Lesson Plans

198 Result(s)
Grade Range
9-12
Hammurabi's Code: What Does It Tell Us About Old Babylonia?

King Hammurabi ruled Babylon, located along the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, from 1792–1750 BCE however, today he is most famous for a series of judgments inscribed on a large stone stele and dubbed Hammurabi's Code. In this lesson students will learn about the contents of the Code, and what it tells us about life in Babylonia in the 18th century BCE.

Grade Range
K-5
Oh, Say, Can You See What the Star-Spangled Banner Means?

Using archival material, students will associate Francis Scott Key's Star Spangled Banner with historic events and recognize the sentiments those words inspired. Students will explore the symbolic nature of the American flag.

Lesson One. The Omnipotence of the Majority

In this lesson, students are introduced to Tocqueville’s argument about the “omnipotent” power of the majority in America and its consequences. After an initial statement that the “very essence” of democracy is majority rule, he contrasts the means by which state constitutions artificially increase the power of the majority with the U.S. Constitution, which checks that power.

Grade Range
9-12
Lesson 5: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Rise of Social Reform in the 1930s

This lesson asks students to explore the various roles that Eleanor Roosevelt a key figure in several of the most important social reform movements of the twentieth century took on, among them: First Lady, political activist for civil rights, newspaper columnist and author, and representative to the United Nations.

Grade Range
6-8
The Argument of the Declaration of Independence

Long before the first shot was fired, the American Revolution began as a series of written complaints to colonial governors and representatives in England over the rights of the colonists.

Grade Range
6-12
Lesson Two. The Tyranny of the Majority

In this lesson, students continue their examination of Tocqueville’s argument about the power of the majority and its consequences. Having suggested previously that the majority can crush a minority without even hearing its screams, he elaborates on the dangers of unchecked and unlimited power in democratic America and how to deal with it.

Grade Range
9-12
Edith Wharton: War Correspondent

Through reading chapters of Edith Wharton's book, "Fighting France, From Dunkerque to Belfort," students will see how an American correspondent recounted World War I for American readers.