Curated OER
The Law: Your Rights and Responsibilities
Students explore First Amendment rights and responsibilities.
Curated OER
Citizenship Worksheet 1 - The Rights and Responsibilities of a United States Citizen
In this United States citizenship worksheet, students learns the qualifications for U.S. citizenship, the rights of that citizenship as well as the responsibilities therein.
Curated OER
Bill of Rights and Lawmaking
Ninth graders consider how the Bill of Rights impacts the lawmaking process in the United States. In this Bill of Rights lesson, 9th graders discuss the amendments and their limitations. Students research the role of the Legislative...
Curated OER
The Bill of Rights - The First Ten Amendments to the Constitution
The Bill of Rights, and the First Ten Ammendments to the Constitution are the focus of this Social Studies presentation. Students view a presentation that nicely presents, not only what each Ammendment says, but examples of how they...
Curated OER
Ratifying the Constitution
After a lecture on ratifying the Constitution, this learning exercise would be perfect to reinforce your government (or U.S. History) students' new knowledge. The activity contains ten knowledge-level and comprehension-level questions....
Curated OER
A Day in the Life of a Homeless Person
Learners examine the day in the life of a homeless person. In this humanitarian lesson, students examine the life of a homeless person while discovering the importance of social justice in our society.
Curated OER
Lessons from the Holocaust
Students discover what a dictatorship is by examining the holocaust. In this government lesson, students discuss the laws that were enacted for Nazis to take control of Germany, and the types of laws we have put place to prevent that...
Curated OER
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Students learn what goals Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had when he wanted to change the inequality of the United States.
Curated OER
Flag Burning: Worksheet
In this Bill of Rights worksheet, students respond to 10 short answer questions that require them to agree or disagree with 10 statements about flag burning and citizen's rights.
Curated OER
Creating a New Media in the Arab World
Students explore the pros and cons of government-sponsored media into a war-torn country and determine whether the news will be considered information or propaganda.
Curated OER
Two Constitutions
Fourth graders participate in a teacher-lead discussion about the United States Constitution and the California State Constitution. They compare the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution with Califonia's Declaration of...
Curated OER
Who To Believe?
Students interpret meaning from opposing views on the same topic, and discuss that there is often so much "spin" and "hidden agendas" in the media.
Curated OER
Live Paintings
Students research various works of art, write essays, and create live performance art pieces in this 2-day Art, History, and/or Language Arts lesson plan for 7th and 8th grade. The use of a digital camera to capture the "live"...
Curated OER
Who or What is Un-American?
Students explore concepts about civil liberties, research the history of sedition-related legislation in the U.S. and create a position paper on the topic.
Curated OER
Creating an Ethnic Student Newspaper
High schoolers examine the role of the Black Press. In this African American history lesson, students watch segments of a video titled, " Too Long to Have Others Spoken for Us." High schoolers respond to discussion questions regarding...
Curated OER
Divided We Fall
Students investigate the consequences of eliminating one or more of the amendments to the Bill of Rights.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Freedom of Speech and Automatic Language
Contains plans for four lessons that use the "Pledge of Allegiance" to discuss the concepts of freedom of speech and automatic language. Ties in well with novels that deal with First Amendment rights such as Laurie Halse Anderson's...
PBS
Pbs News Hour Extra: Supreme Court Considers Free Speech and Protests
Hateful as these actions may seem to many people, do groups still have the right to protest under the First Amendment? Read about the case that the Supreme Court is considering involving protests at a military funeral.
Read Works
Read Works: Don't Know Much About Liberty
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read about the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in classifying and categorizing.
Read Works
Read Works: American Government the Bill of Rights Part Ii
[Free Registration/Login Required] This informational text passage explains a few parts of the Bill of Rights. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading skills and strategies and establishes...
Teaching American History
Teaching American History: Speech on Veto of the Mc Carran Internal Security Act
Read this impassioned speech given by President Harry S. Truman in which he gave his justification for vetoing the McCarran Internal Security Act, claiming that it would help Communists rather than root them out, as the act intended.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
Read about the March on Washington on August 28, 1963 where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
Read about the 1963 protest that culminated with Dr. Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech.
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library: "The Four Freedoms"
In his pivotal inaugural address in January 1941, FDR readies the nations for what he sees as our inevitable involvement in WWII. Read the full text of this infamous speech to understand the nation's mindset at this point in history.