Lesson Plan: Facing Eviction

(View Complete Item Description)

To stave off a nationwide housing crisis during the coronavirus pandemic, Washington lawmakers passed a massive spending package and officials implemented new housing policies, including a federal ban on evictions. As the eviction moratorium expired across the country, the larger debate over housing, and which policies would best help the tight market and the unhoused continued. What should be done about housing insecurity? These excerpts from Facing Eviction center on the precarious, high stakes journeys of tenants trying to hang on during the pandemic and also reveal how the eviction moratorium impacted landlords who were deprived of income, sheriffs who were conflicted about having to enforce the eviction ban, judges grappling with how to interpret the policy, and lawyers and social workers helping tenants stave off the devastating consequences of eviction.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Authors: PBS Frontline, RetroReport

Lesson Plan: Unprepared: Lessons From Two Massive Oil Spills

(View Complete Item Description)

This 11-minute video examines the Exxon Valdez and BP Deepwater Horizon oil spills which revealed a pattern of inconsistent oversight that environmentalists say raises questions about our preparedness for future oil spills. What are the roles and responsibilities of government and business in preventing and responding to environmental contamination, like the two major oil spills in 1989 and 2010 in U.S. waters? What preparations and preventive measures by private industry and government could help to prevent disasters that affect coastal communities for years?

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: RetroReport

Lesson Plan: Extremism in America

(View Complete Item Description)

Is the justice system in the United States responding to increased extremism appropriately? What is at stake? Who should address increasing violence? Students will engage in the inquiry process by developing questions related to extremism, building contextual knowledge, and assessing the effectiveness of interventions to address extremism. Content Advisory: This film and accompanying resources deal with sensitive topics that may be triggering for some students. The exploration of hate groups, white supremacy, and violence are topics that should receive great care in the classroom. Some school districts may employ YouTube content filters that block the material. If you need access, please email David Olson at dolson@retroreport.com.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: RetroReport

Lesson Plan: How the U.S. Has Treated Wartime Refugees

(View Complete Item Description)

This ten-minute video examines what obligation countries have to refugees. It’s a question as important today as it was in 1975, when the United States evacuated 130,000 South Vietnamese allies during the fall of Saigon and brought them to this country to start new lives. Today, as Afghan and Ukrainian migrants settle in the United States, students will explore whether refugee resettlement is better now than it was for the Vietnamese 50 years ago, and what is owed to people fleeing war, destruction and despair across the globe.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: RetroReport

Lesson Plan: Immigration in the 1990s: Proposition 187

(View Complete Item Description)

This 9-minute video illustrates how demographic trends and a changing California economy in the 1990s created a backlash against immigration, only to be followed by another swing in the ideological pendulum. This lesson examines how economic and demographic forces affect the strategies of the political parties, and demonstrates how policies like Proposition 187 can produce unintended and surprising consequences.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: RetroReport

Lesson Plan: Why Supreme Court Confirmations Have Become So Bitter: Mini-Lesson

(View Complete Item Description)

This 10-minute video delves into how the nature of Supreme Court nominations have changed since the defeat of Robert Bork. As President Biden makes his first Supreme Court nomination, he is hoping for bipartisan support for nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Recent history of Supreme Court nominations have yielded bitter battles and guarded answers from nominees on their views of important legal issues.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: RetroReport

Lesson Plan: From Women's Suffrage to the ERA

(View Complete Item Description)

This seven-minute video and accompanying lesson plan looks at how throughout the 1960’s and 70’s the second wave feminism movement worked to address gender inequality across the United States. While the movement had several important victories, the Equal Rights Amendment was not passed. Was the second wave feminist movement a success nonetheless?

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: RetroReport

Lesson Plan: Election of 1860: Slavery Splits the Democrats

(View Complete Item Description)

This four-minute video explores the causes and consequences of the Democratic Party’s division into two parties following the Democratic national convention of 1860. After rejecting Stephen A. Douglas’s failed attempt to reconcile the Northern and Southern factions of the party with his doctrine of “popular sovereignty,” the Southern delegates walked out of the convention. That decision led to the election of Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and 50 years of Republican dominance in national politics. A concise summary of the unusual events that allowed Abraham Lincoln to win the election of 1860, the video fits into any sequence of lessons on the factors leading to secession and the Civil War.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: RetroReport

Lesson Plan: The Second Amendment: Siege at Waco

(View Complete Item Description)

This 14-minute video shows students how the federal government’s botched raid on the compound of the Branch Davidian religious sect in 1993 gave rise to a nationwide militia movement of people advocating an expansive and individualistic interpretation of the Second Amendment. Students will learn how this movement included terrorists like Timothy McVeigh as well as lawful activists, many of whom continue to influence the national conversation on gun rights. Including interviews with militia activists as well as their opponents, the video provides students with context and insight on a defining cultural and political moment in the tug-of-war between individual rights and government powers. Useful for any lesson introducing Second Amendment controversies, the video illustrates why the right of individuals to own firearms remains one of the most contentious issues in American government. Content Advisory: This video includes footage of gun violence during a law enforcement raid that left 80 people dead.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: RetroReport

Lesson Plan: Campaigns and Elections: The 2000 Election

(View Complete Item Description)

After the 2000 election night ended with no clear winner and exposed flaws in our voting system, there was a push for reforms to make elections run more smoothly. This 12-minute video introduces students to the turmoil and confusion of the Bush v. Gore election recount and illustrates the surprising and unintended aftermath of that event: Instead of reforms, there was a change toward an even more politicized electoral process. Useful as an introduction to the Bush v. Gore election controversy, the video can also be used to set up a conversation about the past and future of voting rights and voter suppression.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: RetroReport

