Bringing History to Life

Finding interesting ways to bring history to life and make it relevant for students can engage and intrigue almost any learner.  One of the more exciting ways to do this is through the use of primary resources, such as documents, photos, videos, and maps.  The National Archives has a fantastic online resource that provides digital copies of these first-hand resources as well as pre-made activities you can use with your students.

DocsTeach is a service provided by The National Archives that curates, organizes, and supplies digital primary resources and activities to teachers and students for free.  Once teachers register for a DocsTeach account, they can find, modify, and save pre-made activities as well as create their own from the thousands of primary resources available.  The National Archives adds new resources all the time.  The resources, documents, and activities range from lower elementary to high school.

Documents and resources are organized and grouped by historical eras, which are the ones included in the National History Standards.  When searching, you can browse by era, media type, or search with keywords.

DocsTeach also provides seven tools that are designed to strengthen particular critical thinking skills.

1. Finding a Sequence:  Putting documents/resources in chronological order
2. Focusing on Details:  Doing a close reading and analyzing details
3. Making Connections:  Exploring the relationship between events and the concept of cause-and-effect
4. Mapping History:  Gaining a geographical context of history   
5. Seeing the Big Picture:  Matching resources that are related to one another in a concentration style game
6. Weighing the Evidence:  Evaluating the strength of resources in proving a point
7. Interpreting Data:  Assessing the source of a document

With DocsTeach, teachers and students can explore history and geography by bringing it all to life with interesting and interactive primary resources and activities.  Here are some helpful guides from DocsTeach:

DocsTeach Overview

DocsTeach Guide to Creating Activities