Teacher's Lounge

 

History teachers know that students understand history when it can relate to the students’ lives. It is important to show students how women in history have had an impact in their lives today. Below are some suggestions to help teachers make women’s history available and exercises to do with your students. We would like to hear your ideas, too. What has worked in making those characters from the past a role model of the present. Please email us with your ideas.

  • Encourage students to add to the student Honor Roll of Notable Women on Scholastic's Web Site. Students review a list of women achievers, choose a woman they feel is deserving of the honor, then research and write an essay describing her achievements. The essays are submitted to Scholastic for publication on their site. All submissions that fulfill the requirements of the project will be posted online, and a selection of these will be posted on the National Women's History Project website as well.
  • Schedule staff meeting time to encourage your colleagues to observe National Women’s History Month, speaking about the value to girls and boys alike. — request our free mail-order catalog or order by phone.
  • Do the textbooks you’re using present women’s contributions to the culture and society in every time period? Work with students to fill in the names and activities of women who are missing. For follow-up, send suggestions to the editors.
  • Bring together the stories of women’s lives... and commemorative U.S. Stamps! Invite the budding philatelists in your class to bring their collections — or a few of their stamps — to school and to help you launch a new unit about American history.
    • Help each student select a historic American woman who has appeared on a U.S. postage stamp or who they would nominate for a future stamp, then conduct research to learn more about her life and contributions.
    • A complete curriculum unit, “Putting Our Stamp on America,” is available to make this unit a snap! It’s full-color poster, 32-page biography/activity booklet , and 15-minute “Women on Stamps” video can be ordered instantly using our online catalog, through our free mail-order catalog, or by phone using a credit card.
    • Have each student report back to the class as a whole, choosing from one of these options:
      • Nominate an American woman for a new commemorative stamp. Write a persuasive essay about her contributions and submit it to the U.S. Postal Service for consideration.
      • Design a full-color commemorative postage stamp, including symbols of her achievements.
      • Design an original “First Day Cache,” drawn on a white envelope.
      • Write and submit a biographical entry for posting on the Internet’s Encyclopedia of History (www.teleport.com/~megaines/woindex.html).
      • Develop and present a first-person performance as the woman, wearing something she might have worn and speaking about her own life.
      • Prepare for a television interview, representing the woman on a “Lives of the Famous” program. Have another student “interview” you, asking questions you have prepared for answering.
      • Write a short skit about a dramatic event in the woman’s life and stage a performance for the class.
      • Write a newspaper article describing a particular accomplishment of the woman as though the event has just occurred. Remember to answer “who, what, when, where, and why” in the first paragraph of your story.
      • Construct a freestanding monument featuring the woman’s likeness and incorporating symbols for her life activities. Describe the monument on a large card for viewers.
      • Build a three-dimensional diorama of an event in her life.
      • Paint a mural or develop a timeline of her life, illustrating its highlights.
The results of this creative work can be shared through hallway displays, or by costumed “time travelers” making scheduled appearances in other classrooms or at a school–wide assembly.
  • When developing lists of names for special reports focused on a topic or time period, offer a balanced choice of women and men from diverse American cultural groups.
  • In lieu of written book reports about women’s biographies, have students perform costumed skits, construct dioramas, design illustrated timelines, or publish mini-magazines to share with their classmates.
  • Provide a copy of the Women’s History Catalog for each teacher, librarian, and administrator at your school site -- use our instant catalog order form or bulk order catalogs by phone, 707-636-2888.
  • Each “Notable Women” Photo Display set from the NWHP includes 30 square feet of photos — and short biographies of 24 women for bulletin boards. Post them individually according to the topic of your lessons, or together for a huge impact.
     
      To get Photo Display set: order instantly using our online catalog; request our free mail-order catalog; or order by phone, 707-636-2888, using a credit card.)

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