2026 SOURCES Conference Program
Saturday, January 24, 2026
(pdf version of the program)
8:30 – 9:00 am - Registration and Light Breakfast
(In Teaching Academy Lobby)
9:00- 9:50 am - Welcome and General Session
Joyful Inquiry: How Primary Sources Keep History—and Democracy—Alive
Tina Ellsworth
University of Central Missouri
President - National Council for the Social Studies
At a time when democracy depends on our ability to listen, question, and seek truth, history classrooms can be sanctuaries of joy and civic renewal. When students encounter primary sources—the letters, photographs, songs, and artifacts that carry human voices across time—they experience the thrill of discovery and the satisfaction of making meaning for themselves. This session invites educators to rediscover the joy in teaching with primary sources: the joy of curiosity, of conversation, of connection. Together, we’ll explore strategies that bring historical inquiry to life and consider how these joyful habits of learning become the civic habits that sustain democracy.
Tina M. Ellsworth, Ph.D., is an assistant professor and program coordinator of social studies education at the University of Central Missouri. She earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in social studies education from the University of Kansas. She earned a M.A. in History from Central Missouri State University where she studied Black American History and the History of Women in the United States and a B.S in Social Studies Education. She began her career as a middle and high school social studies teacher in a rural school district in Missouri. In 2016, she became the Senior Economic Education Specialist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City before moving into a K-12 Social Studies Coordinator position for one of the largest districts in Kansas a year later. Dr. Ellsworth’s research centers on pedagogical knowledge for history education, racial pedagogical content knowledge, and teaching with primary sources. Dr. Ellsworth currently serves the president of the National Council for the Social Studies and is a past-president of the Missouri Council for the Social Studies.
10:00- 10:50 am - Session I Presentations
S.T.R.E.A.M.SS. of Change (Presentation and Padlet Resources)
Tahra Nayelli
Kim Cunningham
Broward County Public Schools / EDGE
This session empowers K-12 teachers to explore the Seminole Tribe of Florida through a hands-on, cross-curricular approach. Participants will examine Seminole history, culture, and resilience using primary sources, STEM challenges, and art integration. Attendees will learn to design lessons that combine Social Studies, Science, Math, Art, and Technology while promoting historical thinking and student engagement. Practical strategies and digital tools will be shared, leaving teachers equipped to bring meaningful, interdisciplinary experiences to their classrooms.
Preserving Source Credibility in the Age of AI (Resources and Mentimeter Results)
Seilarine Samuels-Pink
William Dandy Middle School
The rise of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and OpenAI presents both opportunities and challenges for social studies educators. While these technologies offer unprecedented access to information and support, they also raise critical concerns about the credibility, authenticity, and interpretation of sources in the classroom. The presenter of this session explores the implications of AI on source-based instruction, particularly in civics education, and offers practical strategies for maintaining rigorous source analysis in an AI-saturated environment.
Making Good on the Promises of Democracy: Teaching the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Materials)
Aimee Ballans
Facing History and Ourselves
What is the role of the universe of obligation in how a nation "makes good" on the promises of democracy? In this session, we will take a closer look at how individuals and events from Reconstruction to the passage of the Voting Rights Act were instrumental in expanding the boundaries of belonging through activism, resistance, and legislation. Participants will explore primary sources, classroom-ready activities, and strategies for helping students connect past struggles for justice to the ongoing work of democracy.
Using Newspapers to Engage Students (Presentation)
Jodi Puskin
Florida Press Educational Services/Tampa Bay Times
A living textbook, the newspaper, a primary and secondary source, is an optimal tool to engage students and expose them to multiple perspectives on significant issues of the past and present. Analyzing the newspaper encourages students to question what they know and believe. The presenter of this session will focus on how to use the newspaper to engage students and how it fits into the Florida State Standards. Access to digital newspapers and standard-driven curriculum will be provided.
Florida on the Wall: Post Offices, Posters, and the New Deal (Presentation)
Dalton Savage
National Council for History Education
Amy Allen
Virginia Tech University
Presenters of this session introduce C-OPTIC, a critical extension of the OPTIC strategy designed to deepen student analysis of visuals with attention to representation, perspective, and power. Drawing on Library of Congress TPS resources, including Federal Arts Project Photographs and Works Progress Administration Posters, participants will explore how New Deal public art conveyed civic ideals. This session models how C-OPTIC helps students ask questions, surface power dynamics, and engage more thoughtfully with primary sources.
Museum by Mail: Getting Special Collections in the Classroom (Resources - You can also request maps to be sent to you!)
Gabrielle Roche
University of Southern Maine
The presenter of this session will explore ways to bring the museum to the classroom. Participants will learn about the off-site K-12 programs available at the Osher Map Library & Smith Center for Cartographic Education. They will have the opportunity to explore the mailable map kits and customized activities, which are distributed free of charge to rural classrooms throughout the United States. Time will be provided to brainstorm ways to adapt these strategies for other types of primary sources.
Using Primary Source Inquiry Charts to Scaffold Historical Thinking Skills (Resources)
Samantha Young
Orange County Public Schools
The presenter of this interactive session will explore what inquiry charts are and how they can be used to build students’ historical thinking skills. Inquiry charts guide students in analyzing two or more primary sources and scaffolds the process of comparing historical voices. A key focus of the session will be how inquiry charts can be differentiated to support students of all ages and levels as they engage with primary sources.
Viewing History Through a Kaleidoscope (Presentation)
Victor Salazar
Columbus State University
Using a cultural approach, participants will be trained to analyze primary sources through six perspectives. Looking through a kaleidoscope of six colors, they are able to make personal connections with the subject, topic, or theme with each color. This practice can be used to foster inquiry through: communication (This is what I think?), critical thinking (Why do you think that?), curiosity (How is this possible?), and creativity (I never thought of that!).
11:00 - 11:50 - Session II Presentations
Teaching with Primary Sources: Virginia Hall, An Unlikely Spy Defending Democracy from Behind Enemy Lines (Presentation)
Laurie Risler
Holyoke Community College
Claudia Fridell
Children's Nonfiction Author
Virginia Hall served as a spy behind enemy lines in France during WWII. While the Gestapo’s most wanted spy, she returned to France to train and assist everyday people to help the French Resistance. Teachers will explore the intersection between the work of historians and the telling of history and how to help students avoid presentism through contextualization while continuing to use the important practices of primary source-based inquiry, and the integration of informational text.
