Curated OER
Jim Crow Lesson Plan
Jackie Robinson's attempt to earn a spot on the 1946 Brooklyn Dodgers provides learners with an opportunity to examine the Jim Crow laws and revisit issues of segregation and integration. "The Unconquerable Doing the Impossible: Jackie...
Curated OER
Patriots and Loyalists
Learners examine portraits by John Singleton Copley and discuss how the subject's appearance communicates important information about his or her life. They write a diary entry from the point of view of a portrait subject.
Curated OER
Legends
Students are introduced to the topic of legends. Using the text of Irving's novels, they gather information on different cultures. They practice using new vocabulary and their listening skills. They retell the stories in chronlogical order.
Curated OER
Jazz In America - Lesson Plan 8
Fifth graders explore the current jazz scene and how it reflects American culture. They listen to jazz recordings of current artists and speculate on which direction jazz is likely heading.
Curated OER
Early Jazz
Students gain an understanding of early jazz. They study Dixieland and the Roaring Twenties. They examine the American historical significance and cultural implications of early jazz.
Curated OER
Jazz In America - Lesson Plan 6
Fifth graders explore cool jazz and how it reflected American culture in the 1940's and 1950's.
Japan Society
Our Family and Other Families: Using Totoro to Teach Family Structure
What do families around the world have in common? Explore this theme through the popular animated film My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki. Over the course of two days, pupils view the film, pausing to discuss their own families and the...
Curated OER
Music, Culture and War
Students see that music serves as a major conduit for the transport of knowledge. As they watch video, students tabulate the variety of music artists listed by different soldiers.
Curated OER
A Divided Community
Students work in teams to research the history of African migration and immigration in the U.S. They present their research in a town hall discussion format and then write a paragraph about their experiences.
Curated OER
Rockin’ the World: Rock and Roll and Social Protest in 20th Century America
Students explore protest songs. In this interdisciplinary lesson, students examine issues-based music by summarizing lyrics and revealing inferences, generalizations, conclusions, and points of view found in the songs.
Curated OER
Stereotypes and Tonto
Students identify stereotypes, especially those applied to American Indians. In this teaching tolerance lesson, students read an essay entitled " I Hated Tonto (Still Do)" and discuss the negative impact that stereotypes may have on a...
Curated OER
Art of Cynicism
Students analyze selected pieces of art and infer how they reflect a sense of disillusionment, and/or cynicism in American society in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal. Then they identify and place cultural attitudes...
Curated OER
Understanding Ethnic Labels and Puerto Rican Identity
Students brainstorm a list of stereotypes associated with the Hispanic or Latin culture. In groups, they use the internet to research issues of importance to the Puerto Rican community. They focus on the cultures that speak Spanish and...
Curated OER
An Honest Cigarette Ad?
Students recognize the intended audience for a certain advertisement They recognize advertising techniques aimed at the intended audience and create their own advertisements about the truth of cigarette smoking. Students begin to see...
Curated OER
American Influences on Eugenics in Nazi Germany
Students examine the Eugenics movement in America. They discover the Nazi's belief in racial purity and how it relates to Eugenics. They also analyze how science has been influential in creating public policy.
Curated OER
The American People
In this 1920's America worksheet, students respond to 14 short answer questions about the stocks, working conditions, the Harlem Renaissance, and wealth during the decade.
Smithsonian Institution
Young People Shake Up Elections (History Proves It) Educator Guide
Vote, it's your civic duty! The resource provides several videos about voting in the United States. Scholars watch a series of topics ranging from youth participation to civic action. The educator's guide provides teachers with...
Historical Thinking Matters
Scopes Trial: 1 Day Lesson
Why did many Tennesseeans support the 1925 Butler Act, which forbade the teaching of evolution? Using several primary source documents and a brief video clip, your young historians will draw connections between the broader historical...
Curated OER
Enjoying Latino Music
Learners view different musical instruments from around Latino world, predict what sounds instruments will make based on their appearance, listen to and evaluate music from different Latino genres orally or in writing, and make...
Curated OER
Building Suburbia: Highways and Housing in Postwar America
Students determine how suburbs changed America. In this post World War II activity, students complete research projects that require them to examine the growth of suburbs in the 1950's and 1960's. Students reveal how government policies,...
Curated OER
Conflict Diamonds
High schoolers examine how diamonds are portrayed in American culture. They identify the political and social implications of conflict diamonds and the locations of these diamonds in Africa. They evaluate the effectiveness of the...
Curated OER
Border to Border
Students use the Internet to gather information on the country of Mexico. They also discover the culture of their people and compare them with the United States population. They take a virtual tour of some of Mexico's most historical ruins.
Curated OER
"Jazz is About Freedom": Billie Holiday's Anti-lynching Song Strange Fruit
Working in small teams, learners analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of...
Curated OER
Magnificent Mexico
Students complete a variety of activities in a unit about the art, culture, and traditions of Mexico. They read books about the Day of the Dead, create a skeleton puppet, and create a traditional Mexican tissue paper cutting. Students...