Lesson Plans

62 Result(s)
Grade Range
6-12
Afro Atlantic: Mapping Journeys

Kerry James Marshall's painting Voyager, depicting two partially obscured Black figures standing aboard a ship, refers to an actual ship, Wanderer, which was among the last slave ships in the United States, illegally transporting more than 400 individuals from West Africa to Georgia in 1858—even though the importation of enslaved people had been banned in 1808. Use the painting as an entry point to discuss the Transatlantic slave trade and introduce students to the NEH-funded database Slave Voyages project. 

Grade Range
6-12
Images of the New World

How did the English picture the native peoples of America during the early phases of colonization of North America? This lesson plan will enable students to interact with written and visual accounts of this critical formative period at the end of the 16th century, when the English view of the New World was being formulated, with consequences that we are still seeing today.

Grade Range
6-12
Lesson Five: Hosting a Diplomatic Reception

In this lesson students synthesize the information gathered in the earlier intelligent briefings and in the written intelligence in order to build a relationship with one other team of student diplomats

Grade Range
6-12
Lesson Four: Writing a Diplomatic Toast

For the curriculum unit The Diplomacy Challenge. Lesson Four. In this lesson students apply the intelligence gathered at the intelligence briefing and through their primary source analysis to prepare a toast for one Early Modern empire.

Grade Range
6-12
Lesson Two: Empire Intelligence Briefings

A key role of diplomats is to gather and analyze intelligence. In this lesson, students acting as diplomats will present a short “intelligence briefing” to the representatives of the other Early Modern empires.

Grade Range
6-8
Galileo: Revealing the Universe

In this lesson, students will practice close reading of passages from Galileo’s Starry Messenger concerning his observations of the stars and constellations through a telescope. They will develop an understanding of how he constructed his arguments to challenge the established views of his time using new technology and logical reasoning.

Grade Range
6-12
Lesson 3: The Matter of the Philippines

The treaty of peace ending the Spanish-American War resulted in the United States obtaining the Philippine Islands from Spain. Despite intense political opposition to the acquisition of the islands, the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty. The political impact of anti-imperialist arguments, the difficult experience of suppressing native Filipino resistance, and the lack of attractive opportunities for further territorial expansion, all effectively stalled the American imperialist/expansionist movement.