Lesson Plans
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer
Pair the picture book, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, with primary sources to deepen student understanding of Jim Crow laws and the struggle for civil rights, in general, and voting rights, in particular. After, students can investigate current voting laws in their state.
Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down
Pair the picture book, Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, with primary sources to have students practice close reading, build vocabulary, and investigate the civil rights movement in the context of the Greensboro sit-ins. After, students may share, in words or pictures, an example of how they have stood up for a cause they believe in.
Diana’s White House Garden
Pair the picture book, Diana’s White House Garden, with primary sources to strengthen student vocabulary and word choice skills while investigating the purposes of World War II victory gardens. After, students can share, in words or pictures, an example of a community coming together for the greater good.
What Do You Do with a Voice Like That?
Pair the picture book, What Do You Do with a Voice Like That, with primary sources to have students investigate Representative Barbara Jordan and the role she played in a changing political landscape in the 1960s and 1970s and during the Watergate investigations of President Nixon. After, students may share, in words or pictures, an example of how they have used their voice to affect positive change at home, school or in their local community.
The Brownies’ Book: I Am an American Citizen
Students analyze an issue of the Brownies' Book to investigate its historical significance and explore how the theme of American citizenship was presented to children back then and could be represented to youth of today.
Chinese Citizenship in Hawaii
Students analyze early 19th-century arguments against citizenship for Chinese immigrants to Hawaii and one journalist's rebuttal to that "defense", then investigate arguments for and against an immigrant group in America today and compare the historical and contemporary debates.
Why We Can’t . . .
Students investigate how a powerful slogan was used by civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and consider how it might be applicable to a contemporary issue.
Snap a Photo: Agent of Change
Students consider point of view and purpose while they engage in careful observation of Lewis Hine’s photographs that exposed child working conditions, generate and test hypotheses based on evidence, and reflect on their learning by applying it to related questions about a photographer’s point of view or purpose. Teachers may choose to have students extend their inquiry by pairing pictures and poems to tell stories (step 8), then investigate child labor today or another contemporary issue related to children and make connections by writing a poem about a related illustrative image they find (steps 9-10).
Congress and Child Labor
Students analyze primary source images and posters to explore why Congress decided long ago that it was important to pass labor laws to protect children, then apply what they have learned by creating their own historical poster. After, students could investigate child labor today or another contemporary issue related to children and make connections by creating a poster to raise awareness of the issue.
Journalists and a Free Press
Students learn about the crucial role journalists and reporters play in keeping the citizens in a democratic society informed about their community, the nation, and the world. First, students are introduced to the notion of “freedom of the press” from the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and discuss the role of journalists in reporting the news to us all. Next, students analyze primary sources related to famous journalists while referring to historical context for each in order to understand the important role these journalists played in their time. Finally, students create an issue of their own school newspaper to understand the responsibility their have as journalists to report accurately, fairly, and truthfully.