CLASSROOM RESOURCES

A special section of the site contains Classroom Resources to help teachers, librarians, and students get the most out of The African American Experience. The core of this section is 88 lesson plans that were part of a 5-volume print set by Primary Source, Inc., Making Freedom: African Americans in U.S. History. Primary Source, Inc. is an organization providing professional development, learning opportunities, and curriculum resources for K-12 educators in History and the Humanities. For more information on Primary Source, Inc., visit their Web site.

These lesson plans, compiled by a long list of leading scholars, classroom teachers, and curriculum specialists, incorporate hundreds and hundreds of primary documents, images, audio files, and other material to form a powerful vehicle for bringing the history of African American life into the classroom.

How to Use the Classroom Resources Site

We have designed this site to be as simple and accessible as possible. Users can browse through the lesson plans, which are organized by these five time periods: Beginnings - 1770, 1770 - 1830, 1830 - 1860, 1861 – 1877, and 1877 - 1970.

The lesson plans are further broken down into subject areas within each time period. There are also helpful Context Essays for each time period, as well as an Introduction for the lesson plan material as a whole.

One may also use the "Search Lesson Plans" box to perform a simple keyword search. For example, to search the site for lesson plans relating to the Civil War, simply type "Civil War" in the keyword search box. This will return the results page, listing all lesson plans that contain any coverage of the Civil War.

Each lesson plan begins with a brief introduction to the topic, followed by the following sections: Organizing Idea, Student Objectives, Key Questions, Primary Source Materials, Supplementary Materials, Supplies Needed (if necessary), Vocabulary, Student Activities, Further Student and Teacher Resources. A jump-down menu at the top of the lesson plan provides quick access to each section. At the core of each lesson plan are the Student Activities, which contain hyperlinks to hundreds of primary source documents, images, maps, and audio. For some lesson plans, a "Music Connection" and/or "Contemporary Connection" (providing contextual material, much like a sidebar in a textbook) appears at the bottom of the page. The "Print" button at the top right provides a printer friendly version of the page, which may be copied for classroom use.

The Glossary for the Classroom Resources site contains a full list of all words found in the Vocabulary sections of the lesson plans for your quick reference.

Please let us know if you have any comments, or suggestions on how we can help you better use The African American Experience in your classroom or library!

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