In this lesson, students critique a standard textbook account of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. They read and analyze two primary documents and consider how this evidence specifically contests the textbook’s account. First, the teacher elicits students’ existing knowledge about Rosa Parks. Then, students read a textbook passage and two conflicting primary documents. Finally, students write a revised textbook account or an editorial pointing out the textbook account’s deficiencies and how these affect our understanding of this important event.

In this lesson, students engage in an inquiry focused upon different historical interpretations of Social Security and the New Deal. They examine the different ways that historians Carl Degler, Barton Bernstein, and Anthony Badger have addressed the question: Did the Social Security Act and the New Deal fundamentally change the role of American government in the economy? Students learn elements of historiography—in particular that interpretations of history may differ, in part, due to the evidence used by historians and their particular perspectives. Finally, students answer the inquiry question themselves and support their arguments with evidence from both primary and secondary documents.

In this lesson on the Spanish American War from Historical Thinking Matters, students will use contrasting newspaper accounts of the explosion of the Maine to gain insight into how an author’s word and information choices influence the message and tone of the text. Students will view a 3-minute movie to establish context, use a graphic organizer to compare the articles, and write an essay where they take a position about which account is most believable.

In this lesson, students work through the Spanish-American War investigation on the Historical Thinking Matters website. They read the nine documents, answer guiding questions on the interactive on-line notebook, and prepare to complete the final essay assignment using their notes. Each day includes a brief teacher-led activity or presentation designed to facilitate students’ work. Students complete an essay and participate in a discussion reviewing the four historical reading strategies used to frame the site’s notebook questions.

This resource contains a primary source about a supreme court case related to World War II. Accompanying the reading are text-dependent questions, an academic vocabulary list, and a writing prompt with student samples.

In this lesson, students explore the historical context of Walt Whitman's concept of "democratic poetry" by reading his poetry and prose and by examining daguerreotypes taken circa 1850. Next, students will compare the poetic concepts and techniques behind Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" and Langston Hughes' "Let America Be America Again," and have an opportunity to apply similar concepts and techniques in creating a poem from their own experience.

In this lesson, students will examine how Wiesel constructs a compelling argument in "Hope, Despair, and Memory" through claims, counterclaims, evidence, and reasoning.