The Library of Congress is hosting a free online conference on October 27-28 from 4-8 ET, for K-12 educators on how to use primary source documents in their instruction. Each session will be recorded and teachers can earn professional development units by attending the live or on-demand event.
The conference will feature a keynote address from photographer Carol Highsmith on “Preserving Our Communities with Photography,” plus 15 one-hour sessions on a range of topics including the following:
The Veterans History Project – Hear how your students can become involved in using and collecting stories from veterans in your community.
Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions – This session offers a technique to help students become question askers, sophisticated thinkers, and self-directed learners.
Working with Visuals – Information literacy demands observing visual sources, questioning, and comparing the information from multiple sources.
Reading Like a Historian – This interactive session will explore the Stanford History Education Group’s “Reading Like a Historian” curriculum and the research behind this free online resource.
Provoking Inquiry through Primary Sources – Integration of inquiry skills, building authentic connections to the real world, and the development of empathy.
World Digital Library – Imagine giving your students free, unlimited access to treasures from cultural institutions from around the world!
Young Learners Explore Library of Congress Images – This presentation describes research-informed strategies to foster early childhood and primary grade students’ multiple literacies through the developmentally appropriate use of primary sources from the Library of Congress.
Teaching with Historical Newspapers – Join the Library of Congress education and newspaper experts to learn about the digitized historic newspapers available through the Chronicling America program.
Registration is now open on the Library of Congress website. (Homeschool teachers can register, too. I just registered for one of the sessions and all they ask for is your name, e-mail address, zip code, and you have to create a password.)