The Education Department at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum created these teaching resources for History Makers, a professional development program for third- and fifth- grade teachers in Boston Public Schools. Inspired by the book History Makers: A Questioning Approach to Reading and Writing Biographies by Myra Zarnowski, this semester-long seminar immerses teachers in the study of biography for young learners. Participants learn to guide their students to think as historians; to ask questions about what they're reading; and to think critically about the content as they write about their research. History Makers is presented in partnership with Boston Public Schools and is supported by a U.S. Department of Education Teaching American History Grant.
National History Standards The books listed in the bibliographies have content related to the following eras in United States History:
Era 2: Colonization and Settlement (1585 – 1763); Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754 – 1820s); Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801 – 1861); Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850 – 1877); Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870 – 1900); Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America (1890 – 1930); Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II (1929 – 1945); Era 9: Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s); Era 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
Biographies in American History: Annotated Bibliographies for Elementary and Middle Grades
The Colonial Era (pdf)
The Revolutionary Era (pdf)
The 19th Century (pdf)
The 20th Century (pdf)
Biographies in Massachusetts History (pdf)
Recommended Biographies with publication dates from 2007 to 2009 (pdf)
Annotated bibliographies created for one-day conferences presented by the John F. Kennedy National Historic Site and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
One Country, Many Voices: Cultural Connections to Our History, Gr. 3 -5 (pdf)
One Country, Many Voices: Cultural Connections to Our History, Gr. 6 -8 (pdf)
Reading, Writing, and History: Bringing Great Historical Literature into the Classroom (pdf)
Resources for selecting and evaluating nonfiction books
Evaluating Biographies and Nonfiction Books for Elementary and Middle Grades (pdf)Student Handout: What to Look for When You Read a Biography (pdf)
Criteria adapted from the Orbis Pictus Nonfiction Award (pdf)
Professional Journals and Children’s Book Awards (pdf)