A couple of months after starting my job as a Visual Information Specialist at Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC), one of my colleagues approached me to ask if I would make his idea come to life. He was in the process of developing a series of history lesson plans that would showcase NHHC's collections. There were two major stipulations: the packets needed to be appealing to high school teachers and students, and they needed incorporate our branding.
After reviewing the 20+ page packet he sent, I formulated a brief containing necessities for the instructors' guide, elements that would be included in the student's packet, the expected publication schedule, the qualities we needed (readability, compactness, a design not dependent on color printing, and engaging!). He provided additional input, and I went to work creating a rough sample layout. Once that was approved, I started in earnest.
The Instructor's Guide required a bit of tweaking, but this was the final version.
The Student Packet had a variety of source types and assignments to design, and we initially tried to include lines on the worksheets. This proved tricky with the overlay of fill-able boxes for digital (and accessible use), so we removed those.
Every Instructor's Guide essentially followed the same format, but each additional student guide came with new types of sources and assignments.
Variations on page types in Student Packets
All of the lesson plans are free to use and can be found at NHHC High School Lesson Plans