The LOC.GOV Wise Guide : Head of the Class

Although the school-days craze is still several weeks away, the Library of Congress has been working hard to provide tools for teachers to incorporate its abundant resources in their classrooms. Recently launched was a web portal with teachers in mind, incorporating classroom materials, themed resources, professional development opportunities, lesson plans, collection connections and more—all based on the Library’s primary sources.

Washington, D.C. public school classroom scene: - first division geography class—students examining relief map. 1899

Parent power + good teachers = better schools : let's get our schools together! Between 1965 and 1980

An important feature of the free online site is a new build-it-yourself professional-development tool for teachers called TPS Direct. TPS Direct will offers any educator, at any time, the ability to customize professional-development activities for use at the school, district or state level for delivery in a face-to-face, online or blended format.

In 1990 the Library began a pilot program to distribute digital primary-source materials on CD-ROM to classrooms. The program, known as American Memory, has today blossomed into a vast web-based treasure trove of about 15.3 million digital files.

As the materials expanded and the need grew, the congressionally mandated Teaching With Primary Sources (TPS) program was born. In 2005, a full-time Educational Outreach office at the Library was established.

More background information can be found at the Library’s blog.

The Library of Congress Experience also has teacher resources based upon the exhibitions and interactives that are featured as part of the experience.

A. Washington, D.C. public school classroom scene: - first division geography class—students examining relief map. 1899. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction Information: Reproduction No.: LC-USZ62-54036 (b&w film copy neg.); Call No.: LOT 2749 no. 138 [item] [P&P]

B. Parent power + good teachers = better schools : let's get our schools together! Between 1965 and 1980. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction Information: Call No.: POS 6 - U.S., no. 277 (C size) <P&P>[P&P]