Teaching with Primary Sources

VIDEOS

Please enjoy our videos introducing the Teaching with Primary Sources Program at Rockford University. This  series of videos will introduce viewers to the wonderful and exciting world of primary sources and the experience of critical thinking they offer to students.

NEWSLETTERS

The Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program at Rockford University produces a quarterly newsletter that focuses on our program’s events and news. We also highlight important information from the Library of Congress.

August 2016
May 2015
January 2015
September 2014
January 2014
August 2013
April 2013
November 2012
August 2012
March 2012
September 2011
June 2011
March 2011

TPS Journal

The TPS Journal is an online publication created by the Library of Congress Educational Outreach Division in collaboration with the TPS Educational Consortium. Published quarterly, each issue focuses on pedagogical approaches to teaching with Library of Congress digitized primary sources in K-12 classrooms.

The Teaching with Primary Sources Journal

TPS Educational Consortium

Members of the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Educational Consortium assist in the design of the TPS program and offer TPS professional development on an ongoing basis, year round.

Visit loc.gov/teachers/tps/consortium/ to view a list of current Consortium members and their respective states.

LESSON STARTERS

Looking for a quick primary source lesson to try in your classroom?

Try one of the following:

“Pilgrims and Natives Gather to Share a Meal”
3rd-5th Grades
Subject: Social Studies
Submitted by: Sue Nickel

“Vietnamese Children During the Vietnam War”
6th-8th Grades
Subject: Social Studies
Submitted by: Katy Paterson

“Using Veteran’s History Page”
High School
Subject: Social Studies
Submitted by: Nick Stange

“Political Cartoon: School Begins”
High School
Subject: U.S. History
Submitted by: Matt Neumeyer

TPS RU LESSON PLANS

Elementary Analysis Tools

These analysis tools were created by Jacki Lutzow, a nationally board-certified third-grade classroom teacher at Marsh Elementary School in Rockford, Illinois. Take a look at the ready-to-use analysis tools she developed for recordings, photos/film, maps and non-fiction text/newspapers.

Elementary-Level Analysis Tools ‌ ‌

TPS RU Consultant Lesson Plans

“The R.M.S. Titanic” ‌

5th-8th Grades
Subject: Social Studies and Language Arts
Submitted by: Pam Miner

“Oral History in the Classroom” ‌

High School
Subject: Social Studies
Submitted by: Nick Stange

“Veterans Project for Elementary Students”

Grades 1-5
Submitted by: Jen Wood

“Inferences” ‌

3rd-5th Grades
Submitted by: Sue Nickel

Lesson Plans Submitted by Rockford University Students

“George Washington”
Photos ‌
1st Grade
Subject: Social Studies
Submitted by: Dawn Seipts

“The Most Famous Invention” ‌
Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades
Subject: Science/Technology/Social Studies
Analysis Tool: Paper Airplane
Submitted by: Huong Le

“Changes in Time as Seen Through Photographs”
Worksheet
Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd Grades
Subject: Social Studies/Language Arts
Analysis Tool: Photo Analysis Worksheet
Submitted by: Brittany Gorham

“Abraham Lincoln and Grace Bedell-Letter Writing” ‌
2nd Grade
Subject: Social Studies, Language Arts
Submitted by: Wendy Comstock

“Voting” ‌
3rd Grade
Subject: Language Arts/Math/Social Science
Analysis Tool: Interview Worksheet
Submitted by: Lora Negrete

“Life on the Prairie Through the Eyes of a Pioneer Child” ‌ ‌
3rd and 4th Grades
Subject: Social Studies/History/Language Arts
Submitted by: Mary McDonald

“1900’s Immigrants” ‌
Grades: 3-5th
Subject: Social Studies
Submitted by: Becky Robinson

“Why do we use quilts?” ‌
4th Grade
Subject: Math/Art/Language Arts
Submitted by: Sarah Kaplan

