Time Out – Spotlight Offensive Language in Primary Sources
Every unit of the Reform to Equal Rights: K-12 Disability History Curriculum includes an introduction to the topic of disability, including strategies to address disrespectful vocabulary.
Language-aware lesson example: Colonial Daily Life (3rd Grade)
Explore primary sources to learn about daily life in Colonial Massachusetts.
Students will practice with posing questions about primary source documents and then analyzing the resources to learn more about life in Colonial Massachusetts. Students will summarize their learning in the final lesson.
What was everyday life like for people who lived near the ocean in Massachusetts 250 years ago?
What can a newspaper tell us about the lives of men, women, and children in 1767 Massachusetts?
Focus skills include:
What is our value? A look at undervalued people
What is our value? The principle that people are paid for their work does not always work as it should; many people who have been historically undervalued have contributed to American society, including many people of color, people with a disability, women, and children. Students view images and text of people whose lives may not have been adequately valued by their contemporaries. Students examine those documents, do further research, and come to their own conclusions about how those individuals should have been and should be valued, and possibly assisted.
Zoom-In Visual Inquiry Activity
Wendy Harris, a teacher at Metro Deaf School in St.
Immigrant Stories: Why we came, and what we brought with us
In this lesson on the experiences and contributions of immigrants to the United States, elementary students explore the reasons why people have made life changes in moving to a new country, both earlier in history and recently, using primary sources and interviewing accessible adults.
Distance Check-in
Teachers strive to engage all learners. A 'best practice' is to create multiple ways for students to communicate what they need, and multiple ways to check in to see how students are learning. Simple online survey tools can provide an avenue for students to communicate how they are doing.
Disability History Primary Source Set
Disability History: From Almshouses to Civil Rights
UPDATED IN 2020. The following primary source set, created using materials from the Library of Congress, contains an array of sources focused on Disability History in the United States. Disability has been interwoven into America’s history since the country’s inception through letters, images, newspapers, diaries and other primary sources. The set provides a comprehensive look into a wide range of Library of Congress resources.
Question Formulation Technique (QFT)
The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) developed by the Right Question Institute is both a simple, practical teaching technique and a philosophy of learning that empowers ALL learners to discover questions for themselves.
Emerging America Lesson Design Toolkit
Keep at hand all seven items in the Emerging America Lesson Design Toolkit to support strong lesson plan development. You will also need copies of applicable academic standards and, of course, your text set, and any other support materials for the lesson. Refer to each tool to broaden choices for you and for students. The tools help make precise and clear the language in lesson objectives, instructions for assignments, rubrics, graphic organizers, and other handouts.
RAN Chart
A Tool to Help Correct Misconceptions
The point of the RAN Chart (RAN stands for "Read and Analyze Non-fiction") is for students to research and confirm or correct their ideas for themselves! (Thus the RAN Chart improves on the old "Know-Wonder-Learned / KWL" chart.)
Step 1: Draw the RAN Chart on a whiteboard or smart board, or arrange note cards or post-its on a RAN Chart template. Ideally, leave the RAN Chart up through throughout an investigation. Create categories to help categorize the important ideas and information of the topic.