Lesson Plan
Curated OER

It Can't Happen Here or Can It?: Peer Pressure, Prejudice and Intolerance

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the pressures of group-pressured behavior. In this teaching tolerance lesson, students read literature and view videos regarding negative group behavior. Students answer comprehension questions and participate in a survey.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

ANTICIPATORY SET

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students are be able to analyze primary sources (photographs and speeches) and write a definition of American Democracy. They are shown a photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. by Ben Fernandez, students are asked what is happening in the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Is Social Media a Trustworthy News Outlet?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Examine the role of social media in social and political uprisings. Pupils listen to NPR audio clips about social media and the Arab Spring and read an article that proposes the idea that revolution will not happen through social media....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Falling Water

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learners drop water from different heights to demonstrate the conversion of water's potential energy to kinetic energy. They see how varying the height from which water is dropped affects the splash size. In seeing how falling water can...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

White Man's Burden:The Expansionist/Anti-Imperialist Debate at the Turn of the Century

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners explore the roles of Expansionists and Anti-imperialists and take on the identity of a historical character to defend their position before a Senate committee. Roles of newsmen, senators, and futurists are also assumed in this...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mystery Strategy for Elementary Students

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Learners of all ages solve historical mysteries. Elementary learners research historical topics by organizing information presented by their instructor, formulating hypotheses, and considering solutions to mysteries presented about...
Lesson Plan
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The New York Times

Looking for Answers: Making Sense of the Boston Marathon Bombing

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How should America respond to acts of domestic terrorism? What motivates or prompts a terrorist attack? After reading an opinion piece on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, your learners will critically analyze factors that could have...
Lesson Plan
PBS

The Sixties: Dylan Plugs in and Sells Out

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Before Woodstock, there was Newport. Get plugged in to the social changes of the 1960s with a lesson that looks at Bob Dylan's performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival as a symbol of the radical changes that marked the era.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Role Playing Free Speech

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students conduct research into looking at a free-speech issue. They role play the events surrounding a court case. The lesson includes guiding questions to help create context and determine areas of further study. The presentation...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Living Under the Illinois Black Codes

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners use the text of the Illinois Black Codes to examine the laws in place. Using this information, they draw their own conclusions about why the laws existed in a free state. They also identify the purpose of these laws and how they...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

President Kennedy and Kentucky Politics

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars explore the interactions between Kentucky Governor Bert Combs and President Kennedy. They examine JFK's interest in Kentucky politics and construct history through Governor Bert Comb's interview.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

My Brother Martin

For Teachers 5th
Class members experience discrimination first hand. As pupils enter the room, some are given a piece of candy. Then the entire group listens to a reading of Christine Farris King's, My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers, and discusses...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

From Jim Crow to Linda Brown: A Retrospective of the African-American Experience from 1897 to 1953.

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners research the American Memory collection to explore the African-American experience from 1897 to 1953.
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Curated OER

Create a 60s Mural

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Pupils conduct Internet research on the 1960s and use what they have learned to create a mural.
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Curated OER

John Jones and the Fight to Repeal the Black Laws

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the role of John Jones and his fight to repeal the Black Laws of Illinois. Using the text of the law, they explore his reasoning for repealing the laws and the arguments he used to support his beliefs. They draw their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Understanding the Declaration of Independence

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students work in groups to do a document analyxix of several documents. Students view the Martin Luther King speech, "I Have a Dream." They discuss the Battle of Saratoge. Students give a personal view of the reason the Declaration of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Crystal Blue Persuasion

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine historic posters, jewelry, quilts and buttons that were created to protest or call attention to a political issue. After evaluating how these items were used to communicate a political message, students create an item...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Race, Education, and Income: Comparing Carter & Reagan

For Teachers 8th - 11th
High school learners compare economic outcomes for 3 racial groups under the presidencies of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan by analyzing a series of graphs, answering questions from a worksheet, and participating in a discussion.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Tibet Question

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Learners examine the history or relations between China and Tibet. For this research skills lesson, students investigate the relationship between Tibet and China as they explore provided Internet links. Learners write position...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

History of Miss America

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners make a time-lines of of decades using images from Miss America.  In this history instructional activity, students looks at the country's beauty pageant and how it changes the lives of women in America.  Learners...
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Curated OER

Achievers Club

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students research a person, present or past, who has accomplished great goals. They report on their person to the class.
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Curated OER

Camera of My Family Video

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students watch and discuss Holocaust video.
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Curated OER

Camera of My Family Video

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore Hitler, the Nazis and the Holocaust.
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Curated OER

What's Next for China and the US?

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders assist President Bush in researching and writing a 2-page report on China, including any economic and political changes that have significantly affected the country within the last 50 years.