Lesson Plan: 2004 Democratic Convention: The Importance of the Keynote Speech

(View Complete Item Description)

This six-minute video takes students “behind the stage” at political party conventions by interviewing the convention manager and speechwriting team who launched Barack Obama’s national political career by choosing him to make the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Deconstructing how conventions function as a complex messaging operations involving the coordination of hundreds of speakers, the video provides students with insight into one of the most important moments in modern American politics, and would be useful in any sequence of lessons focused on the election of presidents or modern campaigning methods.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: RetroReport

Protests For Racial Justice: A Long History

(View Complete Item Description)

In 1967, riots triggered by episodes of police brutality and harassment of African Americans erupted in over 150 U.S. cities. President Johnson asked Congress to investigate, and the result was the Kerner Commission report, which stated: “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white, separate and unequal.” The report highlighted shortages of jobs, inadequate education, discrimination, and harsh police tactics. In this lesson students will look at the report’s findings, and how ignoring them had an impact that continues today. Content Advisory: This video includes footage of police violence.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: RetroReport

Lesson Plan: The Civil Rights Movement: Black Power and Sports

(View Complete Item Description)

This 11-minute video tells the story of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, their raised-fist Black Power salute on the medal podium during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, and the consequences they went on to face. This video shows the development of the civil rights protests of the 1960s, and how the cultural context of that decade led to a wave of protests by athletes. It illustrates how the cultural context of the 1980s caused a decline in political consciousness among athletes. Finally it addresses how recent shootings and misconduct by police officers have fueled a resurgence of athlete activism. The video includes footage and discussion of Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and O.J. Simpson. It will help students understand the complexities and challenges that black athletes face on the public stage. Students will learn how the modern take-a-knee protest movement, started by Colin Kaepernick, is directly linked to the Olympics protest in 1968. Content Advisory: This video contains graphic depictions of police shootings.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: RetroReport

Making an Issue-Based Video

(View Complete Item Description)

We live in a multi-media world, with images and sounds bombarding us practically from the moment we wake up until we go to bed at night. Young people especially are plugged into this visual and auditory environment. In this unit, students will learn how to take their research on a community-based issue that they care about and create a video. By showing their video to elected officials, policymakers, the general public and their peers, students may add their voices to the dialogue about community issues. Students will come to understand how to use an issue-based video to make their voices heard through the media and increase their participation as active and engaged citizens.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Interactive

Author: The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Lesson Plan: Gerrymandering

(View Complete Item Description)

Every decade, after each United States census, states engage in redistricting, the redrawing of congressional and state legislative boundaries. This process often becomes politicized, with district lines drawn to create partisan advantages and disadvantages – a tactic known as gerrymandering. What’s at stake now: control of the House of Representatives. Which criteria should matter most when drawing district lines? What are the electoral consequences when politicians draw lines based on political or racial demographics? Examine interactive resources to explore how changing district lines can affect the balance of partisan power, and evaluate criteria for drawing district lines.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Authors: David Olson, Retro Report

Student Voices Campaign Curriculum – English

(View Complete Item Description)

This unit provides an introduction to Student Voices, focusing on the question of why so few young people vote and why there is a need for young people to learn more about the political process, issues, and candidates. Spanish Version https://cdn.annenbergclassroom.org/wp-content/uploads/Campaign-Curriculum_Spanish.pdf

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Unit of Study

Authors: Student Voices, The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Justice for All in the Courtroom

(View Complete Item Description)

The goal of the jury selection process in both civil and criminal proceedings is to seat an impartial jury. Longstanding processes and procedures are followed to ensure that a trial is fair for the two opposing parties. The Supreme Court decision in Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co. (1991), however, wasn’t about a violation related to either party’s constitutional rights; it was about the rights of prospective jurors. Constitutional protections apply to the rights of all private individuals in a courtroom, including prospective jurors. Before Edmonson, the law only prevented race-based peremptory challenges in criminal trials. With Edmonson, the Court extended the prohibition to civil trials. “Racial discrimination,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote in the opinion of the Court, “has no place in the courtroom, whether the proceeding is civil or criminal.” It threatens the fairness and impartiality of the proceedings and violates equal protection principles. In this lesson, students analyze the interplay of processes and procedures that courts use to seat an impartial jury and gain appreciation for the essential role of juries in the justice system. They also explore the responsibilities and limits placed on government by the Constitution in the context of civil and criminal trials.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson, Lesson Plan

Author: Linda Weber

Intro to Who's Behind the Information?

(View Complete Item Description)

Since information is always influenced by its author, analyzing who's behind the information should be a priority when evaluating online content. But too often, students attempt to evaluate information based on elements other than the source, such as the contents of a website, its appearance, or the evidence it supplies. In this lesson, students learn why the source of information is so important and practice analyzing information based on who's behind it. 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 the first concept. Registration is required and free.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Learning Task, Lesson Plan, Unit of Study

Author: Stanford History Education Group

Understanding the Confrontation Clause

(View Complete Item Description)

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.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson, Lesson Plan

Author: Annenberg Classroom

Civics 360: The Bill of Rights & Other Amendments

(View Complete Item Description)

A teaching module designed to have students learn about the Bill of Rights and other amendments and evaluate rights contained in the Bill of Rights and other amendments to the Constitution. Use video resources, readings, student practice scenarios, and quizzes to help students learn about protected rights and violations through the examination of the Bill of Rights & other amendments.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Assessment, Formative Assessment, Homework/Assignment, Learning Task, Lesson, Lesson Plan, Module, Reading, Self Assessment, Student Guide

Authors: Civics 360, Lou Frey Institute