Teacher's Guide for COBBLESTONE ^® National Archives

The National Archives and Records Administration actively promotes excellence in History and Social Studies education. Documents from NARA are available to teachers and students on line, in curriculum kits, in Social Education, the journal of the National Council for the Social Studies, and on site in its nationwide network of facilities. Many important documents, teaching suggestions, background information, and focus worksheets are accessible at the "Digital Classroom" component of the NARA website. Currently, the National Archives is working with National History Day and classroom teachers to develop exemplary lesson plans relating to Our Documents, an initiative to highlight 100 milestone documents in American History. Lesson plans will be available on line, as will information on future competitions for teachers.

Lesson plans based on specific documents from NARA holdings are featured on line in the Teaching With Documents section of the "Digital Classroom." The section provides reproducible digital images of documents, historical background, and teaching suggestions. Compilations of documents with supporting materials are also available in printed kits, and are grouped chronologically and sometimes topically or thematically. A full listing of published material is available under Locating Publications on the "Digital Classroom" site. With middle grade learners in mind, Cobblestone Publishing features NARA documents in its Teaching With Primary Sources series.

Education specialists from the National Archives present documents and teaching strategies to audiences of educators at conventions around the country. Look for sessions on primary sources at NCHE (October - Los Angeles), NCSS (November - Chicago), and at state and regional meetings of these and other professional organizations.

Teachers interested in learning how to perform archival research to develop document based units on individual topics of interest might consider participating in Primarily Teaching, an eight-day institute held annually in the Washington, DC, area. This is a hands-on archival experience based on NARA holdings. In 2004, the dates for the institute are June 23-July 2.

Even if teachers can't travel to Washington, many state and local archives, libraries and historical societies also hold rich primary source materials. Teachers can create their own document-based lessons using local resources. To formulate good document based questions, or DBQ's, teachers should consider the following:

• Documents should be legible, and age appropriate
• Add visual variety by including charts, photos, maps, cartoons, and graphs
• Limit number of documents and complexity for younger students
• Create tension by focusing students on bias, point of view, and change over time

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Updated: 11/21/09 05:34 am
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