projects and conduct research.

• Mid-Lakes Navigation Company, Canal-related Links contains links to Web sites about the Erie Canal and other canals in New York State.

• Places Where Women Made History: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary highlights seventy-four New York State and Massachusetts sites associated with important women. It includes interactive maps, information about each site, and essays about women’s history.

• The History Place contains numerous online exhibits. It also dispenses advice about writing historical papers and answers to questions commonly posed by elementary and secondary students.

• The History Net contains short articles about United States and world history, capsule biographies of prominent people, numerous primary source documents, and book reviews.

• DoHistory uses the diary of and secondary sources about eighteenth-century Maine midwife Martha Ballard to explain how historians weave together fragments of information that illuminate the past.

• Federal Resources for Educational Excellence-Social Studies furnishes links to federal government Web sites containing information useful for teachers. Among the topics covered: the lives of Martin Van Buren and Theodore Roosevelt, the New Netherland colony, and women’s suffrage.

• Library of Congress, Today in History, which is updated daily, features a brief outline of a significant event and contains a searchable archive of the 365 most recent postings.

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Listservs for Teachers

• H-High-S – A listserv for secondary school teachers of history and social studies. It is part of the H-Net: Humanities OnLine network. To subscribe, can send the following message to <listserv@h-net.msu.edu>: SUB H-High-S firstname lastname, affiliation.

• Teaching American History - A listserv for history teachers who want to "share their ideas and teaching strategies and discuss historical or current issues. To subscribe, send an e-mail to <listserv@cms.cc.wayne.edu>, then include a message that says: subscribe tamha (your first name) (your last name).

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