Educator Resources

History comes alive when students are invited to investigate it for themselves.

As part of our commitment to supporting educators, History Had Eyes is developing a growing collection of classroom resources designed to help teachers introduce students to historical inquiry, primary-source analysis, and evidence-based investigation.

We have included a sample lesson plan to demonstrate how History Had Eyes can be incorporated into classroom instruction. We are also developing a companion PowerPoint presentation that educators can adapt for classroom use, making it easy to guide students through the historical context, key evidence, major personalities, and investigative process explored throughout the documentary series.

Our goal is to provide practical, engaging resources that encourage critical thinking while introducing students to the methods historians use to evaluate evidence, challenge assumptions, and explore competing interpretations of the past.

This resource library will continue to grow as additional lesson plans, presentations, classroom activities, and educational materials are added to support teachers at the middle school, high school, collegiate, and lifelong learning levels.

Our Developing Educator Resource Center

We are working to organize more comprehensive teaching resources to help you bring the Romanov saga to life more easily. What you can access now is linked below with future features coming that include:

Classroom Lesson Plans

• Download your available lesson plan now

• Course objectives

• Learning outcomes

• Time estimates

• Suggested classroom activities

PowerPoint Library

• Ready-to-use presentation decks

• Instructor notes

• Discussion prompts

• Suggested pacing

Primary Source Library

We hope you will agree that this could be one of our strongest differentiators for teaching the Romanov mission. These materials may include:

• Military orders

• Maps

• Photographs

• Telegrams

• Newspaper articles

• Diaries

• Government memoranda

• Diplomatic correspondence

Our objective here is to help students become investigators rather than passive viewers.

Classroom Investigation Activities

For example:

• "Could Nicholas II Have Survived?"

• "Evaluate the Evidence"

• "Build Your Own Timeline"

• "Who Would You Interview?"

• "Rank the Sources by Reliability"

These fit perfectly with our Collaborative Intelligence philosophy and focus.

Documentary Discussion Guides

Questions for:

• Before viewing

• During viewing

• After viewing

Student Worksheets

• Evidence logs

• Timeline worksheets

• Character profiles

• Vocabulary

• Reflection questions

Interactive Maps

Your animated journey will include places like:

• Yekaterinburg

• Irkutsk

• Chita

• Harbin

• Vladivostok

• San Francisco

• Chicago

• New York City

We know teachers love geography when it can be integrated, so we are working toward that feature.

Historical Intelligence Exercises

This is one way in which we are working to be uniquely "History Had Eyes."

Students will be able to also learn how historians:

• Authenticate evidence

• Compare sources

• Identify bias

• Resolve conflicting accounts

• Assign confidence levels

Together, we’ll be teaching historical methodology, not just history.

Assessment Tools

• Short quizzes

• Essay prompts

• Debate topics

• Project rubrics

• Source analysis exercises

Behind the Scenes for Educators

Short videos explaining:

• Why we chose certain evidence

• Research challenges

• Archival discoveries

• Documentary production decisions

Appreciating understanding the investigative process as much as the historical content is important for us and we hope it will be important, in this case, for you.

Teacher Community

Eventually:

• Educator webinars

• Classroom success stories

• Downloadable updates

• Lesson-sharing

• Q&A sessions

One Additional Feature We Hope Will Make History Had Eyes Exceptional

We will also be developing a downloadable Historical Investigator's Toolkit for students.

It will include:

• An Evidence Evaluation Checklist

• Source Credibility Matrix

• Timeline Builder

• Witness Comparison Sheet

• Historical Research Journal

• Document Analysis Form

• "Questions to Ask Every Historical Source"

Instead of simply learning about the Romanov investigation, students would learn a transferable investigative framework they could apply to the Civil War, the American Revolution, World War II, or any other historical topic.

We believe that approach will align beautifully with the broader vision we've developed for Collaborative Intelligence: using one compelling investigation to teach enduring skills in evidence, analysis, collaboration, and critical thinking.

We hope this site will become a valuable resource to you in the near future!