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Lesson Plan
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US House of Representatives

A Growing Diversity, 1993–2017

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Connect current events to the roles of AAPI members in Congress. Activities include tracing the impact of the Vietnam War on today's representatives. Learners have various options to explore, including role-play exercises and creating a...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death: The Journey to Revolution

For Teachers 8th Standards
The words of "Common Sense" and Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death!" speech ring throughout history. Scholars explore the nuances of each patriot's argument using excerpts from the famous pamphlet and speech and a recorded...
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Unit Plan
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Core Knowledge Foundation

Unit 8: Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac Teacher Guide

For Teachers 7th Standards
Joseph Bruchac's Code Talker tells the remarkable story of Navajo Marines' role in battles of the Pacific Theater during World War II. As scholars read the novel, they also engage in activities that expand their knowledge of Navajo...
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Unit Plan
1
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Core Knowledge Foundation

Unit 6: The Genius of the Harlem Renaissance Teacher Guide

For Teachers 7th Standards
Introduce your seventh graders to the Harlem Renaissance with a unit that explores this dynamic period's music, literature, and ideas. The 160-page guide includes a unit calendar, an introduction to the unit, 10 richly detailed lessons...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

But What About Me?: Teaching Perspective In The Social Studies Classroom

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
How would the story of the discovery of America be different if indigenous people told it through their eyes? Individuals compare the conventional account of this moment in history to an account given by one of the native peoples. After...
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Lesson Plan
Albert Shanker Institute

Who Was Bayard Rustin?

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Who was Bayard Rustin? Pupils analyze a series of primary source documents to learn about this important figure in the civil rights movement. The lesson contains a short film to watch along with guiding questions and other resources...
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Lesson Plan
Albert Shanker Institute

The March on Washington Logistics Then and Now

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
I have a dream ... that all pupils will be able to organize a march of their own after learning about how Bayard Rustin organized the 1963 March on Washington for civil rights. Young reformers work collaboratively examining informational...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Bill of Rights: Do I Have a Right?

For Teachers 8th Standards
Aliens have taken over the United States! Citizens can only keep two rights laid out in the first 10 amendments of the Constitution and must figure out which ones are best. Young scholars research the importance of each amendment and key...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Blue or Gray? Perspectives on the Civil War

For Teachers 8th Standards
Using primary and secondary sources, such as letters and diaries from soldiers and civilians, learners consider why people fought in the American Civil War. A role-playing Historical Mingle activity, as well as discussion questions and...
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Lesson Plan
National Park Service

Remembering Pearl Harbor: The USS Arizona Memorial

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young historians use primary source materials to investigate the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and the sinking of the USS Arizona. After reading background articles and studying maps and images of the attack, class members consider whether...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

Two Moments in the Life of Rick Rescorla: Vietnam and 9/11

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
He saved a group of men under fire from the Viet Cong, and he urged those fleeing the burning Trade Center Towers on 9/11 to "be calm, be strong." Rick Rescorla was last seen going back into the twin towers to bring others to safety....
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Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

The Louisiana Purchase: Real Estate Deal of the Century?

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
It's about real estate! Almost overnight, Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase about doubled the size of the young United States ... but was it constitutional? Using a variety of secondary and primary sources, including Jefferson's own...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

The Suffrage and the Civil Rights Reform Movements

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
It's the American way to put one foot in front of the other and march. Using images of protests from the civil rights and women's suffrage movements, young historians analyze similarities between the two watershed moments of social...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

The Vietnam War Timeline: Understanding the Nature of a Controversial Conflict

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The story of the Vietnam War is often told through images. Young historians analyze images and primary sources —including the Vietnamese Army's Seven Commandments poster and photos of the daily life of soldiers—to construct a timeline of...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

We Shall Overcome: March on Washington

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Unlike most children, Edith Lee-Payne of Detroit went to the March on Washington with her mother to celebrate her 12th birthday. Pupils walk the march with her by analyzing a closeup image of her that has come to represent the pivotal...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

The War in Vietnam - A Story in Photographs

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The Vietnam War was the first war to come into American living rooms with its images of American soldiers fighting in jungles far, far away. Young historians analyze and curate photos from the conflict, deciding how they would create a...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

Examining Where Rosa Parks Sat

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
When Rosa Parks took her seat on a public bus to protest segregation, she also took her place in history. Learners examine a clue from this story—a diagram of the bus—to see if they can figure out the pivotal role of  this...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

Examining Rosa Parks's Arrest Record

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
There aren't a lot of details on the document, but Rosa Parks's arrest is now a legendary story of the civil rights movement. Class members examine the record—with Parks's names blotted out—to see if they can tell who this document...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

Civil Rights or Freedom? When Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement Clashed

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
When Martin Luther King Jr. took a stand against the Vietnam War, interests collided. With a letter from Jackie Robinson to Lyndon B. Johnson, the baseball legend urges the president to remain firm in his resolve for civil rights. Young...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

Analyzing a Letter from Ruth Bader Ginsburg

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Before her career as a Supreme Court Justice, the Notorious RBG was a legal activist for women's rights. Using a letter from then-Professor Ginsburg, young historians carefully examine a letter from Ginsburg to a member of Congress...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

Analyzing a Letter to Congress About Bloody Sunday

For Teachers 7th - 11th Standards
The brutality of Bloody Sunday—when non-violent protesters who supported voting rights for African Americans were beaten by police—captured a nation. Young historians examine the letter of one horrified American to Congress to consider...
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Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

The Federal Theatre Project: Analyzing Conflict Among Relief, Art, and Politics in 1930s America

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
In the effort to soothe the suffering of the Great Depression, New Deal programs funded a variety of approaches - including a theater project that proved controversial! Using documents such as oral histories, as well as photographs of...
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Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Maryland During the Secession Crisis

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
While many think the United States was neatly divided between Northern and Southern states during the Civil War, border states like Maryland are more complicated. Using hands-on activities to measure distance and primary sources,...
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Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: 19th Century African-American Writer and Reformer

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Although some African American abolitionists—such as Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass—are well known, others, like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, remain in the shadows of history. Harper was a poet and activist who played an...