THOMAS is ready to help you teach government
March 22, 2010
Teaching students how our government works can be a dull subject — two houses, a president, a judicial branch, checks and balances, separation of church and state, we all had the same cookie-cutter run down. But how can we dig deeper than just the surface lessons about the folks we send to Washington D.C.? Well, the Library of Congress has created THOMAS, an online resource about the real goings-on of our government, named after out third president, which has an immense amount of information right down to the bills that were passed this week.
Like most governmental websites, the layout isn’t exactly intuitive. The feel of the site is extremely utilitarian. As such, start with the educators section, which has lesson plans based around using THOMAS in the classroom. This is a great way to get your feet wet using the website and make sense of the resources they are offering.
Related stuff:
Boost your students’ understanding of Congress with The Communicator
Monitor The Government As Avidly As It Monitors You. Well, Almost.
It’s All About the Benjamin’s Guide to Government
Photo credit: Tony the Misfit on Flickr.