Soundtrack of Change: Music as a Narrative of the Civil Rights Movement
Rachel Humphries
Bill of Rights Institute
The narrative of the Civil Rights Movement can be told in many ways. This session will focus on how this narrative was documented through music in the 1950 and 1960's. Music became both the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement in this era as well as a history. Use music in your classrooms to engage students to think critically and discuss the impact of music to the Civil Rights movement.
Unlocking the Power of Primary Sources in the Classroom: Teaching with Text, Subtext, Context, & Connection (TaSCC) (Presentation / Handout)
Anne Hester
Lee County Schools
The presenter of this session features a method by which students can take a primary source and break it down with component messages, its historical significance and connection to other historical sources.
Serving up History: A Food Truck Approach to Primary Sources (Presentation / Homefront / Worksheet / Connection /Menu /Playlist / Serving Up)
Beverly Ledbetter
University of South Florida
In this interactive workshop, teachers will step into the role of food truck creators‚ designing menus, creating playlists, and hiring staff that highlight flavors from the past using primary sources as their ingredients. From historic letters and photographs to government documents and advertisements, participants will learn how to cook up engaging activities that let students sample history in meaningful, hands-on ways.
Where Did Antisemitism Come From? Teaching the History of European Antisemitism Through Primary Sources
Dori Gerber
Institute for Curriculum Services
Where does antisemitism come from? This question – often asked when students learn about the Holocaust – is as relevant today as it has ever been. The history of this phenomenon is over 2,000 years old, but courses that deal with the Holocaust often do not consider pre-20th century history. This session will equip teachers in helping students understand the origins of this form of hatred, and the development of antisemitism’s religious, economic, political, and racial forms. This session also examines how antisemitism has persisted within modern expressions, allowing students to better understand and combat its current manifestations. Using an array of interactive primary sources, teachers will gain essential background knowledge while experiencing student activities and receiving classroom ready materials.
From Worksheets to Wow: 3 Dynamic Ways to Re-Imagine Multiple Choice Activities (Presentation)
Jaimee Martin
West Bridgewater Middle-Senior High School
Want to transform a plain multiple-choice worksheet into an engaging, memorable learning experience? These three strategies will get your students moving, collaborating, and thinking more deeply while still using the content you already have.
Seeing with New Lenses: Fostering Inquiry, Empathy, and Critical Thinking
Kylee Manganiello
University of Pennsylvania Libraries
How can primary sources support habits of thinking that reach beyond a single lesson or discipline? This session draws on a set of photographs documenting homelessness in Philadelphia to show how educators can use primary sources to cultivate historical thinking, critical empathy, and interdisciplinary inquiry. Participants will engage with adaptable strategies for integrating primary sources into varied classroom settings to help students practice critical analysis, perspective-taking, and reflective engagement.
11:50 – 1:00 pm - LUNCH – On Your Own
1:00- 1:50 pm - Session III Presentations
Handheld Museums: Using History Trunks to Create
3-Dimensional Learning Experiences with Primary Sources in the Elementary Classroom
Bilal Amodu
James S. Hunt Elementary School
During this session, the presenter will outline how the EDGE history trunk can introduce elementary aged students to historical inquiry by exposing them to models of three-dimensional primary sources from different time periods and the techniques with which to analyze and discuss them. The sample trunk will explore how to engage students in analyzing artifacts from the Revolutionary Period and using observation and historical thinking strategies to connect their lives to those of people from the past.
Supporting Students to Read Closely and Analyze Sources as They Engage in Social Studies Inquiry
Mina Hernandez Garcia
Florida International University
Using a meaning-based language approach and translanguaging, the presenter of this session will illustrate how educators can focus attention on meaning in language as students, including multilingual learners of English, read and analyze challenging sources in social studies inquiry classrooms. By exploring meaning and how meaning is presented in language, we support students’ comprehension of sources, social studies knowledge construction, language development, critical language awareness, and participation in classroom discourse.
Technocurious Inquiry: Exploring Jewish Religious Life in Florida through The Southern Jewish Weekly (Presentation)
Amy Allen
David Hicks
Virginia Tech University
The presenters of this session model a technocurious approach to teaching religion and identity in 20th-century Florida. Using The Southern Jewish Weekly (Jacksonville, 1939-1992) from the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America collection alongside the Jewish American Heritage Free-to-Use set, participants practice two routines: question generation with images and scaffolded source analysis with text. Comparing human and AI outputs, teachers explore the guiding question: How can AI both support and distort our understanding of Jewish religious life?
From the Oval Office to the Bench: A look at Landmark Supreme Court Cases through Primary Documents
Rachel Humphries
Bill of Rights Institute
Explore how landmark Supreme Court cases have shaped and challenged presidential powers. The presenter of this session uses primary sources to examine foundational debates over executive authority, encouraging critical thinking and discourse. Participants will engage with historical and contemporary implications of these rulings to better understand their lasting impact on American governance.
Using Modern Images to Help Bridge the Gap in the Analysis of Historical Political Cartoons (Presentation)
Sean Hayward
Dr. Phillips High School
Political cartoons are one of the more common primary sources that students will come across in their history courses. The strategy that this presenter often uses in the classroom involves pairing a political cartoon for students to analyze, with a modern image, that many of them can universally understand/connect with. The goal being to help them compare and make connections that will allow them to understand the full scope of the cartoon easier.
A Revolution of Words-The Declaration at 250: Using Primary Sources to Teach Its Promises & Perspectives (Presentation)
Stephen Masyada
Elizabeth Wood
Kimberly Garton
University of Central Florida
The 2025-2026 school year is a time to celebrate the 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence. Through the creation of birthday-themed lessons, proven pedagogies will be employed for students to analyze primary and secondary sources. These themed lessons target the necessary skills (such as contextualization, comparison, evaluation, and analysis) students need to develop a deeper understanding of the complexities associated with the Declaration of Independence.
"How To" Find Primary Sources from the Library of Congress: Professional Development Webinars
Stacey Graham
Middle Tennessee State University
The TPS Southern Region has been creating educator resources since 2009 that are focused on primary sources and critical thinking skills. Our newest resources are “How To” webinars that offer quick and easy instructions on searching for primary sources in different formats from the Library of Congress. If you are looking to earn professional development credits, you can add our PD online worksheets to immediately put into practice what you learn “how to” do!
Every Object Tells a Story: Using Object Based Inquiry to Spark Curiosity and Increase Student Engagement (Presentation)
Heather Nice
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
In this hands-on session, learn to examine the many stories objects tell and how they can spark curiosity, foster critical thinking, and drive deep student-led inquiry. Participants will explore how to effectively incorporate object-based inquiry into existing classroom practice and leave with strategies they can immediately implement.
