How to teach with a source page
Every source in Hearth Library has one page with the original, a plain English translation and the notes a class needs. Written for high school and college classes, in plain English that middle school students and English learners can read too.
The tabs
Open any source, such as Roman recipes, from a Roman cookbook. Not every source has every tab.
- Read
- The original beside our simplified English. Buttons above the text turn on more versions: a close, word-for-word English, a Spanish version where there is one, older public-domain translations, and notes in the margin. On many sources, pointing at a phrase shows the words in the original behind it. For an image, this tab is the words printed on it.
- History
- Who made the source, where and when, what they could and couldn't know, and how far to trust them. Start here for sourcing and context.
- Questions
- A reader's questions with short answers, each pointing to the sections it rests on. Good for checking understanding, or for students to answer before they look.
- People, places, ideas
- Everyone and everything the source mentions, each linked to a topic page that gathers every source mentioning it.
- Facsimiles
- Page images of the original object or the printed edition, from the libraries that hold them. Useful for showing students what the source really looks like.
- Other translations
- Other English translations, with a link where a free copy is online. Comparing two translations of one passage is a quick lesson in interpretation.
- For teachers
- Discussion questions, key terms and a classroom activity, with a note on difficulty and the units the source fits.
- How this text was made
- Which edition the text comes from, how the translation was made and what has been checked.
Draft and Checked
Every translation on the site was drafted by Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic, from the original. A source page marked Draft has not yet been checked against the original by a separate review. Units and guides on Hearth Learning include these, marked Early version, so you can choose. A checked source has been compared with the original unit by unit, and its notes checked against published sources. How the texts are made gives every step.
Units in your learning system
Each classroom unit on Hearth Learning has a Download for your LMS link. The file is a Common Cartridge, a standard format that Canvas, Schoology, Brightspace, Moodle and most other learning systems can import. It adds an overview page with the unit's question, its sources and their teacher notes, a link to each source page, and a discussion on the unit's question. Nothing in it needs student accounts on our sites. Each unit also lists the Common Core and C3 standards its questions and activities practice.
Ideas for class
- Teach the steps. Working with primary sources walks students through sourcing, context, close reading and citing a translated source.
- Source it first. Before reading, have students use the History tab and Facsimiles to say who made the source, when, for whom and why.
- Read in steps. Start with the simplified English, then turn on the close English for one short passage and ask what the plainer version smooths over.
- Compare two translations. Put ours beside an older translation and ask where they differ, and why a translator might choose each.
- Follow a topic. From People, places, ideas, open a topic and read what two sources from different centuries say about it.
- For English learners. Read the simplified English first; where there is a Spanish version, read it alongside.