Lesson Plans

297 Result(s)
Grade Range
9-12
Lesson 1: FDR's Fireside Chats: The Power of Words

In this lesson, students gain a sense of the dramatic effect of FDR's voice on his audience, see the scope of what he was proposing in these first two "Fireside Chats," and make an overall analysis of why the series of speeches were so successful.

Grade Range
9-12
Lesson 2: The First Inaugural Address (1861)—Defending the American Union

Abraham Lincoln felt that the attempt of seven states to leave the American union peacefully was, in fact, a total violation of law and order. This lesson will examine Lincoln's First Inaugural Address to understand why he thought his duty as president required him to treat secession as an act of rebellion and not a legitimate legal or constitutional action by disgruntled states.

Grade Range
6-8
Couriers in the Inca Empire: Getting Your Message Across

Focusing on the means used by the Incas to send messages over long distances, the lesson introduces students to the Inca Empire, which extended from northern Ecuador to central Chile and from the Andes to the west coast of South America between 1200 and 1535 CE.

Grade Range
9-12
The Emancipation Proclamation: Freedom's First Steps

Why was the Emancipation Proclamation important? While the Civil War began as a war to restore the Union, not to end slavery, by 1862 President Abraham Lincoln came to believe that he could save the Union only by broadening the goals of the war. Students can explore the obstacles and alternatives America faced in making the journey toward "a more perfect Union."

Grade Range
9-12
American Utopia: The Architecture and History of the Suburb

In 1900, there were 16 million households in the United States; as of 2019, there are more than 126 million, an increase of nearly 700%. This inquiry-based lesson combines individual investigations of primary resources and visual media with group analysis to investigate the following inquiry: How is the architectural evolution of the American home related to broader themes of modern U.S. history, economics, and culture?

Grade Range
6-12
Women's Suffrage: Why the West First?

Students compile information to examine hypotheses explaining why the first nine states to grant full voting rights for women were located in the West.

Grade Range
9-12
Lesson 3: Themes in Lord of the Flies

Lesson 3 involves distinguishing between a literary topic and a literary theme. It articulates a variety of William Golding’s themes implicit in the novel Lord of the Flies" and has students recognize the dominant theme of human nature’s propensity for destruction.