Students As Historians: Historical Thinking and Primary Sources in the American History Classroom

This session will explore a variety of approaches to the teaching of American history in our schools with an emphasis on the use of primary sources in instruction.  Teachers will leave the session with lesson plans, including copies of primary documents and valuable web-sites and other resources for history teaching. In order to understand and analyze primary sources, teachers will learn how to guide their students in close reading of text, in determining reliability, and in identifying the limitations of historical documents. The focus will be on how to teach students to think like historians and to develop those skills which will enable them to become more knowledgeable and skillful in approaching problems and questions in their American History classes. Strategies and lesson plans will be geared to grades six through twelve for both regular and special education classes.