History Matters - The U.S. Survey Course on the Web

"History Matters" is a great reference website that caters to both teachers at the high school and college level about American history. The website is created to help teachers design hands-on lesson plans using a variety of primary sources and advice from fellow history teachers. There is also sample work from students that is provided to help teachers create effective lesson plans.

This website contains over a thousand primary sources that are arranged chronologically. These sources include writing, images and audio interviews that are directly relevant to historical events. This range of primary sources serves as a valuable resource when teaching students that are visual or auditory learners. In addition to these resources, there are guides to interpreting these sources. These guides give insight into the ways historians use these resources and the most effective ways to teach their uses to students.

The website also has a section entitled “Secrets of Great History Teachers” where interviews are listed with honored history teachers. These teachers wish to use their experiences in the classroom and share their strategies and techniques with other aspiring teachers. One of these interviews focuses on our very own Professor Orville Vernon Burton from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign! Education students and new teachers can learn valuable lessons through these generous professors.

There is also a list of over a thousand reviewed websites about American history. All of these resources are geared toward making students become historians through fun and interactive lessons.