Letters are an especially effective way to learn about both historic figures and everyday people.
This lesson can be used by both middle school and high school students to learn about the personalities, political lives, and the personal lives of the 41 American presidents. A letter written by each president can be found on individual presidents pages from the C-SPAN's American Presidents' web site. Some of these letters are written to family members, some are letters written to communicate about that president's experiences in the White House, and some give us insight into the relationship between the correspondents. The discussion of a letter of a president can be done each week in conjunction with C-SPAN's American Presidents television series. As with the segments of the television programs, students enjoy reading the letters of historic figures because they make these important people seem more real.