Educator Resources Educator Resources

Students are introduced to the 9/11 attacks and learn that the nation’s response created tension between the need for security and America’s tradition of liberty. They are then introduced to the Declaration of Independence and Preamble to the U.S. Constitution and learn that these documents describe fundamental values and principles that characterize the American political culture.

Do Americans have shared ideals? What do they look like?​ Students investigate this question by closely examining words that express American ideals, selecting images from a provided deck that best illustrate their interpretation of the word, and them comparing their choices to others in their group.

Students learn about the duties and powers of the three branches of government, the amendment process, and the role of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

In the decades following the Civil War, the US military clashed with Native Americans in the West. The Battle of Little Bighorn was one of the Native Americans’ most famous victories. In this lesson, students explore causes of the battle by comparing two primary documents with a textbook account.

This resource probes some of the complex issues arising from the history of Japanese incarceration during World War II and invites students to explore difficult questions about national identity, institutional racism, and the boundaries of US citizenship.

This lesson is designed to help students develop the skills and understanding to engage in civic dialogue across differences. Students will practice empathy through telling each other’s stories.

Students will explore how the relationship between the expansion of slavery and sectional debates about the nature of the Union. In doing so they will examine the overlap between historical events and constitutional principles.

Civil liberties are the basic individual rights of all citizens, as expressed in the Constitution and (especially) the Bill of Rights, and reinforced by the 14th Amendment.

A curated collection of documents, documents-based resources and programs, lesson plans, and discussion questions related to the Civil Rights Movements of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Intended for teachers who are eager to get started using original documents, but are unsure of where to start.

Uncover the tools to hold constitutional conversations and civil dialogue.

A documents-based exploration of Reconstruction in the American South, with guiding essay questions, documents representing different and often conflicting views on the same issue, and full audio recordings of all documents.

This case pack includes a case summary, three primary source analysis activities, and an essential question for Dred Scott v. Sandford.

This online lesson provides Native perspectives, images, documents, and other sources to help students and teachers understand how the 17th century fur trade brought together two cultures, one Native and the other Dutch, with different values and ideas about exchange. Examine these differences to determine whether the exchange that took place on Manhattan in 1626 was really a land sale or not.

Students will build foundational knowledge learning the primary responsibilities of the president and how those duties connect to the powers the Constitution grants to the Executive Branch.

In the decades prior to the Civil War, some early African American newspapers began to circulate. In this lesson, students examine articles, advertisements and an editorial from the newspaper Freedom’s Journal, to consider the events and challenges that influenced daily life for free African Americans living in Northern states and to answer the historical question: What was the purpose of Freedom’s Journal?

Elections provide concrete examples for teachers to help students make authentic connections between what is traditionally taught in secondary civics or government classes and the very real-world consequences we face with each election cycle. In this learning resource, historian Joanne Freeman makes the case for historical analysis as a means to engage students in exploring the political processes which shape our nation’s democratic society.

This Readers’ Theater and Read Aloud Story introduces students to the people who lived and worked at George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation. Students meet members of the Washington family, members of the enslaved community at Mount Vernon, and indentured servants working on the estate.

Guide newcomers to United States along their path to citizenship to learn about how people become citizens.

Students investigate barriers to citizenship for immigrants, highlighting how disability was at the core of exclusionary policy from 1882 forward.

Students will examine the life and actions of John Brown through primary sources and historical narrative.

This lesson plan, designed for Grades 3-5, explores women’s suffrage from the perspective of Native American and African American women.

“What is Democracy?” Lesson Plan including song, videos and slide deck for Grades 3-5 and adaptable for Grades K-2.

Using the example of Executive Order 10730, students will explore how executive orders can be used to enforce the law and examine how Eisenhower justified his authorization of troops under federal authority to desegregate Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

During World War II, the United States government forcibly removed over 120,000 Japanese Americans from the Pacific Coast. These individuals, two-thirds of them U.S. citizens, were sent to ten camps built throughout the western interior of the United States. In this webcast, panelists explore this period in American history and consider how fear and prejudice can upset the delicate balance between the rights of citizens and the power of the state.

Students decide which of the rights included in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights they value the most. Presented with a hypothetical extraterrestrial creature taking over the world who will allow humans to keep three rights, students work individually or in small groups to decide on which three rights they find most important and report back their findings.

Thanks to the Disney film, most students know the legend of Pocahontas. But is the story told in the 1995 movie accurate? In this lesson, students use evidence to explore whether Pocahontas actually saved John Smith’s life and practice the ability to source, corroborate, and contextualize historical documents.

This lesson explores the principles of popular sovereignty and government by consent.

This lesson explores the relationship between National, State, and Local governments.

Through a word association activity and an examination of a TED talk, students explore the ways labels and stereotypes are used to create a ‘single story’ about people and places. Students reflect on, and share, the impact labels and stereotypes have had on their own lives. They identify strategies they can use to counteract the negative impact of stereotypes.

This lesson explores how individuals lay claim to a nation’s laws and ideals to assert their own rights and freedoms, and in doing so, nurture democracy in the societies where they live.

This lesson uses primary source analysis to explore the evolving interpretation of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.