Bill of Rights Institute
Preserving the Bill of Rights
Consider how America's founding fathers and their experiences contributed to the rights we all enjoy today. A collection of reading, writing, and collaborative exercises prompt high schoolers to think about the ways their current lives...
Curated OER
Gender, Sex, and Slavery
While examining slavery's impact on women, historians compare and contrast the perspectives of a plantation mistress and an enslaved woman, both reflecting on the system of forced prostitution. Text analysis and written responses create...
Curated OER
Adapting Documents for the Classroom: Equity and Access
Students examine primary sources to gain historical perspectives. In this historical analysis lesson plan, students analyze documents that their instructors have adapted to make more user-friendly. Example adapted primary documents are...
Curated OER
Finding Our Way Home: Immigration to the United States, 1815-1860
Students break into families of 4 members. They brainstorm issues that they would encounter as an immigrant family by creating a web. Students are given roles to research focusing on that perspective: father, mother, grandparent, and child.
Curated OER
Literature: Isabel Allende
Students watch and respond to a Bill Moyers Now video on the Chilean author, Isabel Allende. They brainstorm a list of recent events that might inspire writers and choose one to write about in poetic, diary, or short story form.
Curated OER
Constitutional Change During the Progressive Era
Students analyze the passage of the 16th through 19th amendments during the Progressive Era around the turn of the century. Using research skills, they write papers and create portfolios supporting and opposing the adoption of each...
Curated OER
Desert Views - First Impressions: Travelers on the Gila Trail
Students draw animals and plants that are described to them as they read passages of people who traveled across the Gila Trail in the Southwest. In this Gila Trail lesson plan, students also write a letter describing a plant or animal in...
Curated OER
How Does Ancestry Affect Folklore?
Pupils break into groups of 4 or 5 and choose an option to demonstrate a different cultural perspective in a fairy tale or other folklore that they are familiar. Possible choices are: PowerPoint presentation, video, digital storytelling,...
Curated OER
Understanding and Using Primary and Secondary Sources in History
Explore primary and secondary sources in this historical analysis activity. Young researchers define the terms primary source and secondary source. They read a primary source document provided by the teacher and answer questions about...
Curated OER
19th Century Women's Suffrage - Sheltered Activities
Students reenact The USA v. Susan B. Anthony and discuss women's suffrage and the 19th Amendment.
Curated OER
The Freedom to Fight
Students study the African American troop experiences in the Civil War. In this American history lesson, students examine primary and secondary sources regarding the experiences and contributions of African American soldiers who served...
Curated OER
With Liberty and Justice for All
Students examine the role of Supreme Court justices. In this judicial branch lesson, students consider the civil rights and civil liberties as they investigate Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940) and West Virginia State Board...
Smithsonian Institution
Of Human Bondage: George Washington and The Issue of Slavery
Learners read and interpret four documents George Washington wrote regarding his slaves. They analyze why George Washington was conflicted over the issue of slavery. They discuss the evolution of Washington's attitude toward slavery.
Curated OER
European Explorers of North and South America
Sixth graders explore the connection between the geography of America and the migration of the Native Americans to the American continents to the future conquering of the continents by the Europeans. They discuss the causes and effects...
Curated OER
The Supreme Court
Pupils examine the Fourteenth Amendment. In this Supreme Court lesson plan, students define due process and equal protection as they analyze the impact of the amendment and the Supreme Court on workers' rights in the early 20th century....