“Comparing Native American Culture Across the United States” ‌
4th and 5th Grades
Subject: U.S. History/Social Studies
Submitted by: Tanya Keenan

“Exploring Maps with Open Eyes”
4th, 5th and 6th Grades
Subject: Geography/Social Studies
Submitted by: Susan Uram

“Trading Cards: Past and Present”
4th, 5th and 6th Grades
Subject: Language Arts/Social Studies
Submitted by: Sarah Kaplan

“What are they thinking? Recognizing Feelings and Perspectives of Others.”
5th Grade
Subject: Other/Civics
Analysis Tool: Analyzing Photos and Prints Worksheet
Submitted by: Ashley Carlson, Betsy Dhom

“Six Native American Tribes”
Presentation slides ‌
5th Grade
Subject: Social Studies
Submitted by: John Elbers II

“Saved by the Dog: Dogs in American History”
5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Grades
Subject: U.S. History
Submitted by: Mary McDonald

“London Bridge is Falling Down” ‌
Grades: 7th
Subject: Mathematics
Submitted by: Rachel Scanlan

“Graphing Air Quality Data from Chinese Cities”
Grades: 7th, 8th, and 9th
Subject: Science/Math
Measurement Analysis
Submitted by: Ashley Carlson

“Olympics Changes from Past to Present”
6th to 8th Grade
Subject: Physical Education
Submitted by: Justin Bonne

“The Art of Historical Posters”
6th, 7th and 8th Grades
Subject: Language Arts, Communication Skills, U.S. History
Submitted by: April Graves

“Chicago Architecture Walking Tour”
9th and 10th Grade
Subject: Art/History
Analysis Tool: Analyzing Photos and Prints Worksheet
Submitted by: Ashley Carlson, Natalie Penix, Sarah Waldron

“Women War Workers”
PowerPoint ‌
11th Grade
Subject: U.S. History
Analysis Tool: Photo Analysis Worksheet
Submitted by: Rob Ullrich

“Interview with a Slave” ‌
9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades
Subject: U.S. History
Submitted by: Kim Allen

“Radioactive Elements”
9th to 12th Grade
Subject: Chemistry/History
Submitted by: Kelsey Lovgren

“What can Brown do for you?”
PowerPoint ‌
9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades
Subject: U.S. History/Social Studies/Language Arts
Analysis Tool: Reading and Political Cartoon Analysis Worksheets
Submitted by: Manny Tang

“‌” ‌
11 and 12th Grade
Subject: History
Submitted by: Peter Hackman

“Oral History: Keeping the Tradition Alive” ‌
Grades: 11-12th
Subject: English
Submitted by: Amanda Plucker

TOOLS FOR EDUCATORS

The Library of Congress is a vast source of material that covers a broad range of topics and seemingly has primary source material for everything.  This glut of material may seem daunting to new and experienced teachers alike, which leads to difficulty choosing what to use in the classroom.  To help alleviate these issues, the Library of Congress offers many lesson starters and sample lesson plans on their website to help get the ball rolling in the classroom.  Here are a few of these sample lessons, hopefully they can inspire you in your future classroom activities. 

Billy the Kid: Perspectives on an Outlaw

Link to lesson plan here

This lesson relates to the westward movement in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Students analyze the role that gunfighters played in the settlement of the West and distinguish between their factual and fictional accounts using American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940

American Lives in Two Centuries: What is an American?

Link to lesson plan here

In 1782 Jean de Crevecoeur published “Letters from an American Farmer” in which he defined an American as a “descendant of Europeans” who, if he were “honest, sober and industrious,” prospered in a welcoming land of opportunity which gave him choice of occupation and residence.  Students will look at life histories from the interviews of everyday Americans conducted by Works Progress Administration officials between 1936-1940 to see if his definition still holds true in this country 150 years later.  Students will conclude by working toward a modern definition.  

