SOC 903 • California History
Historic Los Angeles:
Reflections on Its Heritage
Discover Los Angeles through the people, communities, historic places, cultural institutions, literature, and stories that shaped the region—then transform that learning into meaningful classroom instruction.
Explore Los Angeles Through Its Stories
Move beyond dates and landmarks by examining Los Angeles through biography, historical narrative, Native history, historic places, museums, literature, and multiple perspectives.
SOC 903 invites educators to investigate the historical development and cultural heritage of Los Angeles while considering how people and place shape our understanding of history. Course experiences connect historical content with instructional practice throughout each module.
You will explore influential figures, Tongva history, El Pueblo de Los Angeles, the La Brea Tar Pits, Mission San Gabriel, historic narratives, children's literature, and other resources that can help students engage with the past in meaningful ways.
What You'll Explore
Examine Los Angeles through several complementary lenses that help reveal the complexity of its history and heritage.
Biography & Historical Narrative
Use the lives and experiences of historical figures to examine larger events, ideas, communities, and historical change.
Tongva & Native History
Investigate Native history and perspectives while considering how Indigenous experiences are represented in historical learning.
Historic Places & Museums
Explore historic Los Angeles through sites, institutions, collections, artifacts, and other evidence of the past.
Literature & Perspective
Connect children's literature, storytelling, historical perspective, and inquiry with classroom social studies instruction.
A Six-Module Journey Through Los Angeles
Each module adds historical content while helping you develop your selected portfolio or instructional unit.
Module 1
Charles F. Lummis
Explore biography as a way to teach history while establishing your digital portfolio or planning the foundation of your Historic Los Angeles unit.
Module 2
Southwest Museum & Tongva History
Investigate Native history, cultural resources, historical interpretation, and ways to incorporate Tongva history into meaningful instruction.
Module 3
El Pueblo de Los Angeles
Examine influential people connected to Los Angeles and use biography to help students understand historical development and community.
Module 4
La Brea Tar Pits
Explore the La Brea Tar Pits and George C. Page Museum while connecting children's literature and booktalks to historical and scientific learning.
Module 5
Mission San Gabriel
Examine mission history through multiple perspectives and develop either a historical perspective narrative or a classroom lesson focused on mission experiences.
Module 6
Culminating Application
Bring your learning together through a complete biography-based lesson or a finished standards-aligned Historic Los Angeles instructional unit.
Choose the Pathway That Fits Your Goals
Both pathways explore the same Los Angeles history. You choose how you want to organize and apply your learning.
Option 1
Biography & Historical Narrative Portfolio
Build a professional digital portfolio focused on biographies, historical storytelling, reflections, literature, primary sources, instructional resources, and the heritage of Los Angeles.
Option 2
Historic Los Angeles Instructional Unit
Build a standards-based instructional unit throughout the course by developing lessons, activities, literature connections, historical perspectives, assessments, resources, and supporting materials.
Create Meaningful Classroom Resources
Course assignments are designed to turn your historical learning into resources and instructional experiences you can use with students.
Biography-Based Learning
Tongva History Resources
Literature Connections
Historical Perspective Activities
Standards-Aligned Lessons
Learn Through People, Places & Stories
The course combines historical reading with biographies, museum resources, cultural history, literature, digital tools, historical sites, multimedia, and instructional research.
These varied resources support historical inquiry while helping you think about how students can experience Los Angeles history through evidence, narrative, perspective, and place.
Course Text
La Reina:
Los Angeles in Three Centuries
Course readings are combined with historical resources, multimedia, articles, virtual experiences, and instructional materials throughout the online course.
Deepen your understanding of Los Angeles history through people, communities, places, narratives, and perspectives.
Engage with museums, historic sites, biographies, literature, primary sources, and digital resources.
Transform what you learn into practical lessons, resources, and experiences for your own classroom.
Every teacher who works in Southern California should take this course!
Karen W. • Historic Los Angeles
Ready to Begin?
Discover Historic Los Angeles.
Enroll through Fresno Pacific University's Center for Professional Development and turn your exploration of Los Angeles history into meaningful learning experiences for your students.