Testimonials

I am a retired social studies teacher (grades 5 and 6). I have been looking for material to share with my son-in-law who will be teaching 8th grade history this year. I know how difficult the first year can be so I was searching for lesson plans that might be helpful for him. This site is amazing. If I saw this site 14 years ago, I would be still teaching. Thank you for all the hard work and for allowing teachers to share your wonderful site. This is exactly what education needs in the U.S. right now. Step aside, Betsy, this is how it is done.

I am a middle school teacher in San Diego and was fortunate enough to attend a SHEG workshop in 2008. Your work, specifically, Reading Like a Historian, has made a profound impact in my approach to designing lessons and, of course, to my thinking about history. The document-based lessons and other online curriculum are especially helpful in designing units. Presently, I am working on lessons that integrate Common Core Standards. Again, I find your approach most helpful. I am extremely inspired by your work. Thank you!

I'm thrilled that I found this site! I have wanted to try this methodology in my classroom, but I was overwhelmed about where to start. Your lessons have been a wonderful way to introduce me to this teaching format while providing me the tools to actually practice the pedagogy in my classroom. It has also given me the confidence to create my own lessons using historical thinking and investigation as a basis for learning. Thank you.

I came across your site while researching to update and improve my U.S. History classes. I was amazed at the quality of the lessons present here and will use them frequently in my classes. In particular, the debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois with regard to the education of African Americans was in-depth and thorough in its presentation. The readings and activities allow students to get to the heart of what the debate was.

I just wanted to thank you all for this brilliant curriculum. I have been trying to find primary sources that align to Utah's state standards for years. I really appreciate the modified versions and the lessons that accompany them. Thank you again for this valuable resource. It has revolutionized the way I teach and the way students learn.

I just wanted you to know how much I love and appreciate all of the Reading Like a Historian lesson plans. I use them in my classroom as much as possible. The resources have really helped to enhance my teaching, but more importantly, they enhance the students' knowledge and understanding of historical topics. Each lesson provides excellent opportunities for class discussion, peer discussion, and for student written responses. I highly recommend your website to all of my colleagues! Thank you!

I use these documents and lesson plans all the time!  This is an amazing resource, and I share it with everyone I know that teaches either in the Humanities or Literacy!

Let me just say that I love this program. It has a variety of useful information that helps students to think more critically about history. I currently teach in Colombia about U.S. and World History. With this program, the students are very engaged and appear to have a better understanding of events. I've used the program with my 9th, 11th, and 12th-grade students. The lessons really require them to think and read about events in a different way, as opposed to just relying on the textbook, especially in this culture, where the textbook is the ultimate authority on information.

Congratulations! I have begun to integrate your curriculum into my U.S. History and U.S. 20th Century classes and I am in love! The documents and materials are wonderful and provide my students with a wonderful tool to learn more about a particular subject as well as challenge their own minds and learn to come up with an opinion based on their own inquiry and not the opinion of someone else. Thank you for your time and thought in preparing this curriculum! I love that it is available online for no cost and to all educators.

I can't recall how or when I stumbled upon Reading Like a Historian, but it was a blessing. With a high percentage of ELL and struggling readers, I appreciate the modified documents. My students are learning to think like historians and now question everything. With each lesson, I am also learning too. Thank you for all the hard work.

A huge thank you! Your incredible work and stimulating lesson plans have greatly empowered and enriched the students of my classroom. I found in my past teaching that students would get an understanding of the narrative and timeline of events for topics we were studying. With the Reading Like a Historian lesson plans my students feel as though they are in the places and reliving the personas involved in the events that occurred in the past. Each time something new is published, I find myself even more surprised and impressed. Keep it up!

I have really enjoyed the lessons from your group. Thank you very much. I love the primary documents and the secondary ones, too, most especially because many or most of them were written during the time of the history being reviewed. The students complain about all the reading they have to do, but I think they prefer this to the textbook. I think they are learning more than they realize. I could not have taught this class without your help.

I love using your lessons in my classroom! I teach both 6th and 7th-grade U.S. History in Virginia and most of the primary source lessons are perfect for my students. It is so refreshing to be able to teach interesting historical topics using primary sources that actually engage the students. With a packed curriculum that allows almost no time to "go outside" and teach new content, it is refreshing to be able to incorporate your lessons.

I am using these lessons and loving them. I have always been a firm believer in the use of primary sources, and I thank you for putting these together and not charging for their reproduction. Using primary sources can be so time-consuming. This knocks out the prep time. Again, I appreciate the work that has gone into developing these awesome lessons!