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We have selected a few of our favorite lesson plans and posted them on this website. These lessons model ways to engage students in historical analysis, teach important content, and use sources that engage and excite young people. In all, we've tried to cover a breadth of historical topics, lesson types and grade levels.
From the start, we struggled with how to best select and evaluate these lessons plans. As every teacher knows, what works with one classroom may not work with another. Teaching is highly individualistic. Student ability, length of class, and community expectations vary tremendously from class to class and school to school.
Ultimately, we searched for lessons at well-respected websites. Each lesson that got our endorsement received three yes votes from our group of historians, experienced teachers, and education scholars. Given the multitude of lessons available online, it was hard to settle on favorites!
For each lesson, we conducted an in-house review using a Lesson Plan Rubric that reflects the latest research on teaching and learning history, the kinds of tasks historians actually do, and the wisdom of teachers' practical knowledge. Next, we sent the lessons to teachers to ask how they would use the lessons and what changes they would make to suit their classrooms.
Because we are presenting the lesson plans out-of-context of larger units, teachers will need to judge whether students need more background on a particular historical topic, concept or skill. No one lesson is perfect for every classroom. We urge teachers to adapt the material presented here according to their own interests and the needs of their individual classrooms.
American Presidents
This lesson asks students to critically analyze letters written by America's presidents to learn more about these men.
Lewis and Clark: Same Place, Different Perspectives
Students analyze short excerpts from primary sources and secondary information that describe an encounter between the Lewis and Clark expedition and a Native American tribe. They consider how varied locations influenced the ways in which the explorers and the various Native tribes interacted.
Opening Up the Textbook: Rosa Parks
This lesson allows teachers to introduce the textbook as one source among many, rather than the final work on historical events.
The Declaration of Independence: From Rough Draft to Proclamation
How did the final version of the Declaration differ from Jefferson’s draft?
Abraham Lincoln
This lesson leads students to see how Lincoln's home and life in Springfield influenced the way he thought about the important issues of the time.
Civil Rights and Incarceration: Lesson Four, The Incarceration Years
What were the consequences of Japanese American removal during World War II?
Three Perspectives on Native American Removal and the Removal of the Cherokees in Relation to Westward Expansion
Students study the arguments for and against the forced removal of the Cherokee peoples from their homeland in the 1830s.
The Debate in the United States over the League of Nations: Five Camps: From Voices of Consent to Voices of Dissent
Students read and listen to a range of political positions related to the proposed entry of the U.S. into the League of Nations following World War I.
Dwellings: The Message of Houses and Their Contents, 1780-1820
Examining changes in early American homes helps interpret the past.
Children's Letters to Mrs. Roosevelt
Engages students to analyze textual evidence about children’s lives in the 1930s.