7 Peer-Recommended Online Resources For History Teachers
New Jersey Alternate Route candidates specializing in history recently shared their “go-to”web resources for writing prompts, quizzes, Powerpoints, lesson plans and more. More than 200 teachers contributed to this blog series on NJ Professional Standards for Teachers (NJPTS) aligned teacher resources.
Here are seven free digital resources for history teachers:
New York Times Learning Network
“The New York Times Learning Network contains an extensive library of classroom resources - including lesson plans, writing prompts, quizzes and more - all of which are based on articles, essays, images, videos, and graphics published by The New York Times.”
“The Google Arts and Culture database includes content from more than 1,000 major museums and archives that are partnered with the Google Cultural Institute, bringing artifacts of the world online. The presentation of the Google Arts and Culture library of materials is as extensive as it is elegant, which adds to the fun of exploring the database library for students. My favorite feature of the database is the virtual tours of various locations around the world. From the Taj Mahal in India to the Kremlin in Moscow to The National Gallery in London, a seemingly endless gallery of 360-degree tours bring students that much closer to experiencing places of the world they may never have the opportunity to visit in person. Best of all, the database is ever-expanding, with Google adding daily features and new galleries on a regular basis.”
“This site was particularly useful during this past election season. It has complete lessons, with guided student work and Powerpoints, all of which are geared toward teaching kids to be active citizens. The topics range from overviews of the federal government, to voting rights, to the electoral college. It even lets you set up mock elections. Awesome site!”
“If this is the first exposure you're going to have to this site, your workload just got a little bit lighter. Leveled reading selections, organized by topic, Lexile range, and length. Perfect for homework, independent work, supplements to lessons.”
“This website has a lot of social studies reading passages based on lexile levels. Students will be able to read, interpret, and construct written responses to a subject based on their level.”
The Bill of Rights Institute is a free resource providing lesson plans, activities, documents, and many other helpful resources for teaching about civics and the Constitution.
The Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History
“Comprehensive website filled with lesson plans, primary documents, and media presentations for all age groups. Their information is exhaustively researched and typically provides deeper information than a typical history textbook.”
Comments
ICIVICS
ICivics is a great resource that when reviewing provides relevant material for many different history courses at the high school level. The website is extremely user friendly and it appears students should have zero issue navigating the website. As a teacher this site is perfect to pull resources, lessons, or review materials in all different types of learning styles. The app can help teach higher order thinking skills and definitely should be a resource for all teachers during the academic year.
History
The NY Times-Learning Center app is a valuable tool for exploring historical and current-event topics. The app offers a wide variety of articles, lesson plans and PDF attachments that are useful as graphic organizers. In addition there are a variety of assignments that would work well as a "Do-Now," such as a series of Think/See/Wonder exercises where the students would write their own caption for a news article. Finally there are both quiz and vocab assignments so that teachers can offer multiple and differentiated assessment opportunities to their students.
iCivics Offers Insights Through Lessons, Games
The iCivics website provides a host of insightful lesson materials and even some games that can teach students about the Constitution and the amendments through higher-level thinking. ICivics helps students connect the various parts of the Constitution to their everyday lives, motivating them to dig deep. The game on the Second Constitutional Convention, when the Framers created what is now our Constitution, is especially engaging, with students getting to pick different historical options and see how they affect the delicate political balance at the Convention. English- and Spanish-language materials let bilingual social studies teachers choose the format that best serves their students.
History
The NY Times-Learning Center app is a valuable tool for exploring historical and current-event topics. The app offers a wide variety of articles, lesson plans and PDF attachments that are useful as graphic organizers. In addition there are a variety of assignments that would work well as a "Do-Now," such as a series of Think/See/Wonder exercises where the students would write their own caption for a news article. Finally there are both quiz and vocab assignments so that teachers can offer multiple and differentiated assessment opportunities to their students.
Heather Ngoma has over 25 years of experience collaborating with educators across New Jersey to drive education innovation. She currently serves as the Director of the Rutgers-GSE Alternate Route Program in the Department of Learning and Teaching, a program which helps career changers, recent college graduates, and other aspiring education professionals become licensed teachers in New Jersey. Follow her on Twitter @heatherngoma.
History
Based on my experience with the New York Times Learning Network the sources they provide are excellent and definitely push higher level thinking based off of the Bloom's Taxonomy. The site does not provide any summary or grading aspects so the teacher needs to create their own system for that, but the materials are really useful and can be incorporated into independent or group work. Can help teachers plan with materials for the classes. Also helpful for planning ideas.