Teachers who feel pressured by testing and curricular requirements should reach beyond mundane facts to make social studies more personal and poetic.

The creation of thematic units around such topics as ethnicity, progress, conflict, and migration, offers a valuable structure for teaching about a region as diverse as Latin America.

Analyzing historical movies and TV dramas for content, structure, and themes can help students advance their media literacy and historical literacy skills.

Newly available online documents about the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg offer students a unique opportunity to investigate, analyze, and craft their own narratives about this high profile Cold War espionage case.

The visual imagery of political cartoons offers teachers the opportunity to explore the presidential election with students from a unique and stimulating angle.

Educators will find the websites highlighted in this column useful for teaching about the history of government and government systems around the world.

Sohyun An

Jada KohlmeierPrimary documents about a young girl growing up during China’s cultural revolution, a Russian peasant living under Stalin, and a woman in sixteenth century Germany offer students a unique perspective of important historical periods. 479Research and Practice