The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

The Gilder Lehrman History School is a series of live interactive courses with Gilder Lehrman Master Teachers. It initially launched as Pop-Up History School in May 2020 and has since served students in over fifteen courses. The program’s goal is for students to be interested and excited about the content presented, leaving each lesson more knowledgeable about a new idea, theme, event, document, or pivotal moment. Teachers will deliver both stand-alone classes and full multi-week courses geared to be relevant to any student. Each lesson will be anchored in primary source documents and use Gilder Lehrman resources whenever possible.

History School is for K–12 students with courses designed for elementary (grades K–5), middle (grades 6–8), and high school (grades 9–12). Some of our courses span multiple grade levels.

You can register for a course by going to the course page or by finding the course on the History School Calendar. Some courses allow you to register for individual classes, while others are multi-week courses.

All classes will be held online using the video conferencing platform Zoom. We recommend downloading Zoom ahead of time to streamline your log-on experience.

Recordings of each class will be available on the course webpage within 48 hours of the live session. Students and parents/guardians do not need to be registered for the class to access the recordings. Students participating asynchronously can still receive an attendance certificate by taking the attendance quiz.

Yes! Recordings of each class will be available on the course webpage within 48 hours of the live session. Students and parents/guardians do not need to be registered for the class to access the recording.

No, although your child’s teacher can choose to award extra credit for participating in these classes or assign them as part of schoolwork. Each class session will have a short (3–5 question) quiz that measures if the student was engaged in watching the course either live or via recording. Students who get a 100% on the attendance quiz will be prompted to save their screen which features a certificate from the Gilder Lehrman Institute confirming their attendance in that History School session. 

The only thing a student needs to join a class is a device with an internet connection. We will keep the students’ camera and microphone off. Students will be able to see and hear the teachers.

Our History School is being led by some of the top teachers in the nation, including many who have been recognized for their excellence through our History Teacher of the Year award. You can visit individual course pages to learn more about our team of teachers. 

We are committed to making History School a safe and secure experience. In order to safeguard our program, we have elected to put the following safety features into each History School class.

• The chat feature is monitored by staff.
• Students’ cameras are automatically off.
• Students’ microphones are automatically off.
• Gilder Lehrman staff monitors each session.

Due to Zoom capacity and the nature of the courses, we would prefer that adults watch the video recordings rather than attend live sessions. However, adults are allowed to register for classes. We ask that you do not participate in polls or answer discussion questions in order to facilitate student learning.

Please note: no professional development credit will be given to adult participants. 

Please email us at historyschool@gilderlehrman.org