Civics and Government Resources from Gilder Lehrman

 I've always thought of Gilder Lehrman as a source for great American history material, but they now have free resources on their Citizenship Test page. You can now

• Take the US Naturalization Exam—available in short, intermediate, and full formats—and receive real-time feedback on your results.
• Let students test their knowledge (and compete against classmates) in hands-on, interactive quizzes created in partnership with Kahoot!, the acclaimed global learning platform.
• Watch brief educational videos with historians and civic figures which explore the historical significance behind each test question.
• Use free teaching resources aligned with history and civics standards for grades 3–12, including lesson plans and multimedia content to encourage classroom discussions on civic engagement.

Explore their Citizenship Test hub.

 

Teaching with Primary Sources

 Colleague and co-director of National History Day in Montana Melissa Hibbard recently shared an interesting post from Facing History & Ourselves: Six Ways to Teach with Primary Sources.

I'd argue that primary sources are what bring history to life by allowing students to touch part of the past. Primary sources can also build empathy, and they are excellent for teaching students to think critically and to consider how creators' perspectives shape sources, something all citizens need to know.

It's worth clicking through to read the whole article, which offers links and information about

• Using a Document Analysis Form, a graphic organizer that walk students through questions to determine the text's bias and perspective. (Their form is similar to, but not exactly the same as, the National Archives'. I'd be interested in knowing if one works better for your students than the other and why, if anyone is willing to perform that experiment.)
• A strategy for analyzing and paraphrasing sources, which teaches students to take notes and "address the validity of evidence, the perspective of the source and their own interpretation."
• A strategy for analyzing images. (I'm a VTS devotee, but It's always good to have another tool in your toolbox!) 
• See, Think, Wonder, the simple but surprisingly useful tool to get students to "slow down their thinking and simply observe before drawing conclusions and asking questions."
• S-I-T: Surprising, Interesting, Troubling, a strategy that gets students to engage in material. 

• AncestryClassroom, a free tool for teachers that makes "billions of historical records...available to educators and students, along with resources for the classroom and professional learning."  

Mark Johnson to Lead Our January PD

We're taking December off from Social Studies Second Tuesdays, but I hope you'll join us on January 14 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. for Teaching Montana's Chinese History, with Mark Johnson, the author of Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky and Associate Clinical Professor at Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education. Mark is a powerful presenter who is eager to share why it's important to include the history of Chinese immigration in your curriculum and introduce new lessons for teaching about the Chinese in Montana. Attendees will earn one renewal unit. Register.