Create and share primary-source activities at DocsTeach
November 2, 2010
The National Archives has recently combined an interactive approach with their extraordinary collection of primary-source documents. The result is called DocsTeach and U.S. history teachers will soon be flocking to it.
Perhaps the best feature of DocsTeach is that it lets teachers take the lead. The Archives provides the documents; teachers create and share the activities. There are a variety of activity templates that encourage critical reading and allow you to work with the documents in a way that fits your teaching. In Finding a Sequence, the dates of documents are hidden and students have to put them in chronological order. Mapping History challenges them to pin documents on a map. Pictured here is weighing the Evidence, in which students put documents on one side or another to support a position on an issue.
The documents themselves are impressive because they are not presented as text, but images of the originals. With every pen mark, stamp, and crease visible, the documents tell compelling stories.
Though DocsTeach is new this year, there’s already a considerable amount of teacher-created activities available. You can give your students a link directly to a specific activity, and they can use the email feature to send their work to you. If you don’t find the activity you want, what a great excuse to create your own!
Related stuff
Read milestone documents from American history at Our Documents
U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian
Awesome Stories: Connecting primary sources from around the web
