Professional Development Webinars
Visit the National Archives from home! Our interactive webinars for educators feature historical documents, images, maps, posters, and other primary sources — as well as resources and strategies for bringing primary sources into your classroom. All webinars are free of charge.
Advance registration required. Questions? Please contact us at distancelearning@nara.gov.
Live captioning is available by request. Please include a request for live captioning services in your registration for the event and submit your registration at least two weeks in advance of the webinar.
Upcoming Webinars
DocsTeach for Virtual Learning
This new mini-webinar series is specifically geared to support educators who will be teaching virtually. Each 30-minute session will highlight a different way to use DocsTeach.org with students who are learning from home. Discover how to use DocsTeach to help your students make sense of the stories, events, and ideas of the past with primary sources and engaging online activities.
Each program will begin at 2 p.m. ET and last 30 minutes. Advanced registration is required. You can choose to attend individual webinars or join us for the whole series!
- August 4, 2020: How to Create and Share Primary Source Sets (Recording on YouTube)
- August 6, 2020: How to Pair and Share DocsTeach Activity Sets
- August 11, 2020: How to Lead a DocsTeach Activity Remotely
- August 13, 2020: How to Analyze Primary Sources Online with DocsTeach
Teaching the 19th Amendment
Tuesday August 18, 2020, 12 p.m. ET, 60 minutes
August 2020 marks the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment. This webinar will provide resources for exploring the complicated legacy of this major milestone that guaranteed suffrage for some, but not all, American women. Discover primary sources for teaching how women organized and fought for suffrage in the years leading up to the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the amendment process, and the voting rights struggles that persisted after its passage.
Teaching the Charters of Freedom: The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights
Wednesday, September 16, 2020, 7 p.m. ET., 60 minutes
Join the National Archives for a hands-on session and discover resources for teaching the founding documents of the United States. Discover a model you can use to introduce your students to the Charters of Freedom, take a look at the Declaration of Independence through different lenses, and access primary sources that can help students connect the big ideas of the Constitution and Bill of Rights to their own lives. This webinar is also available as a by-request program for your school or district!
Presidential Powers and Precedents: What’s the Limit?
September 22 at 4 p.m. ET, 90 minutes
Five case studies will examine the limits of Presidential Power in this webinar for secondary school educators (grades 6-12), offered in partnership with the Presidential Primary Sources Project.
- The Hoover Library will examine the Bonus March. In 1932, Hoover used the military to clear protesters out of Washington, DC — but does the President have the power to do that? The intersection of Constitutional rights, legislative process, and presidential precedent makes this topic extremely valuable in the classroom.
- The Truman Library will look at the Steel Crisis. The United States faced a major steel strike while U.S. soldiers were in Korea in 1952. President Truman issued Executive Order No. 10340 to take possession of privately owned steel mills and keep them running. He felt this posed a grave threat to our national defense. Do presidents have the power to take private property when American is at war?
- The Carter Library will examine the Antiquities Act. The Antiquities Act of 1906 gives the President the power to circumvent Congress when they feel decisive action is needed to protect cultural and scientific resources. In 1980, President Carter used it as leverage to bring Congress to the table and pass the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), protecting over 150 million acres of public land and expediting implementation of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. In response, Alaskans would burn him in effigy next to the Ayatollah. Was he justified or did he exceed his Constitutional authority?
- The Reagan Library will go back to 1981 and ask the question, “Who is in charge when the President is shot and rushed to emergency surgery?” Join in the discussion as we look at historical documents, precedents, and the Constitution as we work to answer this question.
- The Clinton Library will examine the Kosovo crisis. Congress passed the War Powers Resolution in 1973 to limit the ability of the President to engage in military conflict without seeking a declaration of war from Congress. Did President Clinton overstep his authority by conducting strategic air strikes in Kosovo? How does this compare to other administrations?
Penpals from the Past: American Indian Schools in the United States
"Boys and Girls Conducting Physics Experiments at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania," ca. 1915. Available on DocsTeach
Wednesday, September 23, 2020, 7 p.m. ET, 60 minutes
Learn about Indian Boarding and Day School records created primarily after 1879 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and see some examples of class schedules and student work from then until today. Learn how to access and incorporate records of Native Communities throughout U.S. History into your curriculum, guide student research at the National Archives, and help make National Archives primary sources more accessible to everyone.
