Eastern Illinois University Homepage

Themed Resources

• Library of Congress Online Resources for Educators (pdf)
• Abraham Lincoln
• Art of War:
  WWI and WWII Posters
• Cartoon Analysis
• Childhood Lost:Child Labor During Industrial Revolution
• Coles County: Taught with Primary Sources
• Corp of Discovery:
  Revealing the American West
• Teaching the Holocaust with Primary Sources
• Illinois: Taught with Primary Sources
• Presidential Campaigns: Packaging the Presidents
• Underground Railroad:
  A Path to Freedom
• Verse and Chorus
• WWII
• Top Topics

Special Projects

• Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Tools 
• Classroom Activities
• Constant Motion:
  The Job of Railway Post Office Clerks
• Constitution Day
• Library of Congress Site Update "Cheat Sheet" (pdf)
• Lincoln Assassination CSI Activity
• Patriotic Songs
• • September 11
  • Teaching with Lincoln
  • Veterans Day

Professional Development

• Update-Summer Institute
• TPS EIU Jump-Start
• TPS in Action
  (onsite workshop series)
• Customized Teaching with Primary Sources Institutes

Additional LInks

• EIUTPS Google Search Tool
• National TPS Site
• Library of Congress
• loc.gov Teacher PageAbraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

How to Select Primary Sources

Learning Page Lesson Framework. (n.d.) Retrieved October 1, 2007, from http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/fw.html

Interest

What kinds of sources are of particular interest to my students?

Reading Level

How difficult is the reading level of the primary source compared to my students' abilities? What might help my students comprehend this material (a glossary of terms, for example)?

Length

How long is the source? Do I need to excerpt a portion of the source given my students' abilities and/or time constraints? How do I ensure that the original meaning of the source is preserved in the excerpt?

Points of View

Are various points of view on a given topic, event, or issue fairly represented in the sources I have chosen to use? Have I achieved proper balance among the competing points of view?

Variety of Sources

Have I included a variety of types of sources (e.g., published, unpublished, text, visual, and artifacts)?

Location

Where can I or my students find the sources we need (the school or public library, the local history society, over the Internet)?