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Editor's Notebook

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Teaching Difficult Topics with Primary Sources

By Lee Ann Potter

The featured documents illustrate the value of primary sources as points of entry into challenging subjects.

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I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier: Ideas and Strategies for Using Music from the National Jukebox to Teach Difficult Topics in History

By Stacie Moats and Stephanie Poxon

As a favored outlet for self-expression, music is a valuable classroom resource for addressing complex topics such as different perspectives on war.

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Memory of a Nation: Effectively Using Artworks to Teach about the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

By Elizabeth K. Eder

Artwork, such as the featured pieces related to the Kennedy assassination, can teach students both content and core historical thinking skills.

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Hear My Voice! Teaching Difficult Subjects with Graphic Organizers

By Kim E. Barbieri

A well-designed graphic organizer combined with original documents can help students tackle issues of racism, segregation, and civil unrest.

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Confronting Stereotypes

By Carol Buswell

Primary-source documents can provide students with fresh perspectives on topics often laden with stereotypes—such as the issue of Native Americans and treaty rights.

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Dealing with Disaster through Compassionate Giving: San Francisco Earthquake Survivors Write to President Theodore Roosevelt, January 3, 1909

By Michael Hussey

The featured letter from a San Francisco couple seeking to help earthquake victims in Italy can serve as a jumping off point into the study of natural disasters and emergency relief efforts.

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Evaluating Perspectives on Westward Expansion: Weighing the Evidence

By Stephanie Greenhut

A unique online tool helps students analyze documents from opposing perspectives, weigh each source's significance, and come to evidence-based conclusions.

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Letter to President Harry Truman about the Murder of Harry T. Moore

By Megan Jones

The featured letter to President Truman about the murder of an NAACP official can be used as a springboard into the exploration of the civil rights struggle and violence, as well as the issue of presidential powers.

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Encountering the Complicated Legacy of Andersonville

By James A. Percoco

Teaching about the Civil War through the study of historic sites, such as the Confederate prison at Andersonville, challenges students to wrestle with tough interpretations of American history.

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Norman Rockwell's The Problem We All Live With: Teaching Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board

By Tiffany Middleton

A painting inspired by the 1960 court-ordered escort of Ruby Bridges into a New Orleans school offers an entry point into the study of the civil rights movement and a significant event in American legal history.

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Teaching about Bullying and Cyberbullying with the Internet

By C. Frederick Risinger

These recommended sites provide teachers with lesson plans and other resources for combating bullying.

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Research, Theory and the K-12 Classroom Teacher

By Michael M. Yell

Noteworthy research and theory, of the kind highlighted in Walter Parker's Social Studies Today, should be part of the personal journey of classroom teachers.