Secondary sources provide students valuable insight into historians' arguments, showing how they disagree, and how events of the present shape interpretation of the past.

A study of the Supreme Court case, Ohio v. Clark, about suspected child abuse reported to authorities by teachers, can ignite a stimulating classroom debate about the Sixth Amendment right to confront one's accuser.

Activities such as the Shays' Rebellion investigation outlined in this article enable students to develop inquiry and literacy practices as they integrate critical reading, historical thinking, and argument writing.

The newest exhibit from George Washington's Mount Vernon is online, and worth a visit. "Lives Bound Together" explores the personal stories of the people enslaved at Mount Vernon and George Washington's evolving opinions about slavery.  http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery Invite students to also explore the various tabs at this webpage, which include: 10 Facts About George Washington & Slavery Despite having been an active slave holder for 56 years, George Washington struggled with the institution of slavery. How Much Do You Know About Slavery at Mount Vernon? Test…

Preparing students for responsible citizenship begins with a solid understanding of the content and meaning of the Bill of Rights.Teaching American History (TAH.org) strives to make that task easier through this easy-to-use exhibit. A highlight of the exhibit is an interactive chart tracing the documentary and political origins of each of the rights in the Bill of Rights. The chart lists all the documents covered on TAH.org and correlates them with the rights that appear in James Madison's proposals. "You can personalize your experience by viewing the specific rights and various documents in…

FRONTLINE/PBS This program aims to "get the inside story of the creation of ISIS, and learn how the U.S. missed the many warning signs of its genesis. The film uncovers the terror group’s earliest plans, the Islamic radicals who became its leaders, and the American failures to stop ISIS’ brutal rise." And see the related FRONTLINE episode on December 29, 2016, "Exodus," which offers first-person stories of refugees and migrants fleeing war and persecution for Europe, told through camera-phone footage filmed by the families themselves as they leave their homes on dangerous journeys to seek…

DSM-Smithsonian/PBS Follow a select group of individuals determined to bring Egypt back from the brink: to discover more of the country’s history, keep its heritage safe and persuade tourists to visit the country again. There's a description of the program at http://www.dsp.tv/productions/egypts-treasure-guardians View the fun photos (great for middle school eyes) of artifacts and archaeologists (men and women; Egyptian, British, and Americans) crawling under huge rocks, working in the lab, bringing a new find into the sunlight for the first time, etc.) at http://www.natgeotv.com/uk/egypts-…

PBS/WETA Civilians worldwide are increasingly the targets of war crimes. This unprecedented series examines the evolution of postwar justice in investigating genocide, ethnic cleansing and other atrocities and in prosecuting the perpetrators.   The full title of the series is "Dead Reckoning: War, Crime, and Justice from World War II to the War on Terror." The episodes are slated to be shown on Monday evenings, December 5-19, 2016, but check local listings. “The General’s Ghost” (12/5/2016) “The Blind Eye” (12/12/2016) “In Our Time” (12/19/2016) Here's a description from a one-page fact sheet…

The Library of Congress has a new curated web presentation—“Food for Thought: Presidents, Prime Ministers, and other National Press Club Luncheon Speakers, 1954-1989” (loc.gov/rr/record/pressclub/)—that features speeches by some of the world’s most important newsmakers, including presidents, international leaders and other political and cultural icons of the period. Most of these select speeches from the Library’s National Press Club Collection have not been heard in their entirety since they were initially delivered.  The online presentation spans 35 years and accompanying essays put…

The American Historical Association recently launched "Teaching with #DigHist," a new review series targeted at history instructors from primary to graduate school focused on how to use digital history projects in the classroom. Each review provides an overview of the project, ideas on how to use it in the classroom and sample assignments. This is a free resource. The best landing page is: https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources/tea…. The first entry examines "ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World" and discusses the ways it can be used to…