Principals As Technology Leaders

Curriculum: The National Archives

National Archives and Records Administration
http://www.archives.gov/

Directions: Take about 25 minutes to complete the following two explorations.  Think about how these resources could be used by teachers at your school.  During the last 5 minutes of this activity period, discuss your findings with your table partner.  

1. Explore the units of study in the Digital Classroom: http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/teaching_with_documents.html  Find a lesson that might be appropriate for use in your school or district.  Read the lesson plan and review the documents it includes.  Visit the front page of the Digital Classroom: http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/index.html
   
   
2. Search the Archival Resource Catalog (ARC) at http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/basic_search.jsp.  Review the list of some of the items ARC includes (in your notebook: Day 1, Exploring Models, pages 5 & 6 ).  Search for one or more items on the list.

If you have time, visit the following:

• Listen to speeches on the Kennedy Site http://www.jfklibrary.org/speeches.htm
• View documents related to Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb at http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/bomb.htm
• Read about a service learning project on the Hoover site http://hoover.archives.gov/education/service.html

2. Check our documents, a new web site which encourages Americans to think, talk and teach about the rights and responsibilities of citizens in our democracy. At the heart of this initiative are 100 milestone documents of American history.  http://ourdocuments.gov 

4. Click on the Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) button and check out the materials available related to a particular subject area. http://www.ed.gov/free/

5. Check out the Online Exhibit Hall http://www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/index.html