How authors address issues of their societies is addressed in this very detailed lesson. After researching Toni Morrison and her work, groups create a dramatization based on a scene from one of Morrison’s novels and act it out. Class...

Community service is the basis for a project based learning experience. Your class participates in four weekly activities that require them to research community issues and contribute their time and talent to assist those in need. This...

While examining slavery's impact on women, historians compare and contrast the perspectives of a plantation mistress and an enslaved woman, both reflecting on the system of forced prostitution. Text analysis and written responses create...

Look critically at the slave laws instated in Colonial New York. Your class examines primary source documents, slave laws, a narrative account from a slave's perspective, and Slave Codes. They write diary or journal entries in response...

Give your young learners the chance to discover more about countries in their world community with a research project. Class members write reports on an assigned country and include such major features as geography, important historical...

Analyze the federal government's direct response to the Whiskey Rebellion through this fantastic primary source analysis activity worksheet.

The Harlem Renaissance brought forth many American art forms including jazz, and the writings of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. Using a carefully curated set of documents from the Library of Congress, pupils see the cultural...

Here is a fantastic primary source analysis activity regarding Frederick Douglass' speech delivered at the unveiling of the Freedmen's Monument in 1876. The follow-up discussion questions and activities highlight Douglass' discussion of...

Do young people have rights in the United States? Your pupils will not only learn the answer to this important question, but will also build vocabulary through cloze activities and gain a thorough introduction to the Bill of Rights.

Much like a garden, once the seeds of peace are planted, they need to be tended! How can humankind make and keep peace? The second installment in a series of 15 peacebuilding activities focuses on different perceptions of peace. The...

While the European Union has been a part of economic landscape for decades, it grew out of a period of economic integration after World War II. Using a round table method, class members analyze and discuss the events leading up to the...

It's time for the feast! Young historians complete their study of the First Thanksgiving by completing an online activity, watching a slideshow, and examining a First Thanksgiving timeline. After answering text-dependent questions to...

How do you create a classroom environment where hot button topics may be discussed in a respectful manner? As part of a series of lessons that focus on immigration issues, class members examine the rules for civil discussion before...

Investigate the future of the presidency in the wake of the House of Representatives' vote to impeach President Clinton. The class brainstorms both sides of the argument, reads and discusses an article, then analyzes and writes a journal...

Eighth graders, after viewing a website on Civil War Time, explore and analyze the lifestyles of Civil War times as well as those of the soldiers through the writing of a composition of a narrative letter and story through the eyes of a...

Ninth graders brainstorm words they typically use to label each other, discuss effects of labeling, including reinforcement of stereotypes, and experience potentially harming and limiting effects that labels have by participating in...