In this lesson, students explore the historical context of Walt Whitman's concept of "democratic poetry" by reading his poetry and prose and by examining daguerreotypes taken circa 1850. Next, students will compare the poetic concepts and techniques behind Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" and Langston Hughes' "Let America Be America Again," and have an opportunity to apply similar concepts and techniques in creating a poem from their own experience.

In this activity, students will look at images from 1919 to explore the nature of the "Red Scare" of the World War I era, and think about it the context of current attitudes toward civil liberties since the September 11th attacks.

Students engage in a Structure Academic Controversy (SAC) about the "War Powers Act", "The War Powers Resolution: After Thirty-Six Years", and "The Constitutional Limitations on the President's Powers" to answer the essential question, "Did the creation of the War Powers Act conflict with Congress's Constitutional power to declare war?"

This inquiry is focused on the compelling question "Was American expansion abroad justified?" The inquiry calls into question motives and outcomes of imperialism by considering both the positive and negative results of United States expansion abroad, with specific focus on the United States' involvement in the Spanish-American War.

In this DBQ Project mini document based question activity based on the Dust Bowl, students will examine multiple sources and reflect on what led to and caused the event.

Creating Facebook-like presentations via Microsoft PowerPoint will engage and motivate students to learn about famous people of the American Revolution. To gain background knowledge prior to their study of the Revolutionary War, students will research people who played an important role during this time period. While sharing their research in their PowerPoint presentations, students provide written feedback.

In this lesson, students examine some of the fundamental ideas about government that are contained in the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the U.S. Constiution.

In this lesson plan, students learn a little about what media literacy is and why it's important. Students turn a critical eye to newspaper headlines and articles while considering what is really important and how to look past what is presented.

In the 1850's abolition was not a widely embraced movement in the U.S. It was considered radical and extreme. In his speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Frederick Douglas sought to make abolition acceptable to Northern whites. In addition to making historical points about attitudes towards slavery in the 19th century, this speech can be used to teach formal rhetoric. The lesson features five interactive activities requiring close reading and analysis of Frederick's use of language and rhetorical strategies.

This activity provides information on the Whiskey Rebellion and includes a student exercise.

Students explore personal feelings about civil liberties, research the history of sedition-related legislation in the United States and create an informed position paper on the concept of sedition.

This online interactive lesson from the United Kingdom's National Archives guides students through several primary sources to answer the big question, "Why did the USA find it so hard to get out of Vietnam? ?" There is a worksheet, glossary, and timeline provided to assist students in their analysis. You must click on the picture of each primary source to access it.

In this lesson, students will examine Sarah Josepha Buell Hale's contribution to the invention of Thanksgiving, in order to examine the social, moral and ethical virtues middle class Americans advanced during the Jacksonian era. The students will analyze primary sources to examine S.J.B.H., as a social reformer during the Second Great Awakening, contribution to the invention of Thanksgiving in order to critique social, moral, and ethical virtues middle class Americans advanced during the Jacksonian era. Students will respond to a DBQ writing prompt to demonstrate understanding and analysis of how differences in the goals of national holidays affected political conscientiousness in the building of nationalism. Students will also design a classroom exhibit, like a museum room, for fun, using a shutterfold (foldable) on social reform integrating the letters written by S.J.B.H.

This webquest coincides with reading The Crucible. Students will be tasked with searching the web to discover information that will help them with understanding details associated with the play and the history affiliated with the Salem Witch Trials.

In this lesson, students will examine the Salem witchcraft trials through primary and secondary sources with an emphasis on different viewpoints of the trials. Worksheets will be given for these assignments and discussed in class. Students will then research on their own in the computer lab utilizing several websites.

Students trace Joan of Arc's history from childhood, through her death, and on to her nullification trial. Reading the words of laborers, pages, knights and clerics, students gain authentic historical context for a charismatic and complicated figure and better understand Joan's place in the history of the Hundred Years' War.

In this lesson, students take on the role of a politician to identify stakeholders on a controversial policy issue and craft a series of statements that address each group.

This lesson, Young People Working for Justice, focuses on Dr. Martin Luther King and on the role of youth during the modern African American Freedom Struggle. The activities encourage students to envision their role in creating a just world.

Students write about present-day pop culture as well as learning about pop culture of the past by using Cole Porter's song "You're the Top!" (1934) to touch on many issues relevant to a language arts classroom, especially the literary technique of cataloguing. After an introduction and context information about Porter's song, students listen to the song and examine the lyrics. They look at the list of the pop culture items referenced in the song to see what they feel is still valid today, brainstorm replacements for other items, and create revised lyrics for the song. They then present their updated lyrics to the class.

This Random House for High School Teachers teacher's guide includes an introduction, discussion questions, suggestions for further reading, and author biography intended to enliven student discussion of Dave Eggers' biography Zeitoun, a harrowing nonfiction account of what happened to one man and his family in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.