Defining the American Dream

America was founded by dreamers, and the American dream still resonates in our country today. Track the American dream from its Puritan beginnings to its optimistic descendants with a lesson that focuses on speeches by John F. Kennedy...

Determine how African-Americans have broken barriers in this history instructional activity. Middle schoolers discuss the 15th Amendment and the American civil rights movement prior to analyzing Barack Obama's speech "A More Perfect...

Class members research African American inventors, the challenges they faced in their attempts to patent their works, and the importance of their inventions to the development of technology. After a brief introduction to inventors Elijah...

Joris Debeij's film, Making It in America, takes a look at Alma Velasco, a Salvadoran immigrant who was granted political asylum in the United States. The activity gives a face to immigrants and their struggles to embrace the American...

Should the US extend government support of higher education to immigrants who have entered the country illegally? To prepare to address this hot-button topic, class members take the American Citizenship Test, annotate an article that...

Bessie Coleman. William Powell. Willa Brown. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. While these names may not be familiar to many Americans, they are African American pioneers in aviation history. Class members have an opportunity to research the...

Examine the legacy of some of the most influential speeches in American history with a series of history activities. Learners study George Washington's inaugural speech, Frederick Douglass's speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of...

To conclude a three-part unit that examines how different writers express their views on the American Puritan tradition, class members compare the views of Ralph Waldo Emerson as expressed in his essay on "Self-Reliance" with those...

Students explore the American dream. In this contemporary music lesson plan, students analyze the lyrics of songs by Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, and David Massengill. Students create 3-D representations of the American dream and...

Students discuss the American dream and explain what the American Dream consists of. In this American Dream lesson, students listen to music about America for the reasons people love America.  Students create a list of wants and needs to...