Full Description

There is a renaissance occurring in American history classrooms: teachers have discovered that local history offers students not only far richer content and more enjoyable learning experiences, but also unique insight into our national character. And they can even address social studies standards. Now, there's a book to show teachers how.

Using several social studies and geography standards as a framework for planning, Homespun offers teachers some of the best instructional activities for learning more about the lifeblood of communities—their traditions, beliefs, social and economic forces, religion, and ethnicity. In the first part of the book, Stevens describes activities in which students visit cemeteries and historic sites . . . compose a local history . . . study architectural and housing patterns . . . review old photographs . . . conduct interviews . . . interpret maps . . . write their own family history . . . create a community image. The second half of the book features a collection of highly successful state and nationally recognized projects that represent "best practices" in local history. These "model" activities—many of which are award winning—are great starting points for teachers who want to develop their own local history projects.

Additional Resource Information

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Contents

Contents:
1. Getting Started
2. Gravestones, Cemeteries, Markers, and Historic Sites
3. Write a History
4. The American House
5. Using Primary Sources
6. Oral History
7. How to Get from Here to There
8. Write Your Family History
9. Create a Community Image
10. Order in the Court: Field-Trip Liability
11. "A Walk Through Time": A Living History Project, Screven County Middle School, Sylvania, Georgia
12. "Old Hometown," School District of Escambia, Pensacola, Florida
13. "The Real World: Community Speakers in the Classroom," Milbrook High School, Raleigh, North Carolina
14. "Actual and Virtual Reality: Making the Most of Field Trips," Fort Snelling Historic Site, St. Paul, Minnesota
15. "Doing Real History: Citing Your Mother in Your Research Paper," Oceanside High School, New York

Samples

• Make the most of field trips (PDF, 411KB)