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Lesson Plan
Core Knowledge Foundation

Ray Charles

For Students K - 3rd Standards
Introduce young learners to the read-aloud process with a short biographical passage about Ray Charles. After listening to the passage, class members respond to factual, inferential, and evaluative questions, and then create a timeline...
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Lesson Plan
Historic New Orleans Collection

Exploring Primary Sources: Music in New Orleans

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
Looking for a new and exciting way to teach young historians the art of primary source analysis? Jazz up your lesson plan with a resource that asks class members to analyze photos, travel documents, and letters written by some of New...
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Lesson Plan
Teaching for Change

Stepping into Selma

For Teachers 6th - 12th
The 1964 Selma to Montgomery, Alabama voting rights marches are the focus of a lesson designed to introduce learners to people who took part in the Civil Rights Movement. Class members set into the role of one of the participants,...
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Activity
Digital Public Library of America

The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A primary source set of photographs, videos, newspaper articles, and FBI reports provides insight into race relations during the 1960s, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, and the murder of Emmitt Till. Designed to be used to...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Phillis Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is the focus of a lesson that asks readers to consider how the poem is a critique of slavery. Groups comprise a list of words and phrases they notice as well as questions...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “Declaration” by Tracy K. Smith

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Tracy K. Smith's erasure poem "Declaration" challenges scholars to use their noticing skills to make connections between an engraving entitled "The Declaration of Independence" and Smith's poem. Class members record observations and...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

LBJ and Voting Rights

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Challenges to voting rights is not a new thing. Using President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 "The American Promise" speech on voting rights as a starting point, young historians research current voting rights laws and challenges.
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Unit Plan
C3 Teachers

Emancipation: Does It Matter Who Freed the Slaves?

For Teachers 11th
Scholars generally agree on the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. This inquiry-based lesson asks high schoolers to consider more than the claims of who freed the enslaved people but the significance of the issues...
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Handout
Scholastic

The Life and Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Here is a precise article explaining chronological events that led Martin Luther King, Jr. to march for freedom and civil rights.
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Writing
2
2
K12 Reader

MLK: Complete the Speech

For Students 3rd - 8th
Take a close look at a few paragraphs of Martin Luther King, Jr.s' famous speech, "I Have a Dream." Class members fill in the missing words using the bank of words provided and then respond to a question about the speech and modern day...
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Handout
2
2
K12 Reader

Glossary of Non-Violence

For Students 3rd - 8th
Make sure your class is sure of terminology when referring to the non-violent methods used in the civil rights movement. This glossary includes 19 terms paired with parts of speech and definitions. 
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Historical Thinking Matters

Rosa Parks: 5 Day Lesson

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
What led to the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and how might historians approach this question differently? This rich series of lessons includes a short introductory video clip, analysis of six primary source documents, and...
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Lesson Plan
Historical Thinking Matters

Rosa Parks: 3 Day Lesson

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
How can evidence and perspective challenge even the most well-known of stories? Through primary and secondary source analysis, think-alouds, and discussion, young historians evaluate the historical narrative of Rosa Parks across multiple...
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Worksheet
1
1
K12 Reader

Reading Comprehension: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Introduce your high schoolers to one of the most important pieces of American literature with a reading comprehension lesson. As class members read a short passage from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, they learn about the...
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Worksheet
K12 Reader

African American Inventors: Elijah McCoy

For Students 3rd - 5th Standards
What do a folding iron board, lawn sprinklers, and a device for oiling engines on trains all have in common? They were all invented by Elijah McCoy, an African American inventor with 57 patents to his credit. McCoy is the subject of a...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Me: Identifying with a Hero

For Teachers K - 2nd
Here, young historians compare their early lives to that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s. They listen to a read aloud of a story by Dr. King's sister, and then write in the provided reflective journal template. Lastly, they share their...
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Activity
Perfection Learning

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

For Teachers 8th - 10th Standards
A revolutionary work of literature requires a revolutionary assessment project. A series of activities on Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings includes discussion questions, a plot synopsis, and a selection of both short and...
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Lesson Plan
National Park Service

Teaching with Historic Places: Discover the Jackie Robinson Ballpark

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
Can sports and popular culture change public opinion? That's the essential question asked by a lesson plan that looks at the role Jackie Robinson's appearance at City Island Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Florida played in the desegregation...
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Lesson Plan
Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford

Similes Activity using Jazz (featuring Duke Ellington)

For Students 4th
Language learners get into the swing of things with a jazzy lesson about similes. They read an article about Duke Ellington, listen to samples of his music, and then try their hand at crafting similes to describe his improvisational and...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Forgotten Figures: The Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Most have heard of Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks, but few recall Elizabeth Jennings, Samuel W. Tucker, or Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher. Young historians research and then develop a presentation about the contributions of...
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Lesson Plan
Facing History and Ourselves

Hardship and Hope: Teaching Amanda Gorman's "New Day's Lyric"

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Class members come together to study Amanda Gorman's poem "New Day's Lyric." After a close reading of the poem, learners watch a video of Gorman reading her poem, and then craft additional lines for the poem where they offer suggestions...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Langston Hughes' "Theme for English B" is featured in a instructional activity that asks pupils to first read a biography of Hughes and list things about his life they think are important. The class then reads the poem and compares what...
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Unit Plan
Academy of American Poets

Voice

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Four lessons make up a poetry unit that introduces high schoolers to spoken and written poetry. Class members also examine poems as social commentary and connect these poems to various novels and plays. A great way to incorporate poetry...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Remembering Nelson Mandela

For Teachers 6th - 12th
To learn more about Nelson Mandela, young historians watch a 20 minute video that traces his life from boyhood in a small South African village, to his work as an activist opposed to Apartheid, his imprisonment, and to his leadership as...

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