By examining Lincoln's three most famous speeches the Gettysburg Address and the First and Second Inaugural Addresses in addition to a little known fragment on the Constitution, union, and liberty, students trace what these documents say regarding the significance of union to the prospects for American self-government.

This recurring lesson encourages students to comprehend their reading through inquiry and collaboration. They work independently to choose quotations that exemplify the main idea of the text, come to a consensus about those quotations in collaborative groups, then formulate "quiz" questions about their reading that other groups will answer.

In this activity, students watch a short clip from the ASHP documentary 1877: The Grand Army of Starvationto learn about the impact of railroad expansion on Americans and the nation as a whole. After watching the clip, students complete the “Technological Turning Points and their Impact” worksheet in order to examine the positive and negative effects of the railroad.

In this lesson, students view archival photographs, combine their efforts to comb through a database of more than 2,000 archival newspaper accounts about race relations in the United States, and read newspaper articles written from different points of view about post-war riots in Chicago.

Late in 1917, the War Department created two all-black infantry divisions. The 93rd Infantry Division received unanimous praise for its performance in combat, fighting as part of France's 4th Army. In this lesson, students combine their research in a variety of sources, including firsthand accounts, to develop a hypothesis evaluating contradictory statements about the performance of the 92nd Infantry Division in World War I.

In this Random House for High School Teachers reader's guide, indepth discussion questions guide students through exploration of Rick Bragg's All Over but the Shoutin', a haunting memoir about growing up dirt-poor in the deep South, and about struggling to leave the past behind while still deeply tied to it through bonds of love and responsibility.

In this lesson, students read primary and secondary source documents about the Supreme Court case Allegheny County v. ACLU and the 1st amendment. Students then answer analysis questions about the case. There is a teacher answer key included in the lesson.

After taking a virtual tour of the Globe Theater in Elizabethan London, students use graphic organizers to compare attending a performance at the Globe to attending a Broadway play or movie. Then they work collaboratively to create a commercial advertisement geared towards an Elizabethan audience.

This resource includes an extended lesson designed to help students engage with ideals relative to the “American Dream”. The lesson is largely designed to accompany a reading of the novel The Great Gatsby. Students will read articles that discuss the “American Dream” prior to writing their own argumentative essay.

In this unit, students examine the powers of the executive branch with careful analysis of the president's war powers. Primary documents are used to establish arguments for and against the expansion of presidential prerogative.

In this Random House for High School Teachers reader's guide, the questions, discussion topics, author biography, and suggested reading list will enhance student reading of An American Story by Debra J. Dickerson. Dickerson's frank, thought provoking, and ultimately triumphant memoir traces her spirited rise from the poor, black, working class of St. Louis in the 1960s to the ranks of the educated, middle-class, professional elite.

In this lesson, students will continue to read and analyze Chapter 1 of Animals in Translation, focusing on how the author develops her claims.

After gaining skill through anazlying a historic and contemporary speech as a class, students will select a famous speech from a list (included) and write an essay that identifies and explains the rhetorical strategies that the author chose while crafting an effective speech. The analysis will consider questions such as: What makes a good argument? How did the author's rhetoric evoke a response from the audience? Why are the words still famous today?

In this lesson, students will use multiple texts in order to analyze how central ideas are developed across texts.

In this lesson students learn to evaluate political cartoons for their meaning, message, and persuasiveness. Students first develop critical questions about political cartoons. Then they access an online activity to learn about artistic techniques cartoonists frequently use. Finally, students will work in small groups to analyze a political cartoon.

In this lesson on the last half of the excerpt of The Wizard of Lies, students will prepare textual analysis of the central idea of the text.

Surveys are an important tool when doing research and learning to evaluate information. In this lesson, students consider the purpose and meaning of surveys, learn what types of questions are asked, evaluate the validity of a specific survey, and write in their journals to reflect what they have learned.

This page contains a teacher's guide for Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. The guide includes background information on the time period and on Anne Frank's life, prompts for writing and discussion, vocabulary words, and supplemental information and resources to extend knowledge of World War 2 and the Holocaust and their timelines.

This page contains notes on Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, with strategies for approach, lesson ideas, suggestions for discussion and projects, and ways to tie the content to modern day issues.

An Anticipation Guide is a strategy that is used before reading to activate students' prior knowledge and build curiosity about a new topic. Before reading a selection, students respond to several statements that challenge or support their preconceived ideas about key concepts in the text. Using this strategy stimulates students' interest in a topic and sets a purpose for reading. Anticipation guides can be revisited after reading to evaluate how well students understood the material and to correct any misconceptions.