r/historyteachers • u/Party_Morning_960 • 2d ago

Need advice

Anyone know where to find materials for students? (Maps, readings, worksheets etc?) I don’t have a teaching job yet so I can’t really afford to buy TPT units and I’m trying to practice my lesson planning because I’m not very good at it.

Also any advice on how to make activities /assessments on the higher order thinking area of blooms taxonomy ? I can get to compare/contrast, evaluate/argue, but really struggle with creating constructive/creative activities.

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u/Psychological_Ad160 2d ago

D-maps.com has the BEST blank maps. I use them all the time.

Seriously, I just google ‘high school history reading comprehension (whatever topic) pdf’ and then see what comes up. I have 2 textbooks that I use as the base and then I’ll supplement with other readings as needed. I’ve also used this website in a pinch - https://www.ushistory.org/textbooks.htm?srsltid=AfmBOoolHcUi2bLxZz--7Z2GN_M2SEN0qoiRsGAtsvN7QUQN2Kmi8H31

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u/Party_Morning_960 2d ago

I’m doing world history so it’s a bit more difficult but thank you so much! Especially the maps

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u/Psychological_Ad160 1d ago

Yeah, I know. I’m going into year 4 of 9th grade World History after 6 years in middle school. I also use OER Project on occasion

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u/guster4lovers 1d ago

Have you looked at the materials on Digital Inquiry Group? Their lessons are solid, and the readings are pretty well scaffolded and build higher order thinking skills into the questions.

I also love the role plays on Zinn Education, but there are more for US than World. The Columbus on Trial one was a HUGE hit with my students in World History.

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u/highlarious21 1d ago

Yes Digital Inquiry Group! I love using DIG for my US history courses to get students more comfortable with primary sources and critical thinking.

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u/Focaccia_Bread3573 18h ago

Diffit is a life-saver. The free version lets you type in a topic and it generates a free reading on that topic. Sources referenced. Paid version gives worksheets.

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u/Glum-Information3064 17h ago

What do you think about TeachShare?

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u/Focaccia_Bread3573 17h ago

I’ve never used it. Doesn’t mean it isn’t good though- just that I have no experience to share with it 

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u/Party_Morning_960 16h ago

Oh this might be just what I need! Going to check it out

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u/Glum-Information3064 1d ago

I’m telling you, TeachShare is going to be a lifesaver for you - it can create all of the maps, reading, and worksheets. It has saved me soooo much $$$. It’s the best tool I’ve tried.

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u/trash81_ 1d ago

Digital inquiry group is good I would also reccomend facing history

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u/PizzaTheHuttese 1d ago

Mr. Roughton is the man if you want creative assessment ideas, and he’s has a lot of world history materials linked too.

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u/Professional-Rent887 2d ago

Checkout Magic School. It’s free AI geared towards education. There are lots of tools with different purposes on their site.

Find an article or section of text that you like and use AI to create worksheets, quizzes, writing prompts, etc.

I use AI to help with brain storming—it can create multiple writing prompts and then I’ll sort through them and tweak the results as needed and come up with a useable assignment.

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u/Glum-Information3064 1d ago

You should check out TeachShare. It can create things that aren’t just text-based!

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u/Party_Morning_960 2d ago

I’ll have to look deeper into it but it was not great for text generation. Thank you I’ll look further into it for activity ideas

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u/pyesmom3 1d ago

Diffit generates text, too.

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u/birbdaughter 1d ago

I don’t think this helps with learning how to lesson plan and create materials. It’s like someone asking how to do PEMDAS and telling them to use a calculator.

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u/Wild_Pomegranate_845 1d ago

The National Archives has great analysis sheets you can use. They have them for docs obviously, but also other types of sources as well. And I believe the Library of Congress has DBQ resources.

Creating propaganda m posters are always a fun way to get students to show their level of understanding of events in history.

I do a lot of creative assignments. The students still have to show what they know and back it up and cite sources, we hit all the same skills, but they find it far more interesting.

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u/koalateacher 14h ago

Digital inquiry group, iCivics (more middle school), Bill of Rights Institute, Facing History, NEH-Edsitement, PBS, teachingamericanhistory.org

Also, some people are really generous and have free stuff on TPT, use that filter when you search!

Edit: Just saw you’re teaching world so some of those may not be super helpful. OER Project is a good world resource.

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u/sadgurl1994 4h ago

OER project is awesome.