Curated OER
Cuban Missile Crisis: Teaching Activities
Learners create a timeline of the important events of John F. Kennedy's presidency. They construct a timeline of the major events of the Cuban Missile Crisis. They compare the Missile Crisis events with their presentation in the movie...
Curated OER
Activism and Social Reform in America from 1800-1850
Learners discuss idea of social status, examine antebellum social reform movements, and compare and contrast experiences of activists who sought to improve workers' lives, end slavery, reform immigration laws, and establish voting rights...
Curated OER
Marie Antoinette: The Tragic Queen
Students view a documentary on Marie Antoinette, who became a symbol of the reviled monarchy. After viewing, students discuss what they saw then create a family line of Marie Antoinette. They compare maps of Europe from her time to ours.
Curated OER
FDR's First Inaugural Address
Students, in groups, describe a photo to the class. They determine which New Deal program is depicted in each of the images based on the research they conducted.
Curated OER
Debating Iraq
Students analyze the main themes of President Bush's UN Speech and discussion of the NewsHour report on the Iraq Debate. In this debate lesson plan, students answer pre-listening questions and view a transcript of the speech. In groups...
Curated OER
Gandhi’s 12 Vows: Training Warriors of Non-violence
Students examine Gandhi’s ‘Walk n Talk’ strategy. In this lesson on civil disobedience, students evaluate Gandhi’s non-violent method of satyagraha as an effective mode of revolution.
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Understanding the Koreas
Though this resource was designed in 2005, US tension with North Korea remains a relevant topic for exploration and understanding. Unfortunately, this lecture and reading-based lesson plan is unlikely to engage the class. The end product...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Project Terrorism
If you're looking for possible topics related to terrorism, or a list of online sources of information, you may want to take a look at this resource. However, it is too under-developed to be useful without additional work. The...
Smithsonian Institution
POWs
Why did Vietnam POWs and their families receive more media attention than POWs in previous wars? To answer this question, class members view artifacts, read articles, and engage in class discussion. Individuals then assume the voice of...
Library of Congress
Child Labor in America
Students investigate child labor during the Great Depression. In this US policy instructional activity, students evaluate multiple layers of the social, economic, and political affects of policy during the Great Depression. Students will...
Curated OER
Ka'ianaa'ahu'ulu: A Leader of Hawai'i
Students evaluate leadership traits in 18th century Hawai'i and modern times. In this leadership skills lesson, students identify leadership traits and read the story of Ka’iana. Students monitor the leadership activities of a partner...
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Analyzing the Inaugural Address
Get high school historians to step outside their own shoes by responding to JFK's inaugural address from the perspective of a civil rights activist, a soviet diplomat, or a Cuban exile. After a class discussion about the address, the...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Birmingham, Fall 1963
Can any good come from acts of evil? The 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the eventual outcomes of the tragedy, are the focus of a lesson that asks groups to examine primary source documents...
Curated OER
Integrated Lesson Plan
An ambitious and engaging instructional activity on the Westward Movement for your young scholars to enjoy! Groups of learners rotate between learning tasks such as learning about the Chislom Trail, Lewis and Clark, and the Gold Rush. A...
Curated OER
Facing the Ghosts of Our Past
A reading of a New York Times review of the movie Beloved launches research into how the Civil War affected the lives of people living during this period. Creative thinkers select a person from an included list of historical figures and...
Curated OER
Who Freed the Slaves During the Civil War?
Pose the question to your historians: who really freed the slaves? They critically assess various arguments, using primary sources as evidence. In small groups, scholars jigsaw 5 primary source documents (linked), and fill out an...
Bill of Rights Institute
Freedom for All?
What did abolitionists have in common with those working for women's rights? How has the Native American struggle for voting rights differed from the struggles of other groups? Class members examine the 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, and 26th...
Central Oregon Community College
Things Fall Apart Study Guide
“There is no story that is not true.” And Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, uses proverbs (“. . .the palm-oil with which words are eaten”), a compelling tragic hero, and historic events, to engage readers in the truth of his story of...
Curated OER
Continental Drift
Be sure to come prepared to discuss the theory of Pangaea and the two super-continents, Laurasia and Gondwanaland. Collaborative learners look for fossil evidence that supports the theory that one super-continent divided into two. They...
Curated OER
Cartoons for the Classroom: Herblock at 100
In celebration of renowned cartoonist Herb Block's Library of Congress exhibition, this handout includes 2 of his famous political cartoons for scholars to analyze. Background information describes "Herblock's" career, and talking points...
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Military Advisers in Vietnam: 1963
How did the beginning of the Vietnam War factor into the Cold War with the Soviet Union? As part of a study of American involvement in Vietnam, class members read a letter address to President Kennedy and his response in which he...
Denver Art Museum
Tea Gathering Quick-Write
Japanese tea gatherings are the inspiration for a great lesson plan. Learners are provided with an image of a tea caddy made for thick tea and asked to describe what they notice and what that might mean. This leads into a larger lesson...
Curated OER
The Black Death and HIV/AIDS: Which is the Worse Plague?
Exploring the similarities and differences between the Black Death and HIV/AIDS, students write persuasive essays answering which is the "worse plague." This cross-curricular activity between Language Arts and Social Studies addresses...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Yellow Journalism
What role did yellow journalism play in bringing the United States into war with Spain? As part of their study of the Spanish-American War, class groups examine newspapers of the times and other texts and then produce their own...