These primary sources follow the content and narrative structure of the Annenberg Classroom film “The 19th Amendment: A Woman’s Right to Vote.”

Handout includes poems, songs, photos, papers, as well as highlights important people and events associated with the 19th amendment.

A challenging, fun card game that helps students learn about their rights under the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. The game offers three levels of play: Easy, Normal, Difficult.

The First Amendment’s right to free speech is one of our most important rights as citizens. But what does freedom of speech mean for students in public schools? How do you balance a school’s need for order with a student’s right to free expression? This film explores the evolution of student free speech rights through Supreme Court cases, from Tinker v. Des Moines to Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., the case of the Snapchatting cheerleader.

This lesson will focus on freedom of assembly, as found in the First Amendment. Students will consider the importance of the right to assemble and protest by analyzing cases where First Amendment rights were in question. Using the case National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie, students will consider if the government is ever allowed to control the ability to express ideas in public because viewpoints are controversial, offensive, or painful. Students will use primary sources and Supreme Court cases to consider whether the courts made the correct decision in the National Socialist Party v. Skokie case. Students will be able to form an opinion on the essential question: Is the government ever justified to restrict the freedom to assemble?

One of our oldest human rights, habeas corpus safeguards individual freedom by preventing unlawful or arbitrary imprisonment. This documentary examines habeas corpus and the separation of powers in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks as the Supreme Court tried to strike a balance between the president’s duty to protect the nation and the constitutional protection of civil liberties in four major Guantanamo Bay cases: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, Rasul v. Bush, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and Boumediene v. Bush.
Closed captions available in English and Spanish.

In a constitutional system of government, the role of the judiciary is essential for maintaining the balance of power, protecting individual rights, upholding the rule of law, interpreting the Constitution, and ensuring equal justice for all. In this lesson, students learn about the role of an independent judiciary in the United States.

In this documentary, Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Stephen G. Breyer and other experts discuss how the principle of one person, one vote emerged from a series of landmark decisions, including Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims, based on the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. A PDF lesson guide accompanies the video.

Using the Annenberg Classroom video “One Person, One Vote,” this lesson explores the questions “Does the Constitution require that every person’s vote count the same as another person’s vote? Why would that be important?” Students will use their knowledge of the U.S. Supreme Court cases Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims to answer these questions.

This lesson will encourage students to investigate Supreme Court cases in conjunction with the Annenberg Classroom video “First Amendment: Student Freedom of Speech” to evaluate the decisions handed down by the Court in the effort to find the balance between a school’s need for order and a student’s right to expression. Students will explore five Supreme Court cases with the purpose of determining if the Court’s decisions helped or hindered defining “protected speech” for students in public school environments.
Download the lesson plan

In this lesson, students will explore the fundamental reasons for the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment. Students will engage in a simulation, identify the history and evolution of the confrontation clause from the Annenberg Classroom video The Confrontation Clause: Crawford v. Washington, and then apply this knowledge to the simulation.

On December 18, 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down one of its most controversial decisions when it upheld the government’s decision to intern all persons of Japanese ancestry (both alien and nonalien) on the grounds of national security. Over two-thirds of the Japanese in America were citizens and the internment took away their constitutional rights. In this lesson, students evaluate the consequences of past events and decisions related to the Supreme Court case Korematsu v. United States (1944). They consider the challenges involved when trying to balance civil liberties and national security during threatening times and reflect on the lessons learned about civil liberties from the justices in the Korematsu case.

This lesson will allow students to use primary sources, the Bill of Rights, and Supreme Court
cases in conjunction with the game “That’s Your Right” and the Annenberg Guide to the
Constitution. Students will be able to understand the meaning and importance of the Bill of
Rights as well as how it safeguards freedoms and protects citizens from government intrusion in
everyday life. Students will focus on primary sources, the Bill of Rights and real-life scenarios to
prepare them to play the game “That’s Your Right.” Afterward, students can extend learning by
exploring real Supreme Court cases that affect students in schools.