The Power of Primary Sources: Developing Historical Thinking Skills
Dori Gerber
Institute for Curriculum Services
The study of primary sources is crucial to the study of historical and current events, as well as exposing students to multiple perspectives. Primary source instruction also supports inquiry-based learning models, while helping students develop historical empathy. In this interactive session, teachers of all disciplines (because primary source analysis is an interdisciplinary skill) will explore an array of source analysis tools, techniques, and resources that will model analyzing a variety of types of primary sources for different student levels. In addition, you will receive access to free, digital tools to support your instruction when incorporating primary sources into your lessons.
2:00- 2:50 pm - Session IV Presentations
The Yamato Colony of South Florida
Laurie Boulden
Katherine Lamar
Warner University
Did you know...in the early 1900s, a group of Japanese immigrants started a colony near Delray Beach to share innovative farming techniques with others? Using personal narrative, primary documents, and critical/creative thinking strategies, the presenters will introduce an elementary-focused booklet as a great resource for teachers helping students learn about this extraordinary immigrant group. Come learn for yourself and get the details on how to access this free resource for your own classroom.
Beyond the Parchment: Analyzing the Sources That Shaped America (Presentation)
Nicole Jamerson
Orange County Public Schools
To commemorate America's 250th anniversary, the presenter of this session offers literacy-focused strategies for analyzing historical sources related to the Declaration of Independence. We will demonstrate techniques for enhancing student vocabulary and implementing structured writing prompts. Participants will learn how these methods deepen comprehension and analysis of both the central text and surrounding visual and text-based documents, empowering students to critically engage with the foundations of American history.
Lifting the Iron Curtain: Employing Graphic Memoirs and other Accessible Sources to Build Historical Literacy (Materials)
Caroline Sheffield
Louisville University
This interactive session will examine the realities of life in the GDR using the graphic memoir Time Zones by Sven Siekman as an anchor text, accompanied by a collection of accessible primary and secondary source materials. The presenter of this session will explore graphic memoirs as primary source documents and will model instructional strategies designed to engage students in the contextualization and corroboration of sources. Instructional materials will be provided.
Launching Inquiry: Using Primary Sources to Explore Space and Power (Presentation)
Brian Furgione
Oviedo High School
The presenter of this session equips educators with strategies to use primary sources such as speeches, photos, propaganda, and transcripts to ignite student curiosity about the Space Race and Cold War. Participants will engage with layered questions, explore cross-curricular connections, and walk away with ready-to-use source sets and tools to build their own. Come ready to question not just what happened, but why it mattered.
Flashpoints in History: Finding Meaning Through Visual Thinking (Presentation / Perspective Window Images / Perspective Images Packet / Break It Up Handout / Free Stamps for Educators: Postal History Foundation)
Shauna Liverotti
Dalton Savage
National Council for History Education
Visual thinking strategies make history more engaging and interactive across subjects. In this hands-on session, teachers will practice using primary sources to guide student observation, questioning, and discussion. Participants will explore methods such as Break It Up to structure analysis, Perspective Windows to examine multiple viewpoints, and Stamp It Out to categorize ideas. While uncovering Florida’s cultural history, attendees will gain adaptable strategies and ready-to-use resources that foster curiosity and deepen inquiry.
Through Many Eyes: Unlocking Hidden Stories in Primary Sources (Presentation / Teacher Planning Template)
Paula Baldacci
Chesterfield County Public Schools
The presenter of this interactive session utilizes Western expansion photographs to facilitate critical thinking and lead participants to discover inclusive historical storytelling in the classroom. Participants will examine primary source images, including railroad construction scenes, homesteader images and documentation, and photographs of Native American communities to uncover whose stories are prominently featured and whose voices remain marginalized or absent entirely. Through guided analysis and strategic pairing with diverse picture books, educators will learn to transform single-perspective historical narratives into inclusive stories told from multiple viewpoints that honor the complexity of westward expansion in America.
Primary Source Films from The Library of Congress Film Registry
Matt Stevenson
University of Texas at Tyler
Films as primary sources in your classroom! The session provides an update on the ongoing Library of Congress National Film Registry (LOCNFR) primary source research and pedagogical resources development in partnership with the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas at Tyler.
Community Engagement as Social Innovation
Karon LeCompte
Kevin Magill
Stephen Adedara
Baylor University
Community engagement is essential for helping students understand civics and politics. Using inquiry-based methods, teachers can employ the LOC to show how different communities connect through primary source documents. This approach highlights how civic education and community-led efforts have advanced democracy, justice, and living conditions. We will incorporate John Doerr’s OKRs framework as a teaching tool to explore diverse perspectives. Our aim is to deepen students' understanding of the history and importance of community engagement.
2:50 - 3:10 pm - Refreshment Break- TA 130
3:20 - 4:10 pm - Session V Presentations
Stories Lives Tell: LEAPS and BOUnds (Resources)
Laurie Boulden
Katherine Lamar
Warner University
Find out about free resources for elementary social studies that use primary sources, personal narratives, thinking routines, expanded text, and TPS strategies. Engage with the resources that you can use on Monday.
Untold Stories: African Americans in the Revolutionary War
Rachel Humphries
Bill of Rights Institute
Explore visual and print primary sources that illustrate how enslaved and free African Americans participated in the Revolutionary War and how their actions reflected a desire to enjoy their natural rights.
The Eye (Witness) Chart: A New Lens for Primary Sources (Presentation)
Brande Vogele
Chaparral High School
Ready to transform your primary source analysis? Unveil the "Eye (Witness) Chart," a dynamic tool inspired by the classic eye chart, designed to sharpen student comprehension. Discover how this innovative method guides learners to extract critical content, tone, and keywords, enabling them to "see" historical documents from compelling new perspectives. Experience its power firsthand with a Japanese Internment broadside and enrich your teaching with adaptable strategies for Library of Congress primary sources. Then, get the chance to explore the Library of Congress for examples to use in your classroom.
The Revolutions WERE Televised
Mary Miller
Kathleen Carter
University of Georgia
Draws upon lessons learned by two media archivists in designing and redesigning an 11th grade field trip focusing on four American civil rights movements (Black, Latinx, Disability, and LGBTQ). Uses specific case study to examine: Ways to expose students to difficult moments in history without re-traumatizing them; Re-framing archival audiovisual materials as historic documents; and Combining active learning strategies that promote a sense of belonging and psychological safety with those that foster deeper thinking and questioning.
