The Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org

Featuring “The Wayback Machine”, this site offers rich archival material in a digital form. Not intended to replace the Library of Congress or the National Archives, the Internet Archive provides unique vintage primary source material, such as government propaganda and instructional material, all downloadable and/or embedable. Check out this as an example: a vintage video (at right) made here in southwest Michigan from the ‘50s about democracy in the classroom.

Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com

The advancement of Web 2.0 has led to great tools and resources. Wikis have become the epitome of the online collaboration/publishing resource. Wikispaces has led the pack with simple wikitext and user friendly editing. The applications in the classroom are nearly limitless.

National Archives - Eyewitness Expereince: http://archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/

One of my favorite exhibits offered by the National Archives (which is in, and of, itself a great web resource), this exhibit features Flash presentations and activity surrounding compelling primary resources from those that have witnessed our nation’s greatest events.

Discovery Education (unitedstreaming): http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/

Many have already become familiar with the thousands of instructional videos from unitedstreaming. However, many new additions have come to Discovery Education that all can relate to. The closer partnership with Discovery has created an interactive map, a “This Day In History” linked to its resources, an extensive image library, and a more functional assignment/lesson builder.

iCue: http://www.icue.com

NBC recently released its archival news footage. As it did so, it launched a classroom news resource to promote current events and the use of news in schools. There is a bit of a learning curve, but with tutorials and help features, iCue offers teachers an opportunity to expose their students with real-life discussion topics in which they can participate online.

TechLearning: http://www.techlearning.com

Tools to assist the 21st century educator are what this site and it’s sister websites provide. They aim to keep teachers informed of modern solutions to contemporary education needs. Sister sites include 21st Century Connections, Model Intelligent Classroms, and K-12 Blueprint.

Geography and Map Reading Room: http://www.loc.gov/rr/geogmap/

The Library of Congress has hundreds of online exhibits - this one I find particularly useful for its large base of primary map images, allowing students to see how their world and nation looked according to the experts at the time.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute: http://www.gilderlehrman.org/index.html

Referred to me by an MSU professor/historian with whom I am working aspart of a professional development grant, this site is rather new, but it makes up for infancy with amazing resources that every history teacher can use, as well as connections with historians and their latest work.

National Constitution Center: http://www.constitutioncenter.org/

A truly magnificent website, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia has striven to educate America and her students about the Constitution. The site’s home is not as spectacular as it’s “Explore the Constitution” link which leads visitors to the best “Interactive Constitution” I’ve ever seen. Every citizen should have this bookmarked.

Our Documents: http://www.ourdocuments.gov

Teaching American history has its challenges. What does not have to be a challenge is identifying turning points and providing relevant information to students about the documents that changed the course of our history. In partnership with The History Channel, U.S. News and World Report, and the National Archives, the milestone documents in our history come alive, creating that meaningful multimedia experince our students need.