Lesson Plans

In this lesson, students learn how Progressive reformers in government used the public outrage over Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle as a catalyst for legislation. The story of how two progressives, Theodore Roosevelt and Harvey W. Wiley, worked together within the federal government is not as well-known as the role played by Sinclair’s The Jungle, but it provides the needed historical and political context for the passage of both the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act in June 1906 which are considered the high point of Progressive era legislation.

Who do we look up to and why? What constitutes a heroic action? After completing this lesson plan, students will be able to describe what makes a hero in various contexts.

Students will listen to a brief biography, view photographs of the March on Washington, hear a portion of King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and discuss what King's words mean to them.

Students examine pictures of household objects from the late 20th century, gather historical information about them from older family members, and then create an in-class exhibit of historical objects from their own homes.

This lesson plan highlights the story of Harry Washington, a man formerly enslaved by George Washington. In a game of revealing mystery, students work intimately with a host of primary sources including maps, letters, ship manifests, and settlement records to develop a timeline of Harry’s life from enslavement to liberation.

This lesson introduces students to the philosophy of nonviolence and the teachings of Mohandas K. Gandhi that influenced Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s views. After considering the political impact of this philosophy, students explore its relevance to personal life and contemporary society.

Students develop a foundation on which to understand the basic disagreements between North and South.

In this lesson about Galileo, students test the arguments on both sides of the case that shook the foundations of faith and science.

Students listen to a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., view photographs of the March on Washington, and study King's use of imagery and allusion in his "I Have a Dream" speech.

This lesson brings together digital mapping and the Chronicling America newspaper database as part of an inquiry into how and where the women’s suffrage movement took place in the United States. Primary source newspaper articles published between 1911-1920 and maps from 1918-1920 are used to prompt student research into how women organized, the type of elections that women could participate in, and the extent to which the 19th Amendment transformed voting rights in the U.S.