History in a Box: Gilder Lehrman Institute

Where shall I begin? There are so many possibilities for Gilder Lehrman's, "History in a Box." While looking through the photographs I could have my students compare and contrast the Lincoln photos of 1860 and 1863, wow how he aged. Additionally, characteristic photo analyses of other photos could be accomplished with students in the classroom. In addition to photos the book offers many documents with explanations that can be used for document analysis within the context of the time and situation. For example, the students could be given a period copy of the Emancipation Proclamation along with the transcribed version of the document for students to critically analyze. And this same process could be done for any number of documents with the book. And then there are the songs on the CD. Having the students read, sing, and critique the songs from the time period though nerdy can be quite fun for the students. And with the Gilder Lehrman putting the lyrics and musical performance on the CD makes the experience much more enjoyable and real. The fact that much of the materials are found not only in paper and text form, but also the CD makes it easier for the classroom teacher to make copies readily available to the students of your classroom. This is an amazing product.