Curated OER
Historical Research Using the Internet
Students complete Internet research based on historical origin of something of their choosing, and discuss procedures and options for conducting successful search. Students then collect and interpret data, consider various ways to...
Curated OER
Poets Got Them Blues
Contemplate what music learners listen to and why they listen. Can they find poetry within music lyrics? Specifically hone in on blues lyrics and ruminate upon the social issues prevalent in the themes. Particular song lyrics coincide...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Scottsboro Boys and "To Kill a Mockingbird": Two Trials for the Common Core
Here's a must-have resource for anyone reading To Kill A Mockingbird or using Harper Lee's award-winning novel in a classroom. The packet contains Miss Hollace Ransdall's first-hand, factual account of the trials of the Scottsboro Boys,...
Curated OER
Who is on that Bill? Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers
Students, who are adult learners, participate in an Internet scavenger hunt in order to assimilate information about the biography of Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers. They look at the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers...
Curated OER
Beowulf: Songs of Ancient Heroes
Introduce your class to epic heroes with these activities for Beowulf. After watching a video clip, taking notes on heroes, and tracking characteristics of heroism throughout Beowulf, class members retell an episode of Beowulf using a...
Curated OER
Geographic Context for War
Students explore the geography of Korea. In this Korean War lesson plan, students examine maps of the country and label landforms, bodies of water, climate, population centers, and neighboring countries to determine the significance of...
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
How Perceptions of Cultures Influences Perceptions and Historical Outcomes
Students research different ethnic groups that lived in the United States. They compare and contrast Spanish, African American and Native American cultures and how American culture interacted with them. They present their findings...
Curated OER
Styles in Context: Is it Music?
Students view the video, Behind the Music: 1992, and discuss the new genres of pop music that were emerging in that era. They discuss the content of the music and what it's like on the surface. They write an essay comparing it to other...
Curated OER
Historical Witness: Social Messaging
Students create political cartoons that feature satire. In this political cartoon activity, students examine examples of satire and caricature prior to creating their own political cartoons that feature the French Revolution or...
Curated OER
Columbian Contexts
Students explore geo-political and economic contexts for the European Renaissance journeys of exploration, including those of Columbus, create cartographic symbols, and add those symbols to a print-out of Ptolemy's map.
Curated OER
Contextualizing a Historical Photograph: Busing and the Anti-busing Movement in Boston
Students explore the civil rights movement. They identify the causes and consequences of the anti-busing movement in Boston. Students construct a narrative to explain the context of an historical photograph related to the anti-busing...
Orlando Shakes
Merry Wives of Windsor: Study Guide
What does the character Falstaff mean when he says "I was beaten myself into all the colors of the rainbow"? Using the Merry Wives of Windsor curriculum guide, scholars unlock meaning by paraphrasing lines from the play. Pupils also...
DocsTeach
Inevitable Accident or Wrongful Act: Judging the Titanic Disaster
The unsinkable ship that sunk. Scholars review the case against the White Star Line following the tragic loss of life from the Titanic disaster. Academics read documents and organize them into arguments for and against the cruise line....
Smithsonian Institution
Separate is Not Equal: Fight for Desegregation
Separate is not equal! An eye-opening lesson delves into the past to understand the fight for desegregation and how it impacted African American communities. Academics complete two one-hour lessons using documents, photographs, and...
Smithsonian Institution
Resistance to School Desegregation: The Boston Busing Crisis
Despite how it sounds, Boston's busing crisis wasn't a transportation problem. Academics address the problems faced by African Americans following school desegregation and the struggle to receive equal educational opportunities. Scholars...
Digital Public Library of America
The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
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...
Curated OER
Primary Source Analysis: 95 Theses Excerpts
By reviewing and analyzing these nine selected points from Martin Luther's 95 Theses, your young historians will discern the major tenets of the revolutionary challenge made against the Catholic Church in the seventeenth century. This is...
Curated OER
The 44th and 45th USA Presidents
The transition of power between former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump may be the first political process that your young scholars have followed. Fill out the details between these two leaders with a set of vocabulary...
Curated OER
At Play
Ninth graders evaluate works of Robert Harris. They apply historical methodology to interpret and understand time, continuity, and change at an age appropriate level. They demonstrate awareness of the effect of context.
Curated OER
Natives of Indiana
Fourth graders participate in discussions about the Native Peoples who inhabited what is now Indiana. For this Native American lesson, 4th graders discuss the social and cultural structures of these Native Americans. They locate the...
Curated OER
Populism and Governor Lewelling
Seventh graders investigate the impact of the Populist Party. In this Kansas history lesson, 7th graders examine historical documents that enable them to find out what the Populist Party stood for and how Governor Lewelling dealt with...
Curated OER
Editorial Cartoon Lesson Plan
Students consider the role of editorial cartoons on American politics. In this editorial cartoons lesson plan, students discover the history of the cartoons in America, analyze some cartoons, and then draw their own cartoons that make...
Curated OER
Only Skin Deep
Students examine and compare notions of beauty in cultures around the world and explore the connection between what is deemed 'beautiful' and cultural history. They Develop a "Beauty Around the World" collage representing beauty...