As you prepare to wrap-up the year with your students, you may be looking for ways to ensure that they are prepared to take the next steps in their educational journeys. Most year-end reviews are meant to reinforce the content standards students learned all year long. If that’s what you are looking for, I point you to the Georgia History Webquest, suitable for middle and high school students and makes an excellent review for Georgia and American history.

But social studies education is so much more than content standards. Students who practice primary source exploration develop research and interpretation skills. They not only gain historical knowledge but also grow in their critical thinking skills and reading ability.

So instead of focusing solely on reviewing content standards, I encourage you to help your students review and reinforce the historical thinking skills they’ve also been working on all year long through practicing primary source exploration.

The Georgia Historical Society offers educators resources to support the use of primary sources in the classroom. As professional historians, archivists, and educators we live and breathe primary sources. The resources below are designed to help educators locate quality primary sources and use them to develop meaningful learning experiences.

• Teaching with Primary Sources and Primary Source Handouts and Presentations will take you to a variety of resources and teaching strategies for locating and using primary sources. Resources include GHS Primary Source Sets and GHS Online Exhibits.
• Browse primary sources from the GHS organized by chapters in the textbook Georgia: A History of Change and Progress.
• You can also learn about the Life of a Georgia Historical Society Collection and gain a better understanding of the value of primary sources as a teaching tool with the “Why Primary Sources” online presentation.