Classroom Resources | National Portrait Gallery

Interested in the presidents and the role of the presidency in the United States? Want to learn more about the lives of remarkable Americans, past and present, who have contributed to the nation’s history and culture? The Portrait Gallery has a variety of resources for the classroom that have been developed to complement our exhibitions.

Learning Lab Collections

The National Portrait Gallery is meeting teachers and students where they are! Check out more than 125 Learning Lab collections created by Portrait Gallery educators and classroom teachers. The Learning Lab is a free, interactive platform for discovering millions of authentic digital resources, creating content with online tools, and sharing in the Smithsonian's expansive community of knowledge and learning.

>> Visit the Learning Lab

Teacher Playlist on YouTube

Integrating portraiture into the classroom can provide exciting opportunities to connect students with history, biography, visual art, and many other subjects. Check out the Teacher Playlist on the National Portrait Gallery’s YouTube channel for videos highlighting strategies on how to "read" artworks and ways of bringing portraiture into the classroom.

>> View the playlist on YouTube

View and print our online materials or download them as PDF files. Visit our online collections to search, browse, and augment your lesson plans.

Teacher Guides

"Reading Portraiture" Guide for Educators

Portrait “reading” encourages the visual analysis of a piece of art as if it were a historical document.

America's President's Educational Resources

Do you teach about the US Presidents in your classroom? Visit the America’s Presidents online exhibition and discover the breadth of the museum’s collection of portraits of the Presidents.

Elements of Portrayal: Definitions

Learn how to analyze a portrait by observing various elements

Portraits of the Presidents: Teacher Resource Guide

Through activities, games, and puzzles, this Teacher Resource Guide will introduce students to the Presidents and the role of the presidency in American history.

Self-Guide/Elementary School

This guide will help you facilitate Reading Portraiture experiences and Looking Strategies with your students as you explore our collection.

Self-Guide/High School: Art History

This guide will help you and your students think about how we perceive and commemorate people from our history and will ask you to consider how portraiture has changed and remained the same over the past two centuries using highlights from the National Po

Self-Guide/High School: English Language Arts

This guide will help you facilitate a rich gallery visit that supports English Language Arts standards of learning.

Self-Guide/High School: U.S. History–1600 to Gilded Age

This guide will help you facilitate “Reading Portraiture” experiences with your students as you explore our American Origins and America’s Presidents exhibitions.

Self-Guide/High School: U.S. History–20th Century

This guide will help you facilitate “Reading Portraiture” experiences with your students as you explore The Struggle for Justice and 20th Century Americans

Self-Guide/Middle School

This guide will help you facilitate Reading Portraiture experiences and Looking Strategies with your students as you explore our collection.

Worksheet: 7 Ways to Look at a Portrait

7 creative ways to vew a portrait.

Worksheet: Claim–Support–Question

This thinking routine helps students develop thoughtful interpretations by encouraging them to reason with evidence.

Worksheet: Compare and Contrast

Use the Venn diagram to compare and contrast two different portraits.

Worksheet: Compare and Contrast, Top Hat

Complete the Top Hat using two different portraits in the same gallery

Worksheet: Compelling Portraits

Find a portrait that fascinates you, that “tickles your fancy.”

Worksheet: Jump In!

Find a portrait. If you could jump into this portrait, where would you like to be?

Worksheet: Key Terms

Learn the key terms that are used to describe a work of art in a museum

Worksheet: Seeds for Storytelling

Choose an artwork and pretend to step inside it.

Worksheet: See–Think–Wonder

A fantastic routine to start with – works with any portrait!

Worksheet: Self-Guide Reflection

Use the worksheet to reflect on your visit to the National Portrait Gallery

Worksheet: Six-Word Memoir

The memoir should teach the reader about the sitter’s contributions, significance, era, appearance, emotions, or actions.

Worksheet: Think–Puzzle–Explore

Use this worksheet to think about the portraits you have seen

Worksheet: Timeline

Find portraits that interest you in a variety time periods.

Worksheet: Unveiling Stories

This close-looking activity allows the viewer to uncover the many layers of meaning in an artwork.

Lesson Plans

Be the Curator

Lesson plan for grades 4–12

Students are introduced to the role of a curator in a museum..

Portraiture Now: Communities

Lesson plan for grades 4–12

How do we define community today? Each of the three painters selected for “Portraiture Now: Communities” has explored this question through a series of related portraits of friends, townspeople, or families.

The Struggle for Justice

Lesson plan for grades 7–12

"The Struggle for Justice” showcases major cultural and political figures—from key 19th-century historical figures to contemporary leaders—who struggled to achieve civil rights for disenfranchised or marginalized groups.

Writing Label Text for a Museum Portrait

Lesson plan for grades 4–12

Write a museum label that clearly communicates select information appropriate to a specific task.