Lesson Plans for Teachers
Our downloadable lesson plans invite students to study primary sources from the Library of Congress’s digital collections to further their exploration of the writing process. Lesson topics in this collection include journaling, drafting, revising, editing, collaboration/corresponding, and publishing. Each lesson includes direct links to primary source materials on the Library of Congress’s website, lesson instructions for students, and accompanying student hand-outs that can be used for in-person or virtual learning.

These lessons may be used individually or together in order to model the writing process. Our lesson plans are teacher-created and align with Common Core State Standards as stated in each lesson. For these lesson plans, the assumption is made that students can define what a primary source is and what an artifact is.
Get Teacher Instructions and Student HandoutsLesson Topics
Drafting
Author Highlighted: Frederick Douglass
Primary source: Chapter from Frederick Douglass’s draft manuscript of his autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, ca. 1880.
Revision
Author Highlighted: Clare Booth Luce
Primary source: Clare Boothe Luce’s scene description of her play The Women. 1936. Manuscript/Mixed Material.
Editing
Author Highlighted: Langston Hughes
Primary source: Drafts of Langston Hughes’s poem “Ballad of Booker T.,” 30 May-1 June 1941.
Collaboration / Correspondence
Author Highlighted: Woody Guthrie
Primary source: Letter from Woody Guthrie to Alan Lomax, September 19, 1940
Publishing
Author Highlighted: Walt Whitman