Professional Development Webinars
Visit the National Archives without leaving your school or 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 Our interactive webinars for educators feature historical documents, images, maps, posters, and other primary sources — as well as resources and strategies for bringing primary sources into your classroom.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.
By Request
DocsTeach Webinars By Request
Register and select your preferred dates
Connect your school or district with the National Archives for a custom webinar exploring DocsTeach, the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives.
- Minimum of 10 participants
- Maximum of 99 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
Prior to the webinar, a National Archives educator will work with you in advance to determine what the webinar will cover. Topics may include:
- An introduction to DocsTeach
- Finding primary sources for the classroom
- Creating DocsTeach activities
- And more depending on your preferences!
Questions? Contact DistanceLearning@nara.gov
Upcoming Webinars
Teaching the Constitution
Thursday, August 29, 2019, 7 p.m. ET
Get ready for Constitution Day by exploring resources from the National Archives for teaching the Constitution in your classroom. Discover how you can bring the big ideas of the Constitution to life with primary sources on DocsTeach.org, check out lesson plans from the Center for Legislative Archives, and learn about our free distance learning programs on the Constitution. This webinar is suitable for all educators.
Penpals from the Past: American Indian Schools in the United States
Wednesday, September 25, 2019, 7 p.m. ET
Schools for Native American children and youth have existed since the before the Revolutionary War. Although encouraged by the U.S. Government, schools between 1776 and 1879 were primarily run by religious institutions and, as a result, are not usually represented in National Archives holdings. In this webinar, we will 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.
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.
An Introduction to DocsTeach
Wednesday, October 16, 2019, 7 p.m. ET
Join us for an introduction to DocsTeach.org, the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives. Discover how to find primary sources for teaching history and civics topics. Explore the 12 different document-based activity tools and learn how, with a free DocsTeach account, you can create your own activities or modify existing activities to share with your students. This webinar is suitable for all educators.
Native Communities and the Vote: Teaching about American Indian Voting Rights through Documents
Wednesday, November 6, 2019, 7 p.m. ET
Join us and learn how to incorporate primary sources related to American Indian voting rights into your lesson plans. We will share activities and resources from the National Archives, and explore how to include discussions of evolving rights over time as relating 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.
Teaching the Bill of Rights
Thursday, December 12, 2019, 7 p.m. ET
Get ready for Bill of Rights Day (December 15) by exploring resources from the National Archives for teaching the Bill of Rights in your classroom. Discover primary sources that show the Bill of Rights in Action on DocsTeach.org, check out lesson plans and the Congress Creates the Bill of Rights app from the Center for Legislative Archives, and learn about our free distance learning programs on the Bill of Rights. This webinar is suitable for all educators.
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.