Educator Resources Educator Resources

Inspired by Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s famous words and life story, the Seat at the Table Project is a collaborative civic art and education project that encourages students to reflect on their own civics identity and agency as they consider bringing their own seat to the table of civic life. The lesson plan, resources, and companion digital exhibit guide teachers and student through participating the project.

This lesson introduces children to different ways young people have used the internet to work toward positive social change.

What does it mean to be a good citizen? Students investigate this question by looking at the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance, which foreign-born people must take to become naturalized American citizens, and thinking deeply about what are or should be crucial requirements of citizenship. This lesson guides students to closely examine information, to ask probing questions, and to take part in complex discussions with classmates.

What would you do to support what you believe in? Through an interactive and movement-based activity, students investigate this question and examine how in many instances there are no black-or-white answers.

What does the right to vote mean to you? Through an interactive and movement-based activity, students investigate this question and examine how in many instances there are no black or white answers.

This lesson focuses on analyzing the style and substance of campaigns in both free media, such as the news and televised debates, and paid media, such as TV commercials.

Argue real Supreme Court cases, and put your lawyering skills to the test.

Children often lack knowledge and skills necessary to interact with each other, especially when confronted with differences in mobility, hearing, sight, developmental skills or verbal skills.

Students will answer the question “How can you make change in your community?” during this activity.

In this lesson, students consider the impact of the poll tax as a barrier to voting by examining four primary sources.

This lesson introduces students to the importance of building a constituency to support or oppose public policies, using the case study of the Montgomery Bus Boycott as an example. Students read primary documents related to the boycott and discuss how the documents illustrate strategic efforts by boycott leaders to build public support.

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.

By investigating primary sources displaying the American flag, we will explore the various ways people use the flag to show characteristics such as pride, loyalty, and unity for the nation.

Discover what it takes to become an informed voter — from knowing where you stand on important issues to uncovering what you need to know about candidates.

Lewis Hine shot hundreds of photographs that exposed the working conditions facing thousands of child laborers in the first two decades of the twentieth century. His powerful images shed light on a world largely hidden from most middle-class Americans and influenced public debate about child labor laws. This lesson asks students to think critically about Hine’s photographs and their usefulness as evidence of the past.

As a foundation for studying the rights and responsibilities of citizens, students will learn what it means to be a citizen and how people become US citizens. They will also examine how the right of US citizenship has changed over time.

The importance of community helpers is a building block of civics understanding. In this episode, children investigate who community helpers are and how they have changed over time through exploration of a rich Library of Congress photograph of a man delivering ice to a schoolhouse in 1899.

The interactive projects provide young people with engaging and meaningful opportunities to learn about Congress and civic participation using primary sources from the Library’s online collections.

Comic books are visual literature. This simple cooperative group activity allows students to identify confrontational issues within their own school and then imagine solutions.

Learn about local government by playing a county official responding to citizen requests.

This lesson plan guides students through a “jigsaw” learning activity, in which they read about four notable examples of investigative journalism, then share their newfound knowledge with their classmates. The resource includes informational handouts and two graphic organizers for students to fill out, with the overarching goal of teaching the importance of a free press to democracy.

Students explore the experiences of Mexican-American farmworkers in the United States and learn about how they – especially through the leadership of Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers – worked with others for improvements in pay and working conditions, as well as respect for their civil rights. Students analyze primary sources and then complete a writing assignment to reflect on working with others to help solve a problem.

Eagle Eye Citizen allows teachers and students to solve or create online interactive challenges while engaging with rich Library of Congress primary sources. Students learn civics content as well as primary source analysis skills.

Learn how activists in Louisville, Kentucky successfully campaigned against segregated streetcars in 1870-71.

Students analyze different examples of collective action problems, discovering how micro-behaviors at the individual level can cause macro-problems on a societal scale. After brainstorming different problems in their communities, students choose one and create a campaign to encourage individuals to change their micro-behaviors to help address the problem.

This lesson plan helps teach students the federal lawmaking process through several videos and supplemental materials which can be taught over the course of 3 to 5 class periods.