Mark Twain’s Hannibal

Link to lesson plan here

Writers are influenced by their environment including their family, community, lifestyle or location.  One such writer was Mark Twain.  In this project the learner will become familiar with and analyze life around Hannibal, Missouri, during the latter half of the nineteenth century using various resources to determine what effects this location had on the writings of Mark Twain.

The Great Gatsby: Primary Sources from the Roaring Twenties

Link to lesson plan here

In order to appreciate historical fiction, students need to understand the factual context and recognize how popular culture reflects the values, mores, and events of the time period.  Since a newspaper records significant events and attitudes representative of a period, students create their own newspapers utilizing primary source materials from the American Memory collections.  

The Conservation Movement at a Crossroads: The Hetch Hetchy Controversy 

Link to lesson plan here

The debate over damming the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park marked a crossroads in the American Conservation movement.  Until this debate, conservationists seemed fairly united in their aims.  San Francisco’s need for a reliable water supply, along with a new political dynamic at the federal level, created a division between those committed to preserving the wilderness and those more interested in efficient management of its use. 

Library of Congress Scavenger Hunt

Link to lesson plan here

In a lesson created by our own head of the Teaching with Primary Sources department here at Rockford University, Dr. Deb Dew takes classrooms on a guided journey through the digital archives found on the Library of Congress’ website.  This is a fun and interactive lesson that can be used with either students or groups of other educators in order to get familiar with the website. 

EVENTS

June 17 – 28, 2019
Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Graduate Course (EDUC 510)

1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., Room 122 at the Puri School of Business, Rockford University

During the first week, a series of guest speakers will present strategies for accessing and integrating curricula utilizing the digitized primary source materials from the collections of the Library of Congress website. Educators who enroll in the three-credit graduate course will design a unit suitable for their classrooms during the second week.

Stipends for the workshop are available. PDHs will be presented upon the completion of both the workshop and graduate course.

PROGRAM INFORMATION

The mission of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program is to build awareness of the Library’s educational initiatives; provide content that promotes the effective educational use of the Library’s resources; and offer access to and promote sustained use of the Library’s educational resources. The Library achieves this mission through collaborations between the Library and the K-12 educational community across the United States. The program contributes to the quality of education by helping teachers use the Library’s digitized primary sources to engage students, develop their critical thinking skills and construct knowledge. Learn more about the Library’s TPS program and other resources available to teachers at loc.gov/teachers.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled integrated resources to Congress and the American people. Founded in 1800, the Library seeks to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, which bring to bear the world’s knowledge in almost all of the world’s languages and America’s private sector intellectual and cultural creativity in almost all formats. The Library seeks to spark the public’s imagination and celebrate human achievement through its programs and exhibits. In doing so, the Library helps foster the informed and involved citizenry upon which American democracy depends. Today, the Library serves the public, scholars, Members of Congress and their staff – all of whom seek information, understanding and inspiration. Many of the Library’s rich resources and treasures may also be accessed through the Library’s award-winning website loc.gov.

National TPS Program’s Levels of Professional Development

Professional development activities under Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) progress along three program levels. K-12 educators have the option of taking workshops and courses, offered by TPS Consortium members, under all or some of these levels, depending on their interests.

Level I–Participants gain strategies for using primary sources to help students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills and build content knowledge.

Participants learn:

• What are primary sources;
• Why teach with primary sources; and
• How to teach with primary sources.

Level II– Participants evaluate, create and teach topic-specific, content-informed lessons that integrate primary sources from the Library of Congress and exemplify effective instructional practices.

Participants:

• Gain a thorough understanding of effective instructional practices with emphases on inquiry-based and student-centered learning using primary sources
• Learn to identify exemplary learning experiences
• Create standards-based, content-informed learning experiences integrating primary sources from the
• Library of Congress that exemplify effective instructional practice
• Teach, assess and reflect on their experiences using primary sources in instruction
• Evaluate primary source-based learning experiences
• Investigate the effects of primary source-based instruction on student learning

Level III – Experienced educators advocate the use of primary sources and help disseminate the ideas, methods and products of the TPS program.

