Even for one of the most accomplished men in American history, there was room for improvement. Challenge high schoolers to use Benjamin Franklin's Project for Moral Perfection to analyze text, make inferences, connect to historical...

Discuss classical appeals of rhetoric through the speeches of Winston Churchill and FDR. Learners read, annotate, and analyze the speeches by the men before using a graphic organizer to track the use of ethos, pathos, and logos. 

Students practice their reading comprehension skills by reading about Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal programs. They answer questions related to the reading to test for comprehension.

Using Mark Twain's The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, invite your learners to consider the concept of virtue in a democratic society devoted to gain and self-interest. This stellar resource guides your class members through a close...

What are the strengths and weaknesses of American individualism and independence? Explore these principles through a close reading of Jack London's To Build a Fire, and engage in high-level discussion with your class by analyzing the...

In 1941 FDR spoke out on the events at Pearl Harbor. The class will get to analyze word choice,  word meaning, author's craft and structure by analyzing an actual draft of this speech. They will look critically at the words used,...

Combining a close reading of a classic American text with the study of history can be a very powerful strategy, and this is most certainly the case with this resource using Edward Everett Hale's The Man without a Country. Consider themes...

Emotional appeal or argument? That is the question. An informative lesson helps your class recognize the difference between a logical argument and an emotional appeal and learn how to craft an argumentative response. Writers develop a...

“What’s in a name?” Just about everything. Barack Obama, Vincent van Gogh, Justin Bieber. Famous names evoke a multitude of reactions and poets often use the names of famous people in their works precisely because names carry...

Make sure that your pupils have mastered complex literary nonfiction by the end of the year and use this resource to help get them to that point. After a brief description of the Common Core standard, a list of age-appropriate...

The first ever minimum wage in America was set at 25 cents per hour in 1938 and has been steadily, if slowly, increasing ever since. Using the provided website, pupils decide if the United States should further increase the federal...

What does your class know about logical fallacies? They can find out quite a bit and practice identifying logical fallacies if you follow the steps and use the resources provided here! After reviewing ethos, pathos, and logos, ask small...

Students complete worksheets having to do with primary and secondary source documents. In this sources lesson, students define a primary source document, look at examples of primary and secondary sources. Students complete multiple...

Students read about Jane Goodall and complete discussion questions after they read about her. For this Jane Goodall lesson plan, students discuss questions as a group or write answers individually.

This is the text and audio of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first Fireside Chat "The Banking Crisis" on March 12, 1933, in Washington D.C.

This is the text, audio, and video [7:04] of the swearing in and the first Inaugural Address of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on March 4, 1933.

This is the text, audio, and video [7:40] of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech "The Great Arsenal of Democracy" delivered on December 29, 1940.

This is the text, audio, and video [3:08] of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's declaration of war against the Japanese the day after their attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

This is the text and audio of President Franklin Roosevelt's speech to the 77th Congress entitled "The Four Freedoms" on January 6, 1941.

This is the text of Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech to the Commonwealth Club on September 23, 1932, in San Francisco, California.

A learning module that begins with "FDR's First Inaugural Address" by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or...

A learning module that begins with "Excerpt from "On Drought Conditions"" by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF...

A learning module that begins with "The Economic Bill of Rights" by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned...

A nine-part learning module with links to videos, websites, and images to use while learning about President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his Fireside Chats.