The following lesson is designed to help students explore the emergence of the American Indian Movement (c.1968 and beyond) in the context of the push for self-determination by native people, and within the broader movement for Civil Rights in American Society.

This resource would be appropriate for high school students, during a study of the Civil Rights Movement. It provides primary source materials for students to analyze using the APPARTS process.

This aligns to WI AIS Enduring Understanding #9 "American Indians and U.S. Citizenship".

This assessment from the Stanford History Education Group gauges whether students can source and contextualize a document. Students must first examine an interview excerpt on a race riot in Nashville during the Civil Rights Movement, then determine which facts can help them evaluate the interview's reliability. Strong students will be able to explain how the the gap in time between the riot and the interview (Fact 2) and that Cleaver was not present for the riot (Fact 3) make the account less reliable.

Video collection of Park rangers discussing the events of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The unit includes student activities.

Throughout history, U.S. presidents have carved out their relationships with the press. In this lesson, students will hear from author and historian Harold Holzer as he discusses how several presidents, from George Washington to Donald Trump, navigated their interactions with the media and implemented strategies to communicate with the press, some of which are still used today.

CAP is a free project-based learning program for civics and government. Think of it as a culmination of students’ social studies education, a chance for them to apply what they have learned to the real world and impact an issue that matters to them.

From the CAP curriculum, you will first teach three lessons that are tied to government/civics content. These lessons provide content that students will need to start their own CAP projects. Once students start working on their own CAP issues, you will teach two more lessons that focus on policy analysis.

A CAP project is an issue or problem students select, research and then identify propose and submit a solution for.

CAP provides a bundle of additional lessons for you to choose from, based on the needs and interests of your students.

Students could select issues related to school, community, or even national or global issues. CAP students identify an issue or problem that matters to them, connect it to public policy, then take “civic actions” to try to impact their selected issue/problem. It is up to you, the teacher, if you want to limit the scale of the issues they choose.

In any case, it is key that you require students to make the connection to public policy if you are integrating CAP into your government course.

The Problem: When evidence is attractively presented, convincingly stated, or aligns with our beliefs, it can be tempting to accept it without stopping to ask whether the evidence comes from a trustworthy source or directly supports the claims being made. When evidence takes the form of statistics or infographics, it can be particularly tempting to accept it without fully evaluating it.
This lesson gives students a chance to practice evaluating evidence based on its reliability and relevance. Students work in groups to evaluate several examples of online evidence and engage in class discussions about the strength of the evidence.

Note: Civic Online Reasoning is motivated by three driving questions: Who's behind the information, What's the evidence and What do other sources say? This lesson is an introduction to one of the main concepts. Registration is required and free.

The Problem: Claims and evidence flow rapidly online. We aid in the spread of misinformation if we don’t ensure that a claim or evidence is accurate before we share it. Luckily, the internet also allows us to check claims and evidence by consulting other sources. Although verification takes time, it helps to ensure that the information we read, use, and share is trustworthy.

This short lesson will introduce students to the importance of checking what other sources say through a relatively straightforward example. Students practice evaluating a claim made on social media by clicking on the provided link to see if the argument in that source matches the claim in the post.

Note: Civic Online Reasoning is motivated by three driving questions: Who's behind the information, What's the evidence and What do other sources say? This lesson is an introduction to one of the main concepts. Registration is required and free.

The Problem: Online videos are easy to create and distribute. Evidence presented via video is becoming an increasingly popular way to support claims online. However, videos can be especially challenging to evaluate effectively. Too often, we are convinced by what we see (or think we see) and do not carefully consider how the video could misrepresent its subject.

This short lesson helps students practice analyzing video evidence. Students complete a task that asks them to evaluate a video that makes a claim and supports it with selectively edited video evidence. They then read and discuss an article about the video. Then they watch an unedited version of the video to practice skills for analyzing video evidence.

