Blog Posts by Subject: Common Core

Whether you are an educator looking to diversify your lesson plans or a parent helping your child select materials for their upcoming report, clustering is a fun way to delve into any topic.

From July 28-Aug 1 we welcomed our second group of teachers from NYC or our second annual Education Innovation @ NYPL Summer Institute.

Love history and literature? Original archival documents? Are you interested in new ways to incorporate primary source materials into your lesson plans? NYPL is looking for you!

If only Manga Math had existed when I struggled through Calculus. The only solace at that time was the introduction of the high tech (for its era) graphing calculator.

This Unit, for Grades 11-12, is a historical analysis of how school textbooks tell the story of the Post-Civil War Era, focusing on the evolution of how U.S. History textbooks interpret the history of Reconstruction.

Marcie Colleen, Picture Book Education Consultant, Amie Wright, Selection Supervisor, MyLibraryNYC, and Daryl Grabarek, editor of School Library Journal's (SLJ) enewsletter, Curriculum Connections joined host Betsy Bird to discuss how teachers, students and parents are grappling with the new standards. I was interested to discover that New York City's new schools chancellor, Carmen Farina, endorses Common Core standards.

"The Pittsburgh Courier drew its inspiration for the Double V campaign from a letter by James G. Thompson of Wichita, Kansas, published in the January 31, 1942 issue. Thompson, in his letter titled 'Should I Sacrifice to Live 'Half American?',' advocated for a 'double VV' for a dual victory over enemies to the country and enemies—opposed to equality, justice, and democracy—at home. In its next issue, on February 7, the Courier displayed Double V drawings emphasizing the theme 'Democracy, At Home, Abroad.' The paper announced the Double V 

The story of immigration to America is a rich tapestry whose opposing threads, oddly for how much they reject each other's reality, hang together as one. It outrages us and gives us hope in frighteningly equal measure.

Nowhere is this truer than New York City, a city of extremes in every sense. The community known as Washington Heights/Inwood originally spanned from 135th Street north to the top end of Manhattan Island, surrounded by the Hudson River on the west and the East River with Spuyten Duyvil's deadly currents in between. Its land is the highest ground in 

In order to provide 9th and 10th grade students an opportunity to explore this topic further, we have assembled a collection of primary and secondary source readings to be analyzed and discussed as part of common core-aligned Social Studies units on either the "New Imperialism" of the 19th century or the rise of Fascism in the 20th century.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”—Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

The American Revolution symbolizes a critical moment in the history of the United States, and the Declaration of Independence is the key symbol of that moment. With its rhetoric of freedom and equality, the Declaration of Independence inspired the colonists to courageously fight for their rights. 

By 1900, New York City and the United States were undergoing waves of dramatic, traumatic change. Industrialization, Reconstruction and a surge of immigrants from across the globe were remaking every aspect of life, from transportation to education, leisure, labor, race relations and the status of women. One response to the dislocations and turmoil of this era was the reform efforts that we now classify as the “Progressive Movement.”

"I could not move because history had me glued to the seat. It felt like Sojourner Truth's hands were pushing down on one shoulder, and Harriet Tubman's hand pushing down on another shoulder" —Claudette Colvin (Interview on Democracy Now, March 2013)

We have just shuttered the doors on our first Education Innovation @ NYPL Summer Institute. During this three week Institute, master teachers from NYC (and further afar) met curators from our Research Divisions, explored our Archives, and connected with members of our Strategy Department—all with the intention of addressing how we can better identify materials from our collections for use in the classroom, and how we can better connect these materials to teachers. The New York Public 

"I left the States for Canada, for rights, freedom, liberty. I came to Buxton [Ontario] to educate my children" —Henry Johnson (pp. 307 A North-side View of Slavery: The Refugee, Or, The Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada)

Additional Resources for Further Reading Expanded Text List - Slavery and the Underground Railroad Gr. 6-8. List of additional materials from the NYPL Library 

Love history? Original archival documents? Looking for new ways to incorporate primary source materials into your lesson plans? 

NYPL is searching for you! We are looking for innovative master teachers at the middle and high school level for a new 3 week collaborative summer exploration program based at The New York Public Library's flagship Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue.

The Education Innovation @ NYPL Summer Institute will take place August 5-23 (Monday-Friday 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. for 3