This webinar is part of our Native American professional development series. Each program features new resources for locating and using Federal records related to American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Teaching with Hispanic-Latinx Primary Sources
Wednesday, October 7, 2020, 7 p.m. ET, 60 minutes
As part of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, this webinar will demonstrate how to find and utilize National Archives primary sources in the classroom. Two case studies will highlight civic engagement:
- Labor Rights are Human Rights: Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, and the United Farm Workers
- Immigration in the Post-1965 Era: the Federal Government and Activism
Native Communities and the Vote: Teaching about American Indian Voting Rights through Documents
Wednesday, November 18, 2020, 7 p.m. ET, 60 minutes
Join us and learn how to incorporate primary sources related to American Indian voting rights into your lessons. We will share activities and resources from the National Archives, and explore how to include discussions of evolving rights over time as related to Native Communities and the right to participate in Federal elections.
This webinar is part of our Native American professional development series. Each program features new resources for locating and using Federal records related to American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Webinars Available By Request
Register and select your preferred dates.
Connect your school or district with the National Archives for one of our by-request professional development webinars!
- Minimum of 10 participants
- Maximum of 250 individual connections per webinar
- Available by request Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM-6:00 PM ET
- Program duration is flexible — we recommend 20-60 minutes, depending on the preferred content
- Please submit requests at least one month in advance of desired date
- All requests subject to availability
Available Programs:
An Introduction to DocsTeach
Discover DocsTeach.org, the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives. Learn how to find primary sources for teaching history and civics topics. Explore the 12 different document-based activity tools and find out how, with a free DocsTeach account, you can create your own activities or modify existing activities to share with your students online. Already familiar with DocsTeach? Request an in-depth training on creating activities or finding DocsTeach resources for teaching a particular topic.
Teaching the Charters of Freedom: The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights
Join the National Archives for a hands-on session and discover resources for teaching the founding documents of the United States. Discover a model you can use to introduce your students to the Charters of Freedom, take a look at the Declaration of Independence through different lenses, and access primary sources that can help students connect the big ideas of the Constitution and Bill of Rights to their own lives.
Questions? Contact DistanceLearning@nara.gov
Recorded Webinars
Getting Started with DocsTeach
Each 20-minute session highlights a different aspect of DocsTeach.org to show you how you can help your students make sense of the stories, events, and ideas of the past by working with primary sources. Recordings are available on our YouTube channel:
- Finding and Sharing Activities
- DocsTeach hosts an ever-expanding collection of document-based activities created by the National Archives and teachers around the world. During this session, you will discover how to find teaching activities and share them with students.
- Finding and Sharing Primary Source Documents
- DocsTeach provides access to thousands of primary sources – letters, photographs, speeches, posters, maps, videos, and other document types – that span the course of American history. During this session, you will learn how to find primary sources and utilize National Archives’ resources for primary source analysis.
- Assigning and Viewing Student Work
- DocsTeach activities can be assigned to students to complete online. This session will demonstrate how to assign and access student work via your DocsTeach account, and how to receive students’ work on DocsTeach via other learning management systems.
- Choosing an Activity
- DocsTeach offers 12 different activity tools that help students develop historical analysis skills. This session will provide an overview of the different tools and help you decide which activity to use.
- Modifying Existing Activities
- On DocsTeach you can borrow from an ever-expanding collection of document-based activities built by the National Archives education staff and teachers around the world. In this session you’ll discover how to modify an activity you find on DocsTeach to better suit your needs.
- Creating Your Own Activity
- Create your own online activity on DocsTeach to share with your students! This session will walk you through the process of adding primary sources, setting up your activity, writing instructions for your students, and publishing your activity.
Professional Development for Educators YouTube Channel
View previously recorded webinars and National History Day Workshops featuring primary sources and teaching strategies.
Recently added:
- Petitions, Protest, and Persuasion: Women's Voices in the Records of the National Archives
- Teaching with the Records of Congress
- Teaching the Constitution with Political Cartoons
- WWI Resources for the Classroom: The Remembering WWI App and DocsTeach.org
- Remembering Vietnam: the Road to War-Webinar for Educators
- Remembering Vietnam: The Road Through War-Webinar for Educators
National History Day Workshops
Learn about resources for projects and primary source research from the National Archives and our partner organizations, the theme and categories, using primary and secondary sources effectively, and teaching tools for NHD.
Request a program today!
Register online using the registration link for the particular program you are interested in above. If you prefer, fill out and return our PDF form to distancelearning@nara.gov.