Myra Zarnowski's teaching and writing about how to use literature as the core of a history program has been transformative in our thinking about how we can use literature to teach more than the "generic reading skills" Sam Wineburg writes about.  The ideas in her books, Making Sense of History and History Makers,  helped us increase the rigor of our teaching literacy in the content areas. 

Since a primary goal of our grant was to have teachers learn how to use primary sources largely available through the internet and in local museums, we extended our study by providing teachers with corresponding primary documents available through the internet, books, and museums to enrich our study.

• Railroads and US History:  Thinking About Historical Significance:
• The Erie Canal:  Thinking about Historical Context
• Historical Fiction and  Phoebe the Spy: Thinking About Historical Truth
• Biographies of Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth: Thinking About Perspective
• Lewis and Clark and the Voyage of Discovery: Integrating Historical Context and Historical Accounts