Making History Local: Designing Place-Based Primary Source Lessons (Presentation)
Hailee Attorri
Lunenburg Middle-High School
Bring history to life by connecting primary sources to the places students know best. This session explores how pairing memoirs, letters, or documents with local sites (such as cemeteries, monuments, or main streets) transforms history into a lived experience. Participants will see how physical spaces deepen historical understanding and leave ready to design their own lessons that turn their community into a classroom and make students active investigators of the past.
Chatty Geeps and the History Mentor: Teaching with Primary Sources through Custom GPTs and Chronicling America (Presentation)
David Hicks
Amy Allen
Cody Dalton
Virginia Tech University
The presenters of this session demonstrate how Gen AI - AKA Chatty Geeps, a custom-built Historical Thinking Mentor, can support teaching with primary sources from the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America archive. The 1901 Booker T. Washington-Theodore Roosevelt White House dinner will serve as a case study. Participants will see how the Mentor scaffolds inquiry by generating compelling questions, guiding search strategies despite OCR and historical naming challenges, and providing feedback on student analysis. The presenters also model how educators can build their own History Mentor GPT
What Was Common Knowledge? A Study of 19th Century Textbooks to Explore the Curriculum of American Common Schools
Jenni Sanguiliano Lonski & Shirley Castiglione
Rollins College
The presenter explores Common and Normal School textbooks to uncover the essential knowledge deemed necessary for success in Common Schools. These original texts illuminate key insights into the history of education in the United States and provide a deeper understanding of the educational values and practices of the time.
AI-Powered Primary Source Analysis (Presentation)
Apryl Taylor
Orange County Public Schools
Unleash the potential of Artificial Intelligence to transform primary source analysis in your classroom! The presenter of this session will first demonstrate how to use AI to quickly generate engaging activity ideas, prompts, and "gems" for historical inquiry. Next, participants will learn practical techniques to make historical documents and images leap off the page: colorizing, updating language, expanding images, and even animating visuals. You'll leave with immediately applicable strategies to deepen student engagement and analysis.
4:10 - 5:00 pm - Session VI Presentations
The Seminole War from Seminole Eyes: Uncovering Local History Through Tribal Voices (Padlet)
Kim Cunningham
Broward County Public Schools / EDGE/ Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, Seminole Tribe of Florida
Abena Robinson
Cypress Billie
Vandal Samuels
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, Seminole Tribe of Florida
The presenters of this session explore the Seminole Wars through Seminole voices, emphasizing resilience, alliances, and cultural survival. Participants will examine tribal perspectives on key figures, battles, and the wars‚ enduring impact on governance, land, and identity. Through stories of resistance and survival, the session highlights how the Seminoles remain “Unconquered” Educators will gain classroom-ready insights and strategies to teach this contested history accurately, ensuring students understand both the struggles and enduring strength of the Seminole people.
Engaging Students in our Nation’s Founding History (Presentation and Resources)
Clint Walsh
Discovery Middle School
Educators who want to engage students in our nation’s founding history should make it relevant, embrace controversy, be inclusive, emphasize humanity, and show enthusiasm for the content. This can be done with primary sources. Repositories such as the Library of Congress, Founders Online from the National Archives, and George Washington’s Mount Vernon provide more than just the primary sources themselves. They provide access to tools, resources, and activities to increase engagement with founding era history.
"The Dignity of Man and the Destiny of Democracy": Influences of the Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War
Kevin Fair
Cooper City High School
Although chronologically coinciding, the Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War are often taught as separate and distinct events. In reality, both were significantly interconnected, with each shaping and influencing the other. The presenter of this session will bridge these two pivotal events. Attendees will be introduced to speeches from Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, and learn how each president highlighted the need for American support of civil rights as part of a larger Cold War strategy.
Images to Inquiry: Aesthetic Development and PBL in History and Ethnic Studies
Chris Carter
Educurious powered by NCEE
This session explores how aesthetic development strategies, including Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), foster engagement with Library of Congress primary sources across secondary classrooms. In 8th-grade U.S. History, VTS is embedded across five units with maps, political cartoons, founding documents, and images to build inquiry and discussion. In the Ethnic Studies Series, students apply these methods to various forms of art, including political pamphlets, cookbooks, album covers and concert posters, graphic novels, and video poems. Both contexts show how visual aesthetic development, integrated with project-based learning, fosters multiple perspectives, deepens cultural understanding, and cultivates student voice and empathy.
Reconstructing an Escape Room (Resources)
Oneil Reynolds
Broward Public Schools
Participants will be examining primary sources through the lens of an Escape room. Participants will use primary sources to complete activities related to reconstruction as they look for clues to unlock their 3 combination locks. The rounds deal with a literacy test, the reconstruction amendments, and the three plans for reconstruction.
Streamlining Sources in the Classroom: How Templates and AI Can Help You Bring More Sources to Your Students (Presentation / Resources)
Gabriel Gutierrez
Wiregrass Ranch High School
Creating lessons around primary sources can be time-consuming, but new tools can help streamline the process. The presenter of this session shares strategies for using templates to save time and give assignments a consistent structure, while also demonstrating how AI can help teachers adapt, scaffold, and expand primary sources for diverse learners. Participants will leave with practical examples of how to maximize primary sources efficiently, making them more engaging and accessible across grade levels.
Using Children's Literature to Catalyze Primary Source Inquiry
Cody Lee
East Buchanan C-1 School District
In this session, participants will experience a Scaffolded Literature Inquiry. We will use "The Camping Trip That Changed America" by Barb Rosenstock as a diving board to explore primary sources related to Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and the establishment of national parks. Participants will practice historical thinking skills across grade levels and disciplines while exploring primary source sets that corroborate the children's literature.
Unlocking Potential: Addressing Learning Differences Through Film and Primary Sources (Presentation)
David Olson
Retro Report
In this interactive session, educators will explore effective strategies for teaching disciplinary literacy and primary source analysis to students with diverse learning needs, particularly those with language-based learning disabilities. Participants will gain hands-on experience with freely available, scaffolded resources for the U.S. History and Civics/Government classroom. The session will begin with an overview of Retro Report’s 8-to-12-minute documentaries, showcasing their role in connecting students to historical events and civic topics through engaging, visually rich narratives. Educators will learn how to pair these videos with Library of Congress primary sources to deepen historical understanding and critical thinking.
