Primary Sources

Are you looking for a way to incorporate primary sources in your classroom in a meaningful way?  Check out the Newseum Digital Classroom, a free resource from Newseum Education.   There's lots to love about Digital Classroom, including three full learning modules:

•      Decision 2012 explores elections and the news media
•      Making a Change examines how the first amendment shaped the civil rights movement
•      Women: Their Rights and Nothing Less investigates the women's suffrage movement 

There are comprehensive lesson plans in each module as well as information related to Historical Connections, Media Literacy, and Civics and Citizenship.  In addition, you can find video lessons on a variety of topics.

My favorite part, though, is the Primary Sources collection.  There are front pages from both northern and southern newspapers in the Civil War era, open letters between President Lincoln and abolitionist Horace Greeley, and an outstanding collection of more than 150 artifacts related to Women's Suffrage, many of which you can download as a PDF.

There are a multitude of ways to use these resources, and the Newseum has already created great lesson plans aligned to NCTE and NCSS standards.  You can use them as-is, or pick and choose the materials that best fit your grade level and curriculum.  I have found the materials to be perfect for my middle school ELA and journalism classes, and I think they would be great in history or humanities classes as well.