Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

A Day for the Constitution

For Teachers 6th - 12th
The "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day" law requires schools receiving any federal funding to provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution. The lesson plans, materials, videos, questions, and activities...
Lesson Plan
Deliberating in a Democracy

Free and Independent Press

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students determine how free press principles can be compromised. For this global studies lesson plan, students read an article titled "Free and Independent Press." Students respond to discussion questions regarding the article.
Assessment
Fluence Learning

Writing an Argument: Free Speech

For Students 11th - 12th Standards
How do you assess whether pupils have mastered certain concepts and skills? Designing a performance task that asks learners to demonstrate their skills and providing writers with a rubric that identifies these skills and provides...
Lesson Plan
Deliberating in a Democracy

Public Demonstrations

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Have you ever fought publicly for an idea you believe in? Scholars research and analyze the right to demonstrate peacefully. Incorporating different real-life scenarios as well as legal decisions exposes the concept of democracy and free...
Interactive
iCivics

Supreme Decision

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Is the right to wear a band t-shirt included in our freedom of speech? Budding historians consider the question by using a video game. After a brief animated video, users drop in and listen to Supreme Court justices as they debate the...
Activity
Teaching Tolerance

Journalism for Justice

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Roll the presses! Or at least have your class members participate in the time-honored tradition of the student press by creating their own newspapers or journalist pieces on a social problem. After conducting research and collaborating...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Civic Engagement and How Students Can Get Involved

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
There is no age limit on civic engagement. Even if your pupils are not old enough to vote, they are old enough to get involved. Show them how with a PBS lesson that underscores the importance of civic participation and models ways young...
Lesson Plan
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Facing History and Ourselves

Free Press Makes Democracy Work

For Teachers 9th - 12th
A unit study of the importance of a free press in a democracy begins with class members listening to a podcast featuring two journalists, one from a United States public radio station and one from Capetown, South Africa. The lesson,...
Lesson Plan
Teaching Tolerance

Understanding Other Religious Beliefs

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Learn what it means to respect others in an engaging lesson on religious beliefs. An inclusive resource focuses on understanding other religious beliefs, the right to freedom of religion, and the U.S. history of religious diversity....
Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Speaking Freely In the Soviet Union's Autocratic Government

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Speak your mind! The lesson explores the difference in free speech between the United States and the Soviet Union. Academics review the constitutions of both governments, political cartoons, and case studies to understand how freedom of...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

When the News Media Make Mistakes

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Mistakes happen. When they happen in news reporting, be it in print or on the internet, journalism ethics requires that the errors be corrected. Young journalists use an Accuracy Checklist to track how news organizations post corrections...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

The Tools to Persuade

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
After reviewing persuasion techniques, young historians examine how a specific technique was used in the pro- or anti-suffrage messages. They then examine how that same technique is used in modern-day media messages.
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Civil Rights: Chronicling the Movement

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Scholars investigate events in the civil rights era in their community and develop a multimedia presentation of their findings. They compare local events with national events discussed on a NewseumED timeline.
Lesson Plan
Newseum

'The Press and the Civil Rights Movement' Video Lesson

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
Scholars watch a video featuring journalists who covered the civil rights movement, then respond to questions on a viewing guide. The video features interviews with participants and original news footage from the 1950s and 1960s. In...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

From the Front Page to the History Books

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young journalists compare news coverage of four major events with how the same events are covered in historical accounts. The ensuing discussion asks class members to compare and contrast the role of a reporter and the role of a historian.
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Is This Story Share-Worthy?

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young journalists use a "Is This Story Share-Worthy?" flowchart graphic to decide whether a story is worth sharing online. Instructors provide groups with fake news, poor quality stories, opinion pieces, biased news, and high-quality...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Civil Rights: Turning Points

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
As part of a civil rights movement study, groups select an event from an interactive timeline that they feel marks a turning point in the struggle. After collecting evidence to support their choice, the teams develop a multimedia...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Free Press Challenges Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The debate over the integrity of stories in media is not new. Young journalists analyze historical sources that reveal freedom of the press controversies and draw parallels to challenges freedom of the press faces today. 
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Photo Ethics: News Independence

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young journalists read a case study about an annual school tradition of a streaker running across the football field after the homecoming game. Small groups then decide whether or not to cover the story and whether or not to include a...
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

The Suffragist: Educator's Guide for Classroom Video

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
Class members take on the role of historical investigators to determine why it took 40 years for women in the United States to get the right to vote. Sleuths view videos and analyze primary sources and images to gather evidence to answer...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

You Can’t Say That: Right to Know vs. Security Risk

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Print or block? That is the question young journalists debate as part of their study of the freedom of the press. Half the class represents the journalists' legal team, and the other half represents the government's legal team. Teams...
Lesson Plan
National Constitution Center

Creating Your Own Town Hall Poster

For Students 8th - 12th Standards
Middle and high schoolers are walking into a world rife with strong political viewpoints and vocal opinions. Help to prepare them for controversial discussions with a lesson in which they choose, research, and learn more about a...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Bill of Rights

For Students 4th - 6th
In this Amendments to the Constitution worksheet, students list the freedoms that each of the ten Bill of Rights guarantees. Students write ten short answers.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Religious Intolerance and the Salem Witch Trials

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers describe the basic beliefs of the Puritan religion; identify the principle figures in the Salem Witch Trials;explain the events that led to the mass hysteria suffered by the town; analyze the First Amendment; and examine...

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