Classroom Resources
The lesson plans for the Girard College and Columbia Avenue modules and the tips and tricks were created by interns Nick Nguyen, Lou Parisi, and Matthew Schade as a part of their work in the “Cultural Community Fieldwork Initiative” in the Fall 2011 semester.
As part of its leadership in the National History Day Philly collaborative, the National Archives at Philadelphia partners with Dr. Christine Woyshner and the undergraduate Secondary Social Studies Teacher Certification program in the Education Department at Temple University. This project requires Temple secondary education students to undertake fieldwork beyond the traditional classroom, in a library, museum, archives or other history-related institution in the region. Students received course credit for their cultural fieldwork. The goals of the collaborative project were to place Temple students with cultural institutions in order to work with the latter‘s collections to make them more easily accessible to National History Day Philly students and teachers. A second goal is to teach the pre-service teachers about National History Day, a national project-based education program dedicated and proven to help students increase their historical research and critical thinking skills.
Girard College Desegregation Lesson Plan
Students will apply knowledge of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision and what they have learned of the NAACP in order to analyze the desegregation of Girard College in Philadelphia and its fifteen-year struggle towards removing racial barriers even after segregation was deemed illegal and unconstitutional.
Columbia Avenue Riots Lesson Plan
Students will compare an oral history interview regarding the conditions of North Philadelphia at the time of the riot with the official F.B.I. report on the Columbia Avenue Riots. Through this activity, students will gain an understanding of the importance of perspective taking in historical thinking.
Philadelphia Transit Strike (1944) Lesson Plan
Students will use primary source material to learn about events and concepts surrounding the PTC Strike of 1944, including key participants and the differing perspectives around the strike.
Tips and Tricks for using primary sources and this site
Here are tips and tricks for finding and utilizing the primary sources found on this site.