This free, online article, developed for elementary teachers, describes a Kindergarten polar science, standards aligned, unit centered on The Polar Express developing literacy, math, and science skills.
Material Type: Reading
Students are introduced to concepts of social justice, such as diversity, tolerance, equity, and equality, through a literary text, class discussions, and guided research. Students plan a service-learning project, then work in small groups using Photo Story software to produce a multimedia presentation designed to foster community support for the project. Students also use the ReadWriteThink.org Printing Press to create informational fliers about the project. The lesson concludes—and the service-learning project begins—with a showing of the Photo Story productions for parents and other community members.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
In this lesson plan from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, students will identify and discuss the condition and aspirations of free African Americans in the years following the Civil War, identify the social factors that led to the rise of Jim Crow segregation and evaluate the effects of segregation.
Material Type: Lesson Plan, Primary Source, Reading, Unit of Study
In this lesson, students read primary and secondary source documents about the Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia and equal protection. Students then answer analysis questions about the case.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
In this two-day lesson plan, students examine the struggle for desegregation during the Civil Rights Movement and a current study that finds that American schools are reverting to segregation. On the first day, students examine the notion of ‘separate but equal’ by reading about the Brown v. Board of Education decision and by researching different events, legislation and organizations that influenced desegregation. On the second day, students assess ways in which race relations have and have not changed since this historic decision, examine the recent ‘resegregation’ study, and propose suggestions for addressing the school segregation issue to local, state or national leaders.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
In this lesson, students review how various groups have struggled to obtain equal treatment when serving in the military. A set of discussion questions is provided. In an associated activity, students discuss whether women should be allowed to serve in combat roles.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
In this activity students role play a debate among four African-American leaders at the turn of the century, about what strategy the black community should adopt to achieve full equality in the twentieth century. Students research their roles by reading and analyzing primary sources. This activity can work as a follow-up to viewing the film Up South: African-American Migration in the Era of the Great War.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
By the end of the lesson the students should be able to understand how it feels to be a minority, to be different, and to be discriminated against in any way.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
This resource supports English language development for English language learners. In this lesson, students describe the steps people took to eliminate segregation in U.S. schools. Students use a graphic organizer to analyze primary source photographs as a class, in pairs, and individually. After comparing their work in groups, students write a paragraph citing evidence from their graphic organizer to explain their understanding.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
In this 4 page pdf lesson plan from Digital History, students will explore the Black Codes and how they led to the 14th amendment and incited Southern opposition. Students will investigate what "separate but equal" meant in the eyes of the law.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
Students analyze archival cartoons, posters, magazine humor, newspaper articles and poems that reflect the deeply entrenched attitudes and beliefs the early crusaders for women's rights had to overcome.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
In this classroom activity, students will identify the purpose and goals of education in American society and explain why African Americans chose to challenge segregated education in their quest for equality. This lesson is part of the online exhibition entitled Separate is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
Students will be able to describe three specific moments in the Civil Rights Movement: the Freedom Rides, the 1963 Birmingham Movement, and the 1963 March on Washington; contrast the different roles of activists such as the Freedom Riders, demonstrators in Birmingham, and leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X; analyze and evaluate the relationship between civil rights activists and the Federal Government, specifically the Kennedy Administration.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
In 1960, as President Eisenhower’s second term was drawing to a close, the mood of American voters reflected one of restlessness. Between the U.S. economy experiencing a recession and recent Cold War achievements by the Soviets including the successful launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 and the development of long range missiles, Americans were feeling vulnerable. Along with U.S. foreign powers setbacks in 1960 (the U-2 incident and the alignment of Cuba with the Soviet Union) many Americans were beginning to question whether the U.S. might be losing the Cold War. Therefore, as two very different personalities campaigned for the Presidency, the role of the media took center
Material Type: Textbook
In this lesson, students will learn about the case of Dorothy E. Davis, et al. vs. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia using primary source materials. This case predated the Brown vs Board of Education case and was brought about by a 16 year old student who complied the data about the differences between her all black school and the all white school.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
Students will read A Raisin in the Sun as they discuss and analyze the "American Dream." In this lesson, students discuss the concept of the "American Dream" and using poetry by Langston Hughes compare the "dream" to the reality experienced by particular groups who have historically struggled for access and equality. Students then further this exploration by reading and discussing Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, using the play as a basis to examine the way 1950s American society particularly restricted African American access to the "American Dream." Through their reading of the play, interactive class discussion, group work, art activities and creative writing activities, students gain an understanding that the concept of the "American Dream" has been and continues to be multidimensional and complicated, particularly in terms of the historical struggles groups of people have faced in attaining equal rights, access, acceptance, etc.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
In this lesson, students will work in groups to compare and contrast the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with the Constitutions of the United States, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Republic of Colombia, and Republic of Ireland in order to emphasize how constitutions support democratic principles and human rights.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
In this lesson, students analyze how education in America affects its youth and the nation by assessing a variety of ways in which American courts and communities are dealing with the unanimous Supreme Court ruling to end ‘separate but equal’ education.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
In this lesson, students read about how Thomas Jefferson, drawing on the current thinking of his time, used natural rights to justify declaring independence from England. A set of discussion questions is provided. In an associated activity, students further discuss some of the ideals in the Declaration of Independence.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
