Guidelines for Using Visual History Testimony in the Classroom Available on IWitness

Educators looking for strategies and best practices for teaching using testimonies from the Visual History Archive can refer to a new guide published on the IWitness website.

Guidelines for Using Visual History Testimony in the Classroom is intended to help educators teach with testimony from the Visual History Archive responsibly and effectively in their classrooms. It is important that teachers guide the learning process for their students and promote reflection throughout their lessons.

The guidelines suggest that teachers prepare their students for watching testimony by providing appropriate biographical and historical information. While watching, students should write down any questions they think of, important quotes, key pieces of information and thought-provoking ideas.

Afterward, students can process their learning through a variety of different activities, including paraphrasing what they heard in the testimony and writing responses, connecting the testimonies to current events and their personal experiences, and asking or responding to questions of increasing complexity.

These strategies and activities are informed by constructive principles of learning.