In Cantu's final chapter he dives into the discussion of the use of primate sources. His main focus was on the use and effectiveness of the Library of Congress. Primary sources can be utilized in an area of social studies, but most commonly used in history courses. The only courses in high school that I ever looked at or analyzed in high school was my AP US and European history courses. Those other classes really missed out on wonderful opportunities to teach. I have utilized primary documents already in my teaching, especially with photographs. With the LOC at your fingertips your instruction can go in so many directions. I plan to spend a lot of time introducing my students to these resources, but then turning the tables and having them find these kinds of primary documents on their own. This will prepare them for future research and an improvment When planning my lessons I believe it is sometimes easier to design the lesson around the resources or primary document you find.
The Library of Congress was one of my favorite stops on my 8th grade class trip to Washington D.C and I would have never guessed years later I would be utilizing its thousands of resources.
HERE is a link to fascinating facts on the LOC.
There are many other websites that you can find these kinds of resources on.
PBS has primary sources and websites for just about every topic in history.
Here is one on Slavery and the Making of America.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/teachers/primary-source.html
One can find a lot of primary sources on the National Archives website as well!
http://www.archives.gov/
Big Questions: What are fun and different ways we can ask our students to analyze primary documents?
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