5:10 - 5:20 pm - Raffle
(In Teaching Academy Lobby)
9:00- 9:50 am - Welcome and General Session
Joyful Inquiry: How Primary Sources Keep History—and Democracy—Alive
Tina Ellsworth
University of Central Missouri
President - National Council for the Social Studies
At a time when democracy depends on our ability to listen, question, and seek truth, history classrooms can be sanctuaries of joy and civic renewal. When students encounter primary sources—the letters, photographs, songs, and artifacts that carry human voices across time—they experience the thrill of discovery and the satisfaction of making meaning for themselves. This session invites educators to rediscover the joy in teaching with primary sources: the joy of curiosity, of conversation, of connection. Together, we’ll explore strategies that bring historical inquiry to life and consider how these joyful habits of learning become the civic habits that sustain democracy.
Tina M. Ellsworth, Ph.D., is an assistant professor and program coordinator of social studies education at the University of Central Missouri. She earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in social studies education from the University of Kansas. She earned a M.A. in History from Central Missouri State University where she studied Black American History and the History of Women in the United States and a B.S in Social Studies Education. She began her career as a middle and high school social studies teacher in a rural school district in Missouri. In 2016, she became the Senior Economic Education Specialist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City before moving into a K-12 Social Studies Coordinator position for one of the largest districts in Kansas a year later. Dr. Ellsworth’s research centers on pedagogical knowledge for history education, racial pedagogical content knowledge, and teaching with primary sources. Dr. Ellsworth currently serves the president of the National Council for the Social Studies and is a past-president of the Missouri Council for the Social Studies.
10:00- 10:50 am - Session I Presentations
S.T.R.E.A.M.SS. of Change (Presentation and Padlet Resources)
Tahra Nayelli
Kim Cunningham
Broward County Public Schools / EDGE
This session empowers K-12 teachers to explore the Seminole Tribe of Florida through a hands-on, cross-curricular approach. Participants will examine Seminole history, culture, and resilience using primary sources, STEM challenges, and art integration. Attendees will learn to design lessons that combine Social Studies, Science, Math, Art, and Technology while promoting historical thinking and student engagement. Practical strategies and digital tools will be shared, leaving teachers equipped to bring meaningful, interdisciplinary experiences to their classrooms.
Preserving Source Credibility in the Age of AI (Resources and Mentimeter Results)
Seilarine Samuels-Pink
William Dandy Middle School
The rise of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and OpenAI presents both opportunities and challenges for social studies educators. While these technologies offer unprecedented access to information and support, they also raise critical concerns about the credibility, authenticity, and interpretation of sources in the classroom. The presenter of this session explores the implications of AI on source-based instruction, particularly in civics education, and offers practical strategies for maintaining rigorous source analysis in an AI-saturated environment.
Making Good on the Promises of Democracy: Teaching the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Materials)
Aimee Ballans
Facing History and Ourselves
What is the role of the universe of obligation in how a nation "makes good" on the promises of democracy? In this session, we will take a closer look at how individuals and events from Reconstruction to the passage of the Voting Rights Act were instrumental in expanding the boundaries of belonging through activism, resistance, and legislation. Participants will explore primary sources, classroom-ready activities, and strategies for helping students connect past struggles for justice to the ongoing work of democracy.
Using Newspapers to Engage Students (Presentation)
Jodi Puskin
Florida Press Educational Services/Tampa Bay Times
A living textbook, the newspaper, a primary and secondary source, is an optimal tool to engage students and expose them to multiple perspectives on significant issues of the past and present. Analyzing the newspaper encourages students to question what they know and believe. The presenter of this session will focus on how to use the newspaper to engage students and how it fits into the Florida State Standards. Access to digital newspapers and standard-driven curriculum will be provided.
Florida on the Wall: Post Offices, Posters, and the New Deal (Presentation)
Dalton Savage
National Council for History Education
Amy Allen
Virginia Tech University
Presenters of this session introduce C-OPTIC, a critical extension of the OPTIC strategy designed to deepen student analysis of visuals with attention to representation, perspective, and power. Drawing on Library of Congress TPS resources, including Federal Arts Project Photographs and Works Progress Administration Posters, participants will explore how New Deal public art conveyed civic ideals. This session models how C-OPTIC helps students ask questions, surface power dynamics, and engage more thoughtfully with primary sources.
Museum by Mail: Getting Special Collections in the Classroom (Resources - You can also request maps to be sent to you!)
Gabrielle Roche
University of Southern Maine
The presenter of this session will explore ways to bring the museum to the classroom. Participants will learn about the off-site K-12 programs available at the Osher Map Library & Smith Center for Cartographic Education. They will have the opportunity to explore the mailable map kits and customized activities, which are distributed free of charge to rural classrooms throughout the United States. Time will be provided to brainstorm ways to adapt these strategies for other types of primary sources.
Using Primary Source Inquiry Charts to Scaffold Historical Thinking Skills (Resources)
Samantha Young
Orange County Public Schools
The presenter of this interactive session will explore what inquiry charts are and how they can be used to build students’ historical thinking skills. Inquiry charts guide students in analyzing two or more primary sources and scaffolds the process of comparing historical voices. A key focus of the session will be how inquiry charts can be differentiated to support students of all ages and levels as they engage with primary sources.
Viewing History Through a Kaleidoscope (Presentation)
Victor Salazar
Columbus State University
Using a cultural approach, participants will be trained to analyze primary sources through six perspectives. Looking through a kaleidoscope of six colors, they are able to make personal connections with the subject, topic, or theme with each color. This practice can be used to foster inquiry through: communication (This is what I think?), critical thinking (Why do you think that?), curiosity (How is this possible?), and creativity (I never thought of that!).
11:00 - 11:50 - Session II Presentations
Teaching with Primary Sources: Virginia Hall, An Unlikely Spy Defending Democracy from Behind Enemy Lines (Presentation)
Laurie Risler
Holyoke Community College
Claudia Fridell
Children's Nonfiction Author
Virginia Hall served as a spy behind enemy lines in France during WWII. While the Gestapo’s most wanted spy, she returned to France to train and assist everyday people to help the French Resistance. Teachers will explore the intersection between the work of historians and the telling of history and how to help students avoid presentism through contextualization while continuing to use the important practices of primary source-based inquiry, and the integration of informational text.
Soundtrack of Change: Music as a Narrative of the Civil Rights Movement
Rachel Humphries
Bill of Rights Institute
The narrative of the Civil Rights Movement can be told in many ways. This session will focus on how this narrative was documented through music in the 1950 and 1960's. Music became both the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement in this era as well as a history. Use music in your classrooms to engage students to think critically and discuss the impact of music to the Civil Rights movement.
