Unit Plan
PBS

Lesson Plan: Divided Opinions

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
To gain a more in-depth understanding of the tumultuous 1960s, young historians examine video clips, listen to music, examine images, and interview survivors. Once they have a foundation of information about the period, class members...
Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

Last Days of Martin Luther King, Jr.

For Teachers 6th - 12th
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Four video clips reveal the events of that time, including the shift in the focus of the Civil Rights Movement, the aftermath of the assassination, and...
Lesson Plan
VH1

Lessons for Hight School Music Classes: Lesson 2

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Art and music have been vehicles for statements of civil unrest for hundreds of years. Upper graders critically analyze several pop songs or music movements from the 1980s that exemplify politically charged motives. They...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How to Teach the Legacies of the 1960s

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students consider which aspects of world around them have roots in 1960s, research and compare 1960s to today with regards to Civil and Women's Rights, Vietnam, counterculture, music, voting, and economic rights, and explore legacy of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

First Amendment or Treason?

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Students investigate the meaning of the First Amendments right of freedom of speech. They examine the anti-war movement that occurred during the 1960's in response to the war in Vietnam. While studying primary sources, they determine how...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Modern Counterculture Movements

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars prepare a presentation examining anti-establishment activity by groups in society today. They prepare a presentation, on poster board or presentation software, about one contemporary protest group.
Lesson Plan
VH1

Lessons for Hight School Music Classes: Lesson 1

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The phrase, "You sold out" has been thrown around among musicians that have lent their talents to the corporate world. Here, the class engages in an interesting discussion on how musicians make a living and the influence of commercialism...
Interactive
1
1
Judicial Learning Center

Your 1st Amendment Rights

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Why should classes care about the First Amendment? An engaging lesson serves as a powerful tool for answering just that. As all four cases in the lesson relate directly to freedom of expression in schools, young scholars explore the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Cuban Missile Crisis

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students reflect on the events that lead up to the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early 1960s.  In this history lesson plan, students explore the conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union revolving around missiles in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students explore the concept of symbolic speech. In this case study lesson, students read excerpts of Tinker v. Des Moines. Students then complete the provided worksheet activities and determine whether they agree with the outcome of the...
Worksheet
1
1
National Endowment for the Humanities

A Journalist’s Report: The Better Vision for Black Americans

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
After reading a series of primary source documents detailing the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, class members craft newspaper columns assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each man's vision, and present their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An American Ballad - Lesson 1

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students listen to and analyze the ballad "American Pie." They utilize a worksheet imbedded in this plan. They circle the appropriate descriptive words of the song's medium form, melody, tempo and dynamics, and style.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The History of Rock and Roll: Part 1 - Rock and Roll Explodes Music Reflects The Times

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students examine technological advancements in music and broadcast over the decades.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

VH1 Presents the 1980s - Lesson 3

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners identify different genres of music popular in the 1980s. They study musicians of the 1980s examples of the songs that they made popular. They utilize a worksheet imbedded in this plan to categorize the music.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Individual Rights -- Freedom of Speech at School

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine their individual rights at a public school. In groups, they identify the most common ways of expressing themselves and why they should limit their speech in public. They compare and contrast two cases in which they...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Songwriter Not Silenced - Lesson 2

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discuss how a musician's message can influence society and government. They debate if political viewpoints should be publicized in music.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Songs of Unrest - Lesson 4

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify popular songs from 1968 and make connections with the year's current events. They pretend that they are producing a new CD. The CD includes four songs that comment on today's social issues. They write the liner notes.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

VH1 Presents the 1980s - Lesson 4

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discuss development of music videos. They identify elements that make a successful music video. Groups are assigned to do a research project on the development of music videos.
Website
Other

Vietnam War Bibliography

For Students 9th - 10th
A great resource for print resources on the Vietnam War. The Table of Contents provide a good organizational tool of bibliographic information for anyone trying to understand the conflict.
Handout
History of American Wars

History of American Wars: Vietnam War Protests

For Students 9th - 10th
A timeline highlighting the protests between 1964 and 1972 against the Vietnam War, many involving students at universities.
PPT
University of North Carolina

University of North Carolina: Vietnam War [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
A presentation covering the history of the Vietnam War beginning with the war for independence from France when it was a French colony. Covers the Geneva Accord and the war between the North and the South and how America became involved....
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: Political Storms 1968 1980: Vietnam: The Downward Spiral

For Students 9th - 10th
E-book page on the final era of the Vietnam War in which the Pentagon Papers were released, protest and conflict over the war increased at home and Nixon's Vietnamization began. Questions for discussion, glossary and link to primary...
Website
University of Illinois

University of Illinois: Maps: Causes of the Vietnam War

For Students 9th - 10th
This essay from The Oxford Companion to American Military History goes into the causes of the Vietnam War and shows how the United States became embroiled incrementally from the 1950s up to 1965. An interesting section explains how the...
Primary
University of Virginia

University of Virginia: Sixties Project: A Veteran Speaks Against the War

For Students 9th - 10th
This site by the Sixties Project gives the text of the speech given by Bob Muller, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, to a meeting of the Student Assembly of Columbia University on July 23, 1971.