This primary source analysis activity gives teachers a framework for their students to analyze the remarks of President George W. Bush on 9/12 – the day after the attacks. This activity features the Primary Source Ninja activity – a History Made Fresh strategy. This can be assigned in class, at home, or as a simple plan for a substitute. The Primary Source Ninja activity encourages reading for understanding, evidence selection, and personal reflection. This activity is classroom tested.

Teaching about the United Nations? This collection of primary source analysis activities gives teachers a variety of activities to help students dig into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. History Made Fresh strategies such as Primary Source Ninja, Prove It or Lose It, and the Reading Frame are included. These can be used in class, at home, or as a simple plan for a substitute. Each activity encourages reading for understanding and prepares students for an extended writing activity or presentation. These activities are classroom tested.

Explore United States’ President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ‘Quarantine Speech’ from 1937. Students will read selected excerpts and use multiple History Made Fresh strategies, such as Primary Source Ninja to identify broader themes within the document, and Prove It or Lose It to test claims made about the document for validity. Both strategies give purpose to student reading and writing with the goal of increasing understanding and demonstrating mastery. These activities are classroom tested.

This lesson teaches students the concept of Paternalism, as it was a commonly held belief and motivator during the Age of Imperialism in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Students will first learn the concept through a short, focused PowerPoint slide set. They will analyze two visual sources (a political cartoon, and a newspaper advertisement) at the end of the presentation. Then, students will read Rudyard Kipling’s poem The White Man’s Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands. Students will analyze the poem using the Primary Source Ninja strategy pioneered by History Made Fresh. This lesson is classroom tested and the slideshow is fully customizable.

This activity is meant to give students experience interacting with and interpreting a primary source that demonstrates the beginnings of democratic thought in Ancient Greece. This makes an especially good activity early in the school year, but could be used any time. Students read each excerpt, and - with the help of the teacher, a dictionary, or the internet - interpret the meaning of Pericles’ speech. They are then required to condense their interpretation into a four-word summary. Works great as a discussion-based activity or individual work. This lesson is classroom tested and fully customizable.

Integrate current news into your semester-long high school economics course with this teacher-tested project. Encourage students to read and write about a wide variety of economics-related current events. Files are fully editable so that you can customize for your course.

It’s flexible, powerful, compact, and can help you in a pinch – Primary Source Ninja to the rescue! This versatile primary source analysis tool is designed to deeply engage students in close reading, evidence-backed writing, and personal reflection through the lens of historical themes specific to U.S. and World History. This CCSS oriented analysis framework can be applied to any historical document and is meant to be used and re-used throughout the year with different sources so that students gain comfort with their ability to independently read, analyze, and write about history. The Primary Source Ninja neatly fits on one page, so a primary source reading can be copied on the other side. After students gain comfort with the assignment, it can be easily assigned for homework, or used as a go-to sub plan. The Ninja can also serve as a basis for theme-based projects and formative assessments. Comes with editable file so you can adjust to your liking.