Lesson Plans
Digital Stories of Our Heroes
Students learn about U.S. history while adding to the collective American memory as they use interview and digital presentation skills to discover, elicit, and relate the stories of local veterans and others who contributed during times of conflict.
Alice Paul and Strong Women
Students analyze primary sources and the poem "Alice Paul" by Katharine Rolston Fisher to gain a deeper understanding of women suffragists and to make comparisons with a strong woman that they know. After, students might interview the woman or write a poem about her.
Learning About (Dis)ability in History
Students—particularly young children learning about the world and their place in it—easily recognize common differences and (dis)abilities among classmates. This guided inquiry situates students to consider the (dis)abilities they see and do not see, both in history and today. The sources and strategies mix reading, writing, and thinking with history, civics, and social and emotional learning to spark, scaffold, and sustain students’ interests while providing students with opportunities for civic engagement.
One Today
Students analyze historical primary sources to deepen their understanding of presidential inaugurations, then read and listen to the inaugural poem, One Today, that Richard Blanco wrote and delivered at President Barack Obama's second inauguration in 2013. After, students consider their to hopes and dreams for the United States and create a poem to deliver at the next presidential inauguration.
This Is Not a Small Voice
Students analyze photographs from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and read the poem, This Is Not a Small Voice by Sonia Sanchez to consider the power of using one's voice. After, students consider how they could use their voices and create a poem inspired by the one they just read.
Setting the Pace for Racial Tolerance
Students analyze an historical newspaper article to learn about a 1944 conference on building better race relationships and identify the claim that keynote speaker first lady Eleanor Roosevelt made about the need for the U.S. to set the pace for the rest of the world and provide supporting evidence for that claim. After, students consider the relevance the article has today and create a product to demonstrate their understanding.
Did the Founders Want Government to Work?
Students analyze primary source texts, including excerpts from the Federalist papers, to investigate the purposes of the Necessary and Proper Clause, the ways in which the separation of powers limit government, and how factions and personal liberties affect the functioning of government. Next, students will write an essay or produce another type of product to answer the question the lesson title poses. Then students will create and deliver brief persuasive speeches in support of how our current federal government is either functional or dysfunctional.
Did the Attack on Pearl Harbor Unify America?
Students analyze oral history interviews recorded shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor to investigate the perceptions of different groups of Americans and determine if this was an event that ultimately brought many Americans together. After students will look into a current issue where people may have perspectives that are being overlooked, conducting and sharing oral history interviews.
Making a Mark: Marching & Leaping Towards Reform
Students make connections between protest, reform, and legacy through investigation of the 1963 March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have A Dream” speech, the poem "Crossing" by Jericho Brown, and an excerpt of a conversation about leaving a legacy to your country with poet, teacher, and activist Sonia Sanchez. After, students consider civic actions they might take that would support the promise of American democracy.
Civic Actions to Impact the Future
Students make connections between the past, present, and future of the environment through their own imaginings, analysis of a primary source image, and the poem "Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now" by Matthew Olzmann. After, students might assess waste or pollution in their school or local community, then consider actions they could take today to help positively impact the future by promoting environmentally friendly policies and/or programs.