This introduction to writing lesson plans will take you through the process step-by step. For further help identifying sites, use the Research It! tool on this TwHP website, or visit the National Register of Historic Places website.
Before you get started, you may want to prepare a preliminary outline to help organize your lesson plan as you go through the next steps.
TwHP asks authors to give careful thought to the focus of the lesson they want to write. Historic places generally can be used to help tell a number of different stories relating to one or more themes and time periods in American history. A single lesson plan cannot "do it all."
TwHP finds it to be very helpful for an author to start by crafting a focus statement for his or her lesson plan. This can inform the formation of learning objectives, which together with the focus then form the basis for determining the content of the readings, selection of documents, and creation of activities.
As work through the remaining steps, continue work on your outline and include the following information:
1. Name of the subject place, as it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places
2. Proposed Title of the lesson plan
3. Focus Statement
4. National History Standards (U.S. Grades 5-12) the lesson will help meet
5. Student Learning Objectives (4-5 actual learning objectives)
6. Setting the Stage (description of the contextual information that will be included in this section of the lesson plan)
7. Locating the Site (identification of the map(s) you plan to use and their purpose)
8. Readings (description of each 2-4 readings, including any primary textual documents)
9. Visual Evidence (identification of the photographs, drawings, cartoons, charts, etc.)
10. Putting it All Together (description of 2-4 student activities to expand the lesson - at least one activity must direct students to their own local history and historic places)
**Make sure that you determine whether any maps, photographs, artwork, other types of images, and other documents are in the public domain. Avoid using materials that require payment to a museum, archive, library, etc. TwHP cannot pay any costs to secure the use of images or documents for TwHP lesson plans.
TwHP asks authors to give careful thought to the focus of the lesson they want to write. Historic places generally can be used to help tell a number of different stories relating to one or more themes and time periods in American history. A single lesson plan cannot "do it all."
TwHP finds it to be very helpful for an author to start by crafting a focus statement for his or her lesson plan. This can inform the formation of learning objectives, which together with the focus then form the basis for determining the content of the readings, selection of documents, and creation of activities.
As work through the remaining steps, continue work on your outline and include the following information:
1. Name of the subject place, as it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places
2. Proposed Title of the lesson plan
3. Focus Statement
4. National History Standards (U.S. Grades 5-12) the lesson will help meet
5. Student Learning Objectives (4-5 actual learning objectives)
6. Setting the Stage (description of the contextual information that will be included in this section of the lesson plan)
7. Locating the Site (identification of the map(s) you plan to use and their purpose)
8. Readings (description of each 2-4 readings, including any primary textual documents)
9. Visual Evidence (identification of the photographs, drawings, cartoons, charts, etc.)
10. Putting it All Together (description of 2-4 student activities to expand the lesson - at least one activity must direct students to their own local history and historic places)
**Make sure that you determine whether any maps, photographs, artwork, other types of images, and other documents are in the public domain. Avoid using materials that require payment to a museum, archive, library, etc. TwHP cannot pay any costs to secure the use of images or documents for TwHP lesson plans.
An important step in writing a Teaching with Historic Places lesson plan is selecting a historic place. America's history is embodied in the places we see all around us, whether they are the sites of regionally-important events with national repercussions or the places that help show us how national issues played out locally. We hope that you will look at your community for inspiration for your lesson plan.
Questions to ask when selecting a historic place for your students to study:
1. What historic place would you like to use?
2. What is the story and why is it important? Why is the place an important source of evidence for learning that?
3. How does the place fit into curriculum topics, such as history, geography, social studies, or other subjects?
4. How can the place help students develop learning skills, such as observation, synthesis, and analysis?
5. What questions does the place bring to mind? Where might you find the answers?
6. How could you use the place in the classroom, especially if you could not visit it? What other sources of evidence would be useful?
7. What questions would you most like to ask someone knowledgeable about the site and its history? Where would you find such a person?
Questions to ask when selecting a historic place for your students to study:
1. What historic place would you like to use?
2. What is the story and why is it important? Why is the place an important source of evidence for learning that?
3. How does the place fit into curriculum topics, such as history, geography, social studies, or other subjects?
4. How can the place help students develop learning skills, such as observation, synthesis, and analysis?
5. What questions does the place bring to mind? Where might you find the answers?
6. How could you use the place in the classroom, especially if you could not visit it? What other sources of evidence would be useful?
7. What questions would you most like to ask someone knowledgeable about the site and its history? Where would you find such a person?
Next, you will need to decide what story you want your lesson plan to tell. Most places could be used to teach more than one topic, but each Teaching with Historic Places lesson plan focuses on one story, which students examine in depth. This focus determines the selection of information, documents, and activities to be included.
Each classic lesson follows a specific format, which can help guide your writing process. As you work on your lesson plan, keep in mind its overall potential to engage the interest of teachers and students; relevance to standard curricula; technical and stylistic quality of the writing; imaginative and effective use of visual materials; and appropriateness, creativity, and effectiveness of activities.
Each classic lesson follows a specific format, which can help guide your writing process. As you work on your lesson plan, keep in mind its overall potential to engage the interest of teachers and students; relevance to standard curricula; technical and stylistic quality of the writing; imaginative and effective use of visual materials; and appropriateness, creativity, and effectiveness of activities.
Remember that Teaching with Historic Places lesson plans:
1. are based on one or more properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places;
2. follow the established Teaching with Historic Places format;
3. focus on topics that correlate strongly with major themes commonly taught in U.S. history, geography, social studies, or related subjects;
4. use the historic place, and documents about the place, as the principal source for teaching and learning (and not merely as illustration or on the basis of minor associations with the lesson's topic);
5. make a strong connection linking the lesson's topic and teaching exercises with the historic place(s) selected;
6. clearly and evocatively convey the sense of time, place, and people represented by the historic resource;
7. incorporate, but need not be restricted to, information and documentation from National Park Service records: National Register and National Historic Landmarks documentation files, National Park unit records and archives, etc.;
8. include primary documents;
9. effectively engage students in active learning from and about the placeadd depth or breadth to, but do not duplicate, information presented in standard classroom textbooksadhere consistently to the lesson's main focus in the text, documentary evidence, questions, exercises, and activities;
10. include at least one "Putting it All Together" activity that guides teachers and students in studying the history of their own community/area and the places that represent that history as they relate to the focus of the lesson
1. are based on one or more properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places;
2. follow the established Teaching with Historic Places format;
3. focus on topics that correlate strongly with major themes commonly taught in U.S. history, geography, social studies, or related subjects;
4. use the historic place, and documents about the place, as the principal source for teaching and learning (and not merely as illustration or on the basis of minor associations with the lesson's topic);
5. make a strong connection linking the lesson's topic and teaching exercises with the historic place(s) selected;
6. clearly and evocatively convey the sense of time, place, and people represented by the historic resource;
7. incorporate, but need not be restricted to, information and documentation from National Park Service records: National Register and National Historic Landmarks documentation files, National Park unit records and archives, etc.;
8. include primary documents;
9. effectively engage students in active learning from and about the placeadd depth or breadth to, but do not duplicate, information presented in standard classroom textbooksadhere consistently to the lesson's main focus in the text, documentary evidence, questions, exercises, and activities;
10. include at least one "Putting it All Together" activity that guides teachers and students in studying the history of their own community/area and the places that represent that history as they relate to the focus of the lesson
Last updated: July 7, 2021