The New York Public Library offers some of the best public and research collections in the world. Our Digital Collections alone encompasses more than 800,000 images - including historical photos, political cartoons, maps, and other curiosities that can be explored digitally (such as our extensive collection of photos of Harry Houdini). Given this wealth of resources, the challenge for us becomes—how do we curate this abundance of materials in an accessible and efficient way for classroom use, especially to meet new Common Core State Standards for Reading History and English Language Arts?

 

From July 28-Aug 1 we welcomed our second group of teachers from NYC (and as far away as the Netherlands!) for our second annual Education Innovation @ NYPL Summer Institute to lend their expertise to help us do just that. 

 

During the Institute teachers learned about: 

• NYPL's world-class circulating and research collections
• Best practices for integrating primary source documents into the classroom
• NYPL's new and dynamic ways we are creating for students to experience primary sources (have you seen our Building Inspector game - powered by citizen cartographers? Or our What's On the Menu project?)

In return, each teacher produced a richly annotated resource list that combined circulating trade books from our library shelves with primary source materials from our archival and digital collections. Teachers received up to 30 professional development credits for their participation in the program, issued through the NYC Department of Education Office of Library Services. 

This summer, teachers focused on collections involving the history and literature of:

1. New York, Then and Now: Immigration and Change Over Time
2. America's Beginnings: The Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution
3. The Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation
4. World War I: Centenary 

All resource lists (below) are for Grades 6-12, unless noted, and can be modified for use in lower or upper grades depending on text selection. All lists have been developed with an eye towards Common Core State Standards for Reading History and/or Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Reading Literature or Reading Informational Texts. Specific inquiry and research skills that these lists aim to address include: citing evidence to build an argument; comparing/contrasting primary and secondary materials on the same topic; scruntinizing historical fact versus fiction; examining point of view; and investigating a historical event from multiple perspectives. Finally, each list combines multiple material formats including print, non-print, digital, and even audio to better support multiple literacies in classroom instruction. Please click on each list to learn more, including what Common Core State Standards each collection of texts can be used for in terms of instruction. 

We thank our teachers for their participation, enthusiasm, and expertise; and we look forward to further educational partnership endeavors at the New York Public Library as we continue to provide a wide-ranging array of services to the teachers and students of NYC.