Unlocking the Power of Primary Sources in the Classroom: Teaching with Text, Subtext, Context, & Connection (TaSCC) (Presentation / Handout)
Anne Hester
Lee County Schools
The presenter of this session features a method by which students can take a primary source and break it down with component messages, its historical significance and connection to other historical sources.
Serving up History: A Food Truck Approach to Primary Sources (Presentation / Homefront / Worksheet / Connection /Menu /Playlist / Serving Up)
Beverly Ledbetter
University of South Florida
In this interactive workshop, teachers will step into the role of food truck creators‚ designing menus, creating playlists, and hiring staff that highlight flavors from the past using primary sources as their ingredients. From historic letters and photographs to government documents and advertisements, participants will learn how to cook up engaging activities that let students sample history in meaningful, hands-on ways.
Where Did Antisemitism Come From? Teaching the History of European Antisemitism Through Primary Sources
Dori Gerber
Institute for Curriculum Services
Where does antisemitism come from? This question – often asked when students learn about the Holocaust – is as relevant today as it has ever been. The history of this phenomenon is over 2,000 years old, but courses that deal with the Holocaust often do not consider pre-20th century history. This session will equip teachers in helping students understand the origins of this form of hatred, and the development of antisemitism’s religious, economic, political, and racial forms. This session also examines how antisemitism has persisted within modern expressions, allowing students to better understand and combat its current manifestations. Using an array of interactive primary sources, teachers will gain essential background knowledge while experiencing student activities and receiving classroom ready materials.
From Worksheets to Wow: 3 Dynamic Ways to Re-Imagine Multiple Choice Activities (Presentation)
Jaimee Martin
West Bridgewater Middle-Senior High School
Want to transform a plain multiple-choice worksheet into an engaging, memorable learning experience? These three strategies will get your students moving, collaborating, and thinking more deeply while still using the content you already have.
Seeing with New Lenses: Fostering Inquiry, Empathy, and Critical Thinking
Kylee Manganiello
University of Pennsylvania Libraries
How can primary sources support habits of thinking that reach beyond a single lesson or discipline? This session draws on a set of photographs documenting homelessness in Philadelphia to show how educators can use primary sources to cultivate historical thinking, critical empathy, and interdisciplinary inquiry. Participants will engage with adaptable strategies for integrating primary sources into varied classroom settings to help students practice critical analysis, perspective-taking, and reflective engagement.
11:50 – 1:00 pm - LUNCH – On Your Own
1:00- 1:50 pm - Session III Presentations
Handheld Museums: Using History Trunks to Create
3-Dimensional Learning Experiences with Primary Sources in the Elementary Classroom
Bilal Amodu
James S. Hunt Elementary School
During this session, the presenter will outline how the EDGE history trunk can introduce elementary aged students to historical inquiry by exposing them to models of three-dimensional primary sources from different time periods and the techniques with which to analyze and discuss them. The sample trunk will explore how to engage students in analyzing artifacts from the Revolutionary Period and using observation and historical thinking strategies to connect their lives to those of people from the past.
Supporting Students to Read Closely and Analyze Sources as They Engage in Social Studies Inquiry
Mina Hernandez Garcia
Florida International University
Using a meaning-based language approach and translanguaging, the presenter of this session will illustrate how educators can focus attention on meaning in language as students, including multilingual learners of English, read and analyze challenging sources in social studies inquiry classrooms. By exploring meaning and how meaning is presented in language, we support students’ comprehension of sources, social studies knowledge construction, language development, critical language awareness, and participation in classroom discourse.
Technocurious Inquiry: Exploring Jewish Religious Life in Florida through The Southern Jewish Weekly (Presentation)
Amy Allen
David Hicks
Virginia Tech University
The presenters of this session model a technocurious approach to teaching religion and identity in 20th-century Florida. Using The Southern Jewish Weekly (Jacksonville, 1939-1992) from the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America collection alongside the Jewish American Heritage Free-to-Use set, participants practice two routines: question generation with images and scaffolded source analysis with text. Comparing human and AI outputs, teachers explore the guiding question: How can AI both support and distort our understanding of Jewish religious life?
From the Oval Office to the Bench: A look at Landmark Supreme Court Cases through Primary Documents
Rachel Humphries
Bill of Rights Institute
Explore how landmark Supreme Court cases have shaped and challenged presidential powers. The presenter of this session uses primary sources to examine foundational debates over executive authority, encouraging critical thinking and discourse. Participants will engage with historical and contemporary implications of these rulings to better understand their lasting impact on American governance.
Using Modern Images to Help Bridge the Gap in the Analysis of Historical Political Cartoons (Presentation)
Sean Hayward
Dr. Phillips High School
Political cartoons are one of the more common primary sources that students will come across in their history courses. The strategy that this presenter often uses in the classroom involves pairing a political cartoon for students to analyze, with a modern image, that many of them can universally understand/connect with. The goal being to help them compare and make connections that will allow them to understand the full scope of the cartoon easier.
A Revolution of Words-The Declaration at 250: Using Primary Sources to Teach Its Promises & Perspectives (Presentation)
Stephen Masyada
Elizabeth Wood
Kimberly Garton
University of Central Florida
The 2025-2026 school year is a time to celebrate the 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence. Through the creation of birthday-themed lessons, proven pedagogies will be employed for students to analyze primary and secondary sources. These themed lessons target the necessary skills (such as contextualization, comparison, evaluation, and analysis) students need to develop a deeper understanding of the complexities associated with the Declaration of Independence.
"How To" Find Primary Sources from the Library of Congress: Professional Development Webinars
Stacey Graham
Middle Tennessee State University
The TPS Southern Region has been creating educator resources since 2009 that are focused on primary sources and critical thinking skills. Our newest resources are “How To” webinars that offer quick and easy instructions on searching for primary sources in different formats from the Library of Congress. If you are looking to earn professional development credits, you can add our PD online worksheets to immediately put into practice what you learn “how to” do!
Every Object Tells a Story: Using Object Based Inquiry to Spark Curiosity and Increase Student Engagement (Presentation)
Heather Nice
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
In this hands-on session, learn to examine the many stories objects tell and how they can spark curiosity, foster critical thinking, and drive deep student-led inquiry. Participants will explore how to effectively incorporate object-based inquiry into existing classroom practice and leave with strategies they can immediately implement.
