How authors address issues of their societies is addressed in this very detailed lesson. After researching Toni Morrison and her work, groups create a dramatization based on a scene from one of Morrison’s novels and act it out. Class...

Community service is the basis for a project based learning experience. Your class participates in four weekly activities that require them to research community issues and contribute their time and talent to assist those in need. This...

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...

Look critically at the slave laws instated in Colonial New York. Your class examines primary source documents, slave laws, a narrative account from a slave's perspective, and Slave Codes. They write diary or journal entries in response...

Give your young learners the chance to discover more about countries in their world community with a research project. Class members write reports on an assigned country and include such major features as geography, important historical...

Analyze the federal government's direct response to the Whiskey Rebellion through this fantastic primary source analysis activity worksheet.

The Harlem Renaissance brought forth many American art forms including jazz, and the writings of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. Using a carefully curated set of documents from the Library of Congress, pupils see the cultural...

Investigate the future of the presidency in the wake of the House of Representatives' vote to impeach President Clinton. The class brainstorms both sides of the argument, reads and discusses an article, then analyzes and writes a journal...

Eighth graders, after viewing a website on Civil War Time, explore and analyze the lifestyles of Civil War times as well as those of the soldiers through the writing of a composition of a narrative letter and story through the eyes of a...

Ninth graders brainstorm words they typically use to label each other, discuss effects of labeling, including reinforcement of stereotypes, and experience potentially harming and limiting effects that labels have by participating in...

While somewhat dated (students write letters to President George W. Bush about the Iraq War), this lesson plan could be a good way to reinforce rhetorical reading and critical thinking. Students examine information regarding Operation...

Help your class create collective poetry following a simple, engaging model from Teaching Tolerance (tolerance.org). Each young poet writes five things on an index card: sayings from others, favorite sound, favorite place, favorite...

Work together to evaluate the accuracy of generalizations. Examine the effects of cultural stereotyping based on generalizations. Students will engage in a class discussion aimed at answering the question, "What are some ways we can...

Should land be redistributed to former slaves after the Civil War? This essential question guides a lesson on the Reconstruction Era, as learners analyze primary sources (linked), recording responses on a worksheet (linked). To model the...

I love time capsules. After reviewing elements of pioneer life, your class will create a time capsule that would have belonged to a pioneer in the 1830s. Each person must write a description of each item they would have brought and why...

Here is a fantastic primary source analysis activity regarding Frederick Douglass' speech delivered at the unveiling of the Freedmen's Monument in 1876. The follow-up discussion questions and activities highlight Douglass' discussion of...