Lesson Plans
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.
The American Dream
Students analyze, interpret, and conduct research with digitized primary source documents to define, present and defend their ideas about what the American Dream has been in different times. After, students consider their own American Dream – for themselves, their families and loved ones, their community, their nation and the world.
I Am an American Day
Students analyze historical newspaper opinion pieces, focusing on argument, audience and author purpose. After comparing and contrasting the texts, students write a short opinion piece for a modern-day audience that speaks to being an American.
Making a Declaration – Beginning
Students investigate the Declaration of Independence as a founding document of the United States, then consider the historical and contemporary relevance of its most famous phrase and how it relates to a personal vision of the American dream.
Making a Declaration – Intermediate
Students investigate the importance of the Declaration of Independence as a founding document of the United States, then consider the historical and contemporary relevance of its most famous phrase and how it relates to a personal vision of the American dream.