The Power of Primary Sources: Developing Historical Thinking Skills
Dori Gerber
Institute for Curriculum Services
The study of primary sources is crucial to the study of historical and current events, as well as exposing students to multiple perspectives. Primary source instruction also supports inquiry-based learning models, while helping students develop historical empathy. In this interactive session, teachers of all disciplines (because primary source analysis is an interdisciplinary skill) will explore an array of source analysis tools, techniques, and resources that will model analyzing a variety of types of primary sources for different student levels. In addition, you will receive access to free, digital tools to support your instruction when incorporating primary sources into your lessons.
2:00- 2:50 pm - Session IV Presentations
The Yamato Colony of South Florida
Laurie Boulden
Katherine Lamar
Warner University
Did you know...in the early 1900s, a group of Japanese immigrants started a colony near Delray Beach to share innovative farming techniques with others? Using personal narrative, primary documents, and critical/creative thinking strategies, the presenters will introduce an elementary-focused booklet as a great resource for teachers helping students learn about this extraordinary immigrant group. Come learn for yourself and get the details on how to access this free resource for your own classroom.
Beyond the Parchment: Analyzing the Sources That Shaped America (Presentation)
Nicole Jamerson
Orange County Public Schools
To commemorate America's 250th anniversary, the presenter of this session offers literacy-focused strategies for analyzing historical sources related to the Declaration of Independence. We will demonstrate techniques for enhancing student vocabulary and implementing structured writing prompts. Participants will learn how these methods deepen comprehension and analysis of both the central text and surrounding visual and text-based documents, empowering students to critically engage with the foundations of American history.
Lifting the Iron Curtain: Employing Graphic Memoirs and other Accessible Sources to Build Historical Literacy (Materials)
Caroline Sheffield
Louisville University
This interactive session will examine the realities of life in the GDR using the graphic memoir Time Zones by Sven Siekman as an anchor text, accompanied by a collection of accessible primary and secondary source materials. The presenter of this session will explore graphic memoirs as primary source documents and will model instructional strategies designed to engage students in the contextualization and corroboration of sources. Instructional materials will be provided.
Launching Inquiry: Using Primary Sources to Explore Space and Power (Presentation)
Brian Furgione
Oviedo High School
The presenter of this session equips educators with strategies to use primary sources such as speeches, photos, propaganda, and transcripts to ignite student curiosity about the Space Race and Cold War. Participants will engage with layered questions, explore cross-curricular connections, and walk away with ready-to-use source sets and tools to build their own. Come ready to question not just what happened, but why it mattered.
Flashpoints in History: Finding Meaning Through Visual Thinking (Presentation / Perspective Window Images / Perspective Images Packet / Break It Up Handout / Free Stamps for Educators: Postal History Foundation)
Shauna Liverotti
Dalton Savage
National Council for History Education
Visual thinking strategies make history more engaging and interactive across subjects. In this hands-on session, teachers will practice using primary sources to guide student observation, questioning, and discussion. Participants will explore methods such as Break It Up to structure analysis, Perspective Windows to examine multiple viewpoints, and Stamp It Out to categorize ideas. While uncovering Florida’s cultural history, attendees will gain adaptable strategies and ready-to-use resources that foster curiosity and deepen inquiry.
Through Many Eyes: Unlocking Hidden Stories in Primary Sources (Presentation / Teacher Planning Template)
Paula Baldacci
Chesterfield County Public Schools
The presenter of this interactive session utilizes Western expansion photographs to facilitate critical thinking and lead participants to discover inclusive historical storytelling in the classroom. Participants will examine primary source images, including railroad construction scenes, homesteader images and documentation, and photographs of Native American communities to uncover whose stories are prominently featured and whose voices remain marginalized or absent entirely. Through guided analysis and strategic pairing with diverse picture books, educators will learn to transform single-perspective historical narratives into inclusive stories told from multiple viewpoints that honor the complexity of westward expansion in America.
Primary Source Films from The Library of Congress Film Registry
Matt Stevenson
University of Texas at Tyler
Films as primary sources in your classroom! The session provides an update on the ongoing Library of Congress National Film Registry (LOCNFR) primary source research and pedagogical resources development in partnership with the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas at Tyler.
Community Engagement as Social Innovation
Karon LeCompte
Kevin Magill
Stephen Adedara
Baylor University
Community engagement is essential for helping students understand civics and politics. Using inquiry-based methods, teachers can employ the LOC to show how different communities connect through primary source documents. This approach highlights how civic education and community-led efforts have advanced democracy, justice, and living conditions. We will incorporate John Doerr’s OKRs framework as a teaching tool to explore diverse perspectives. Our aim is to deepen students' understanding of the history and importance of community engagement.
2:50 - 3:10 pm - Refreshment Break- TA 130
3:20 - 4:10 pm - Session V Presentations
Stories Lives Tell: LEAPS and BOUnds (Resources)
Laurie Boulden
Katherine Lamar
Warner University
Find out about free resources for elementary social studies that use primary sources, personal narratives, thinking routines, expanded text, and TPS strategies. Engage with the resources that you can use on Monday.
Untold Stories: African Americans in the Revolutionary War
Rachel Humphries
Bill of Rights Institute
Explore visual and print primary sources that illustrate how enslaved and free African Americans participated in the Revolutionary War and how their actions reflected a desire to enjoy their natural rights.
The Eye (Witness) Chart: A New Lens for Primary Sources (Presentation)
Brande Vogele
Chaparral High School
Ready to transform your primary source analysis? Unveil the "Eye (Witness) Chart," a dynamic tool inspired by the classic eye chart, designed to sharpen student comprehension. Discover how this innovative method guides learners to extract critical content, tone, and keywords, enabling them to "see" historical documents from compelling new perspectives. Experience its power firsthand with a Japanese Internment broadside and enrich your teaching with adaptable strategies for Library of Congress primary sources. Then, get the chance to explore the Library of Congress for examples to use in your classroom.
The Revolutions WERE Televised
Mary Miller
Kathleen Carter
University of Georgia
Draws upon lessons learned by two media archivists in designing and redesigning an 11th grade field trip focusing on four American civil rights movements (Black, Latinx, Disability, and LGBTQ). Uses specific case study to examine: Ways to expose students to difficult moments in history without re-traumatizing them; Re-framing archival audiovisual materials as historic documents; and Combining active learning strategies that promote a sense of belonging and psychological safety with those that foster deeper thinking and questioning.
