Lesson Plan Reconstruction: Defining New Ways of Living 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this three-lesson unit.
Lesson Plan Rural America: The Westward Movement Geography 7, 8 Unit Objective This unit is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based teaching resources. These units were developed to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts of historical...
Lesson Plan Securing the Right to Vote: The Selma-to-Montgomery Story Government and Civics 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Essential Question What conditions created the need for a protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965, and what did that march achieve? Background Throughout American history, African Americans have struggled to gain...
Lesson Plan Singing for Freedom Literature 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Background In the early 1960s, Mississippi was the poorest state in the nation, with most non-white families living well below the poverty line. Although African Americans made up nearly half of the state's population, few were...
Lesson Plan Sports and Politics: Making Statements World History 3, 4, 5 Introduction In this lesson, elementary school students will debate whether or not prominent athletes should promote political and social issues. The debate will be informed by the activism of Muhammad Ali, who resisted the drafted...
Lesson Plan Survival in the American Wilderness: Fiction v. Nonfiction 7, 8 Unit Objective This unit is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based units. These units were developed to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts of historical significance....
Lesson Plan The Big Bang! The Birth of Rock and Roll Art, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Overview In the early 1950s, a new form of music exploded onto the scene, exciting a growing teenage audience while startling many others who preferred the music of Bing Crosby and Patti Page. Popularized by disc jockey Alan Freed in...
Lesson Plan The Civil Rights Movement: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X Government and Civics Click to download this three-lesson unit.
Lesson Plan The Conquest of Mexico: Past and Present Views World History 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Introduction The conquest of Tenochtitlan by Hernán Cortez in 1519 is one of the most well-known examples of encounters between Europeans and Americans prior to 1600. Some primary sources that document the event still exist, though...
Lesson Plan The Jungle Literature 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Overview The United States was transformed in the last decades of the nineteenth century by the industrial revolution. The rapid growth of cities, increase in immigration, expansion of a struggling working class, and concentration of...