Participants:

• Mentor colleagues on the effective instructional uses of primary sources
• Evaluate learning experiences for widespread dissemination and use
• Interact and collaborate with other teachers who are using Library of Congress primary sources
• Conduct research into the effective use of primary sources in education
• Contribute to the use of effective practices for using primary sources in instruction by leading professional development activities

What are Primary Sources

Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience.

Examining primary sources gives students a powerful sense of history and the complexity of the past. Helping students analyze primary sources can also guide them toward higher-order thinking and better critical thinking and analysis skills.

Before you begin:

• Choose at least two or three primary sources that support the learning objectives and are accessible to students.
• Consider how students can compare these items to other primary and secondary sources.
• Identify an analysis tool or guiding questions that students will use to analyze the primary sources

1. Engage students with primary sources.

Draw on students’ prior knowledge of the topic.
Ask students to closely observe each primary source.

• Who created this primary source?
• When was it created?
• Where does your eye go first?

Help students see key details.

• What do you see that you didn’t expect?
• What powerful words and ideas are expressed?

Encourage students to think about their personal response to the source.

• What feelings and thoughts does the primary source trigger in you?
• What questions does it raise?

2. Promote student inquiry.

Encourage students to speculate about each source, its creator, and its context.

• What was happening during this time period?
• What was the creator’s purpose in making this primary source?
• What does the creator do to get his or her point across?
• What was this primary source’s audience?
• What biases or stereotypes do you see?

Ask if this source agrees with other primary sources, or with what the students already know.
Ask students to test their assumptions about the past.
Ask students to find other primary or secondary sources that offer support or contradiction.

3. Assess how students apply critical thinking and analysis skills to primary sources.

Have students summarize what they’ve learned.

• Ask for reasons and specific evidence to support their conclusions.
• Help students identify questions for further investigation, and develop strategies for how they might answer them.

Analysis tools and thematic primary source sets from the Library offer entry points to many topics.

• Why Use Primary Sources
• Citing Primary Sources

Information Source: Library of Congress

TEACHING WITH PRIMARY SOURCES

Funded by a grant from the The Library of Congress, the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program at Rockford University supports Northern Illinois educators in their efforts to incorporate primary-source, inquiry-based learning to enhance the achievement of students in kindergarten through grade 12. The program is conducted through undergraduate and graduate classes leading to teacher certification at Rockford University, including student teaching.

The program also provides free in-service workshops and graduate class stipends for K-12 educators in partner school districts to expand the community of educators using primary-source, inquiry-based learning experiences. The program also identifies, encourages and supports participating university faculty who provide TPS professional development to area K-12 educators.

Teaching with Primary Sources program at Rockford University collaborates with school districts, universities, libraries, and foundations to help teachers use the Library’s vast collection of digitized primary sources to enrich their classroom instruction.

For additional information, visit: loc.gov/teachers.

Rockford University will be presenting a workshop examining modern genocide given by Reid Jutras on December 6th.  This workshop will delve into the complexities of modern genocide utilizing primary source documents to drive instruction.  To attend please email Mitchell Dean at MDean@rockford.edu to register.

TPS Teachers Network

Join your colleagues on the TPS Teachers Network by registering at their website tpsteachersnetwork.org. You will be able to join TPS groups of interest, discuss strategies for teaching with primary sources, connect with colleagues and TPS partners, and share resources and teaching ideas.
Need help searching the Library of Congress/Teaching with Primary Sources sites for developing lesson plans or class projects? Contact: Mitchell Dean at MDean@rockford.edu.

*Digital sources for images shown above: Jane Adda, Drafts of Langston Hughes’s poem “Ballad of Booker T.,” 30 May-1 June 1941, Chicago (Victor 18946, B-26733/4 ), Children sitting and kneeling on the ground and painting at Hull House, Panoramic view of Rockford, Ill., Hull-House community workshop Register now: Free classes in painting, sculpture, pottery, weaving, poster art.