Educator Resources Educator Resources

This lesson has students examine the freedoms provided in the First Amendment through video-based resources and a choice board.

60-Second Civics is a daily podcast that provides a quick and convenient way for listeners to learn about our nation’s government, the Constitution, and our history. The podcast explores themes related to civics and government, the constitutional issues behind the headlines, and the people and ideas that formed our nation’s history and government. The daily podcast is accompanied by a quiz question.

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.

Learn how the American idea of government evolved from a revolutionary response to monarchy to that of a unified nation. Students will dig into the preambles and introductory text of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution.

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.

What really happened at the Battle of Lexington? In this lesson, students practice sourcing, corroboration, and contextualization as they weigh competing accounts of who fired the first shots of the Revolutionary War.

Come face to face with challenges that George Washington confronted as commander in chief or president in four key scenarios in these 20 minute, first-person interactives.

Go on a virtual field trip to the Museum of the American Revolution with Lauren Tarshis, author of the I Survived… books! You’ll go behind the scenes to meet a museum curator and a museum educator, to examine real and replica artifacts, and to learn stories of real people – including kids and teens – who lived during this dynamic time. This program is presented in partnership with Scholastic, Inc.

Do you like running things? Branches of Power lets you do something that no one else can: control all three branches of the U.S. government.

This lesson asks students to investigate the connections between constitutional principles, the United States founding documents, and their relationship to one another.

This lesson looks at the intersection between constitutional principles and the struggle for equality during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Students will explore the philosophy of modern liberalism and explore various views concerning the role of government.

Run your own law firm specializing in Constitutional law and determine whether clients have a right, match them with the best lawyer, and win the case!

This lesson examines the rule of law and due process and how belief in these principles is expressed in the Constitution.

All humans are born with equal inherent rights, but many governments do not protect people’s freedom to exercise those rights. The way to secure inalienable rights, the Founders believed, was to consent to giving up a small amount of our freedom so that government has the authority to protect our rights. Freedom depends on citizens having the wisdom, courage, and sense of justice necessary to take action in choosing virtuous leaders, and in holding those leaders to their commitments.

This mini-lesson looks at the debate, and eventual compromise, between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists that occurred around the creation of the US Constitution.

Students analyze primary sources from the Library of Congress to identify freedoms, then review background information about the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution. Next, students match the amendments related to some of the freedoms they identified through primary source analysis. Then, they will work in small groups to reach consensus and to propose a new amendment to secure freedoms not included in the Bill of Rights.

Students are introduced to key characteristics of government (authority, legitimacy, and sovereignty), consider how governments establish and maintain them, and analyze government forms to determine if and how each characteristic exists.

This film explores the First Amendment right of the “people peaceably to assemble” through the lens of the U.S. Supreme Court case National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie.

This DBQuest takes students through the competing takes on the National Bank as proposed by Alexander Hamilton, and efforts to persuade President Washington to approve or veto the plan.

This lesson looks at the life of Jourdon Anderson, an escaped slave who wrote a letter to his former master in 1865. This lesson explores the idea of justice and how one can seek just on behalf of themselves and others.

Students learn the basics of the U.S. judicial system, including the functions of the trial court, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court.