Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 10th - 11th
Learners analyze the tensions that existed in American society during the Civil Rights Era as well as the problems that children experienced. They evaluate editorial cartoons dealing with the American Civil Rights movement to view the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Civil Service Reform: Senate Debates

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers examine the 1883 Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. They discuss the spoils system, answer discussion questions, read and analyze speeches, complete a worksheet summarizing their findings, and report their findings to the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Rise and Fall of the Jim Crow Era

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore African American history by researching the Jim Crow laws. In this Civil Rights instructional activity, students define the Jim Crow laws, the reasons they were put into place, and how they were ultimately defeated....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Newspaper Lesson Plan

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars create a newspaper in order to examine the process and impact of political revolutions. In this newspaper lesson, student analyze the impact of selected revolutions while discussing the language style of each newspaper....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Omaha Race Riot of 1919

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students analyze primary documents and images. Students organize and evaluate the causes and results of the Omaha race riot of 1919. Students study and recognize key personalities involved. Students relate history to certain quotes...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Kind of Santa Claus You Are.

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students use a photograph analysis sheet to analyze primary sources (photographs) of the Great Depression in small groups. They then write a poem about kids in the Depression Era that reflects their comprehension of the period and...
Lesson Plan
Alabama Department of Archives and History

Alabama's Secession in 1861: Embraced with Joy and Great Confidence. Why?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
From December 20, 1860 to June 8, 1861, eleven states seceded from the Union. Alabama seceded on January 11, 1861. Why did so many white Alabamians want to secede? Why did they believe the South could win the war? These are the essential...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Beginnings

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders examine the role of historians.  In this American History lesson, 11th graders analyze document based questions.  Students write a summary of these documents. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Women’s Suffrage

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars examine several aspects of the Women's Suffrage Movement. In this women's rights lesson, students explore several primary and secondary sources regarding the events of the movement, opposition to the movement, and the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students analyze the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. They read the background to the Vietnam War and the social, political, and miliary issues surrounding the War and how they affected President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society Program. ...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Historical Maryland Women

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Learners identify objects, activities, and people in pictures of women in Maryland's history. In groups of four, they analyze photo packets of historical women. Students complete an acrostic using phrases reflecting specific...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: 100 Years Later

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders examine the impact of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.  In this American History lesson, 11th graders analyze various sources.  Students create a cartoon representing the impact of this fire on the United States...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Understanding the Great Depression Through Film

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders consider the role that government should play in economics. In this Great Depression lesson, 11th graders watch the film Cinderella Man and then complete a packet of worksheets to help them analyze the themes of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Voting Isn't Enough

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students compare and contrast their perceptions of politicians and leaders, analyze the consequences of negative public perceptions of politicians, and develop solutions to the problems caused by negative attitudes toward politics.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Charolotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-paper" - the "New Woman"

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Students analyze the life of American middle to upper-class women in the mid- to late-nineteenth century and early twentieth century. In this women's suffrage instructional activity, students visit the given links in the instructional...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Brick by Brick

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students use their previous knowledge of the Pyramid Lake War to help them analyze different primary sources of Fort Churchill. In this source analysis lesson, students work in groups to study 4 different primary sources for Fort...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Depression - FDR and the New Deal

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students consider the role that government should play in economics. In this Great Depression lesson, students analyze New Deal legislation to develop an informed opinion about the public programs and then present their findings to their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ida Tarbell: Hysterical Woman vs. Historical Facts

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars examine journalism and its different styles.  In this effective communication instructional activity students create an editorial message and articulate an article.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Civil Rights after MLK and RFK

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students are assigned to groups representing minority populations who produce a research project in a digital format from the list. A few of the choices are: speech, letter to the editor, editorial cartoon, etc.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Women's Votes, Women's Voices

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate Women's Suffrage by analyzing images from the past.  In this equal rights instructional activity, students read biographical work about Emma Smith DeVoe, an activist who fought for women's rights.  Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Vietnam War

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students acquire information about the Vietnam War Era from the internet, textbook and various sources. They transfer the information that they have acquired into a newspaper format. Students create editorials, cartoons, graphics and...
Lesson Plan
Deliberating in a Democracy

Cyberbullying—Alternate Lesson Plan

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Should schools be permitted to punish young scholars for off-campus cyberbullying? After reading a passage that details statistics about cyberbullying and Supreme Court rulings about schools' ability to limit student speech,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Who Fought for the Confederacy?

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Did the Confederate Army really consist of southern volunteers? Using primary sources, historians examine the story behind the "Twenty Negro Law" and realities of conscription during the Civil War. A letter and a lithograph (included as...
Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

The Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
"I have here in my hand . . ." The war against Communism and Joseph McCarthy’s place in it are the focus of a series of lessons examining postwar America from 1945-1954. Joseph McCarthy takes center stage in this, the final lesson...