Making History Local: Designing Place-Based Primary Source Lessons (Presentation)
Hailee Attorri
Lunenburg Middle-High School
Bring history to life by connecting primary sources to the places students know best. This session explores how pairing memoirs, letters, or documents with local sites (such as cemeteries, monuments, or main streets) transforms history into a lived experience. Participants will see how physical spaces deepen historical understanding and leave ready to design their own lessons that turn their community into a classroom and make students active investigators of the past.
Chatty Geeps and the History Mentor: Teaching with Primary Sources through Custom GPTs and Chronicling America (Presentation)
David Hicks
Amy Allen
Cody Dalton
Virginia Tech University
The presenters of this session demonstrate how Gen AI - AKA Chatty Geeps, a custom-built Historical Thinking Mentor, can support teaching with primary sources from the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America archive. The 1901 Booker T. Washington-Theodore Roosevelt White House dinner will serve as a case study. Participants will see how the Mentor scaffolds inquiry by generating compelling questions, guiding search strategies despite OCR and historical naming challenges, and providing feedback on student analysis. The presenters also model how educators can build their own History Mentor GPT
What Was Common Knowledge? A Study of 19th Century Textbooks to Explore the Curriculum of American Common Schools
Jenni Sanguiliano Lonski & Shirley Castiglione
Rollins College
The presenter explores Common and Normal School textbooks to uncover the essential knowledge deemed necessary for success in Common Schools. These original texts illuminate key insights into the history of education in the United States and provide a deeper understanding of the educational values and practices of the time.
AI-Powered Primary Source Analysis (Presentation)
Apryl Taylor
Orange County Public Schools
Unleash the potential of Artificial Intelligence to transform primary source analysis in your classroom! The presenter of this session will first demonstrate how to use AI to quickly generate engaging activity ideas, prompts, and "gems" for historical inquiry. Next, participants will learn practical techniques to make historical documents and images leap off the page: colorizing, updating language, expanding images, and even animating visuals. You'll leave with immediately applicable strategies to deepen student engagement and analysis.
4:10 - 5:00 pm - Session VI Presentations
The Seminole War from Seminole Eyes: Uncovering Local History Through Tribal Voices (Padlet)
Kim Cunningham
Broward County Public Schools / EDGE/ Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, Seminole Tribe of Florida
Abena Robinson
Cypress Billie
Vandal Samuels
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, Seminole Tribe of Florida
The presenters of this session explore the Seminole Wars through Seminole voices, emphasizing resilience, alliances, and cultural survival. Participants will examine tribal perspectives on key figures, battles, and the wars‚ enduring impact on governance, land, and identity. Through stories of resistance and survival, the session highlights how the Seminoles remain “Unconquered” Educators will gain classroom-ready insights and strategies to teach this contested history accurately, ensuring students understand both the struggles and enduring strength of the Seminole people.
Engaging Students in our Nation’s Founding History (Presentation and Resources)
Clint Walsh
Discovery Middle School
Educators who want to engage students in our nation’s founding history should make it relevant, embrace controversy, be inclusive, emphasize humanity, and show enthusiasm for the content. This can be done with primary sources. Repositories such as the Library of Congress, Founders Online from the National Archives, and George Washington’s Mount Vernon provide more than just the primary sources themselves. They provide access to tools, resources, and activities to increase engagement with founding era history.
"The Dignity of Man and the Destiny of Democracy": Influences of the Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War
Kevin Fair
Cooper City High School
Although chronologically coinciding, the Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War are often taught as separate and distinct events. In reality, both were significantly interconnected, with each shaping and influencing the other. The presenter of this session will bridge these two pivotal events. Attendees will be introduced to speeches from Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, and learn how each president highlighted the need for American support of civil rights as part of a larger Cold War strategy.
Images to Inquiry: Aesthetic Development and PBL in History and Ethnic Studies
Chris Carter
Educurious powered by NCEE
This session explores how aesthetic development strategies, including Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), foster engagement with Library of Congress primary sources across secondary classrooms. In 8th-grade U.S. History, VTS is embedded across five units with maps, political cartoons, founding documents, and images to build inquiry and discussion. In the Ethnic Studies Series, students apply these methods to various forms of art, including political pamphlets, cookbooks, album covers and concert posters, graphic novels, and video poems. Both contexts show how visual aesthetic development, integrated with project-based learning, fosters multiple perspectives, deepens cultural understanding, and cultivates student voice and empathy.
Reconstructing an Escape Room (Resources)
Oneil Reynolds
Broward Public Schools
Participants will be examining primary sources through the lens of an Escape room. Participants will use primary sources to complete activities related to reconstruction as they look for clues to unlock their 3 combination locks. The rounds deal with a literacy test, the reconstruction amendments, and the three plans for reconstruction.
Streamlining Sources in the Classroom: How Templates and AI Can Help You Bring More Sources to Your Students (Presentation / Resources)
Gabriel Gutierrez
Wiregrass Ranch High School
Creating lessons around primary sources can be time-consuming, but new tools can help streamline the process. The presenter of this session shares strategies for using templates to save time and give assignments a consistent structure, while also demonstrating how AI can help teachers adapt, scaffold, and expand primary sources for diverse learners. Participants will leave with practical examples of how to maximize primary sources efficiently, making them more engaging and accessible across grade levels.
Using Children's Literature to Catalyze Primary Source Inquiry
Cody Lee
East Buchanan C-1 School District
In this session, participants will experience a Scaffolded Literature Inquiry. We will use "The Camping Trip That Changed America" by Barb Rosenstock as a diving board to explore primary sources related to Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and the establishment of national parks. Participants will practice historical thinking skills across grade levels and disciplines while exploring primary source sets that corroborate the children's literature.
Unlocking Potential: Addressing Learning Differences Through Film and Primary Sources (Presentation)
David Olson
Retro Report
In this interactive session, educators will explore effective strategies for teaching disciplinary literacy and primary source analysis to students with diverse learning needs, particularly those with language-based learning disabilities. Participants will gain hands-on experience with freely available, scaffolded resources for the U.S. History and Civics/Government classroom. The session will begin with an overview of Retro Report’s 8-to-12-minute documentaries, showcasing their role in connecting students to historical events and civic topics through engaging, visually rich narratives. Educators will learn how to pair these videos with Library of Congress primary sources to deepen historical understanding and critical thinking.
5:10 - 5:20 pm - Raffle
Previous Programs
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2025 SOURCES Conference Program
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2024 SOURCES Conference Program
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2023 SOURCES Conference Program
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2020 SOURCES Conference Program
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2019 SOURCES Conference Program (Click on image to download pdf copy)
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2018 SOURCES Conference Program (Click on image to download pdf copy)
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