Note: Civic Online Reasoning is motivated by three driving questions: Who's behind the information, What's the evidence and What do other sources say? This lesson is an introduction to one of the main concepts. Registration is required and free.

"Teach students about civic participation and the role it has played in our judicial history with this two-part lesson comprising historic cases, a classroom mock trial, and a research project. Objective: Your students will analyze the impact of historic cases and the role of civic participation in these cases. Students will also demonstrate their understanding of the basic elements of a trial through a mock trial proceeding.
Time: Two class periods
Materials: Student Worksheets #1 and #2, access to online resources, paper, pencil or pen"

As part of a greater classwide congressional simulation, this assessment could be used to guide student research and essay writing.

A 2018 TIme Magazine Article that explores the evidence for early European Exploration throughout North America.

Four Presidents called Illinois home – Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama. Each presided over the country at a unique time in U.S. history, and this can be seen in the messages they communicated to the nation in their inaugural addresses. All four were reelected to a second term in office. Analysis of each president’s 1st and 2nd inaugural addresses provides an opportunity to compare and contrast the priorities, goals and intentions he outlined, as well as how the nation may have been changing at that time.

Using primary sources related to the official proclamation of Columbus Day as a holiday at the national level, this activity asks students to analyze the documents (official proclamation and a newspaper advertisement) to determine why President Harrison chose to declare it as a holiday. Accessing the lesson/document does require setting up free account.

Website with different lessons focusing on:
1.Analyze primary and secondary sources representing conflicting points of view to determine the proper role of government regarding the rights of individuals.
2.Analyze primary and secondary sources representing conflicting points of view to determine the Constitutionality of an issue.
3.Assess the short and long-term consequences of decisions made during the writing of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
4.Compare the components of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights with the Constitutions of other nations.
5.Evaluate contemporary and personal connections to the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
6.Compose a reflection and assessment of the significance of Constitution Day and the U.S. Constitution.

This website is a collection of various primary sources that have been digitized. This specific module looks at photographs, videos, posters, documents, etc related to activism in the United States. This includes the Civil Rights Movements, Civil Rights Demonstrations, Civil Rights Actions, Martin Luther King, Jr., Education Activism, Anti-War Activism, Women’s Activism, LGBT Activism. There are several other primary source sets as well.

Support your students to embrace the larger questions featured in American Creed that ask:

What ideals unite us as a nation?
Where does a nation’s identity come from?
These lesson plans bring together teaching strategies, videos, and activities that will help you explore themes such as common ideals and national identity.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History houses primary source documents and quality lesson plans. This link connects teachers to 31 pre-made lesson plans aimed at 9-12 grade students in relation to African American HIstory and the use of primary sources. You will need to create an account, but all resources are free.

Website Description:
What's the relationship between government and power? And how do the concepts of authority, legitimacy, and sovereignty influence that relationship? In this lesson, students are introduced to these key characteristics of government, consider how governments establish and maintain them, and analyze government forms to determine if and how each characteristic exists.

Student Learning Objectives:
*Explain how governments get their power, authority, legitimacy, and sovereignty
* Analyze governments for key characteristics
* Describe the relationships power, authority, legitimacy, and sovereignty share
* Consider a government’s legitimacy

Students analyze documents from the holdings of the National Archives to assess the impact of legalized racial segregation on the lives of Black Americans from 1944 – 1960. Students analyze historical documents and discuss how Jim Crow, a system of laws and practices set in place to maintain white supremacy, limited the freedom of African Americans. These documents from 1944 – 1960 express the words and actions of people or institutions working to either remove or reinforce race-based barriers to equality.

Guiding Question
How did Jim Crow laws and practices limit the freedom of Black Americans?

This packet provides an explanation of Ireland’s Great Hunger and provides ideas for primary source materials to use to describe the event A variety of discussion questions, writing activities, and other activities are provided that allow students to explore the facts and how different Irish artists used art and other media forms to depict the effects of the famine.