College Board
Civic Knowledge and Action: Voter Registration
What does the data say? Using provided voter data from the 2016 presidential election, scholars describe the data and identify questions they could answer by analyzing it. Learners then construct tables and use them to determine whether...
Facing History and Ourselves
Life for German Youth in the 1930s: Education, Propaganda, Conformity, and Obedience
The German youth faced an onslaught of propaganda when they went to school, thanks to the Nazi regime led by Hitler during World War II. Pupils relate their education experiences to German youth by analyzing primary source readings,...
Global Oneness Project
Repairing the Fabric of Democracy
During elections, headlines constantly lament the issue of low voter turnout. Help class members understand why this is such an important topic with relevant articles, a discussion of both sides of the issue, and a reflective essay.
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,...
Madison Public Schools
Journalism
Whether you are teaching a newspaper unit in language arts, covering the First Amendment and censorship in social studies, or focusing on writing ethics in journalism, a unit based on the foundations of journalism would be an excellent...
Special Olympics
SO…What’s the Challenge?
Whose responsibility is it to protect equal rights? Class members engage in a series of activities that create awareness of the prejudice and intolerance persons with disabilities face. They then create a message addressed to their...
Carolina K-12
Get Involved! - Civic Participation Project
What better way to learn about civic responsibility's importance than to experience it? From the opportunity to volunteer in an elected official's office and participate in a political campaign to observations of school board and city...
Carolina K-12
Compulsory Voting
Should voting in the United States be compulsory? In 2004, fewer than 60 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the American national elections. After reviewing arguments for and against compulsory voting, your young citizens will...
Carolina K-12
The Cold Within
“. . . one of the great challenges to humanity is acknowledging and overcoming a natural tendency to think less of and discriminate against people who are different from us . . .” Launch an examination of competition and cooperation, of...
Carolina K-12
Advocacy 101
Want a change? Become an advocate. As part of a study of the responsibilities of good citizens, class members engage in a series of role plays that model how to lobby for change.
Anti-Defamation League
Implicit Bias
Everyone has biases, both explicit—ones we are aware of—and implicit—ones we are unaware of. High schoolers learn the differences between explicit and implicit bias in a short lesson where pupils watch a short video, read articles about...
Anti-Defamation League
Cyberbullying and Online Cruelty: Challenging Social Norms
"Everybody does it!" is often the clarion call to justify cyberbullying. Here's a lesson plan that encourages high schoolers to challenge these behaviors. Participants examine images, watch videos, and engage in discussions designed to...
Carolina K-12
Active Citizenship in After School
Active citizenship is the bedrock of any great democracy. Continue the trend by teaching the next generation about voting rights and the functions of elections in society. The variety of activities in the resource includes a human...
Nebraska Department of Education
Social Class and Fitting In
Social classes may be explicitly defined as in a caste system or based more informally on such ideas as wealth or education. After reading and discussing an article about one woman's experience with trying to fit into a system different...
Annenberg Foundation
Actions that Changed the Law
The Fair Play Act of 2009 came about due to the actions of one woman. Young historians research Lilly Ledbetter and what she went through to get pay equal to that paid to men for the same work at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The...
Newseum
Civil Rights: Reporting Out
After brainstorming a list of contemporary local, regional, and national civil rights issues, pairs of scholars select one of these issues and design an information campaign to spread awareness of the issue.
Teaching Tolerance
The True History of Voting Rights
Explore what voting rights really are in an intriguing instructional activity that explores the history of American voting. The resource examines the timeline of voting rights in the United States with group discussions,...
Teaching Tolerance
The Truth About Voting
True or False: Only Presidential elections matter. Academics delve into common voting myths to understand what is true and why the election process is critical to democracy. The lesson uses group discussion, activities, and handouts to...
Teaching Tolerance
Why Local Elections Matter
Uncle Sam wants everyone to vote in local elections! Geared toward middle and high school scholars, the resource explores voter turnout and the importance of local elections. Academics participate in group discussion, complete...
Facing History and Ourselves
Reflection and Action for Civic Participation
Slacktivist or activist? Bystander or upstander? Positive social change requires involvement and commitment. After reading a series of articles about young people who chose to get involved, scholars examine a framework that helps peers...
Facing History and Ourselves
Responding to Difference in Democracy
Disagreements happen in a diverse democracy. It's what people do about these differences in a diverse society that the resource models. After listening to an eight-minute podcast about a woman who collaborated with people who have very...
Facing History and Ourselves
Taking Ownership of the Law
The work of building and maintaining a democracy is, in the words of Justice William Hastie, "never finished." To better understand what Hastie sees as an ongoing building process, class members listen to a seven-minute podcast about two...
Facing History and Ourselves
Free Press Makes Democracy Work
A unit study of the importance of a free press in a democracy begins with class members listening to a podcast featuring two journalists, one from a United States public radio station and one from Capetown, South Africa. The activity,...
Facing History and Ourselves
The Legacies of Reconstruction
The final lesson in the seven-resource Reconstruction Era collection examines the legacies of Reconstruction. Class members investigate why the period has been called an "unfinished revolution," "a splendid failure," and "the second...