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The 1828 Campaign of Andrew Jackson and the Growth of Party Politics 
Curriculum Unit overview. Changes in voting qualifications and participation, the election of Andrew Jackson, and the formation of the Democratic Party—due largely to the organizational skills of Martin Van Buren—all contributed to making the election of 1828 and Jackson’s presidency a watershed in the evolution of the American political system. In this unit, students analyze changes in voter participation and regional power, and review archival campaign documents reflecting the dawn of politics as we know it during the critical years from 1824 to 1832.


9-12 12/29/2003
300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae: Herodotus’ Real History 
Students may be familiar with this famous battle from its depiction in Zack Snyder's movie 300, based on Frank Miller's graphic novel. In this lesson students learn about the historical background to the battle and are asked to ponder some of its legacy, including how history is reported and interpreted from different perspectives.

9-12 5/31/2007
Abraham Lincoln on the American Union: “A Word Fitly Spoken”  We the People 
Curriculum unit. By examining Lincoln's three most famous speeches—the Gettysburg Address and the First and Second Inaugural Addresses—in addition to a little known fragment on the Constitution, union, and liberty, students trace what these documents say regarding the significance of union to the prospects for American self-government.


9-12 2/5/2008
Aesop and Ananse: Animal Fables and Trickster Tales  
Students will become familiar with fables and trickster tales from different cultural traditions and will see how stories change when transferred orally between generations and cultures.

K-2 4/17/2002
African-American Communities in the North Before the Civil War 
Fully one-third of Patriot soldiers at the Battle of Bunker Hill were African Americans. Census data also reveal that there were slaves and free Blacks living in the North in 1790 and after. What do we know about African-American communities in the North in the years after the American Revolution?

6-8 4/16/2003
African-American Soldiers After World War I: Had Race Relations Changed? 
In this lesson, students view archival photographs, combine their efforts to comb through a database of more than 2,000 archival newspaper accounts about race relations in the United States, and read newspaper articles written from different points of view about post-war riots in Chicago.

9-12 9/16/2003
African-American Soldiers in World War I: The 92nd and 93rd Divisions 
Late in 1917, the War Department created two all-black infantry divisions. The 93rd Infantry Division received unanimous praise for its performance in combat, fighting as part of France’s 4th Army. In this lesson, students combine their research in a variety of sources, including firsthand accounts, to develop a hypothesis evaluating contradictory statements about the performance of the 92nd Infantry Division in World War I.

9-12 9/16/2003
African-Americans and the New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps  We the People 
The Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal recovery and relief program provided more than a quarter of a million young black men with jobs during the Depression. By examining primary source documents students analyze the impact of this program on race relations in America and assess the role played by the New Deal in changing them.

9-12 2/29/2008
After the American Revolution: Free African Americans in the North 
About one-third of Patriot soldiers at the Battle of Bunker Hill were African Americans. Census data also reveal that there were slaves and free Blacks living in the North in 1790 and later years. What were the experiences of African-American individuals in the North in the years between the American Revolution and the Civil War?

6-8 4/16/2003
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Nonsense Poetry and Whimsy 
This unit explores elements of wonder, distortion, fantasy, and whimsy in Lewis Carroll's adaptation for younger readers of his beloved classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

K-2 4/11/2002
All Together Now: Collaborations in Poetry Writing 
When children hear, write and recite poetry, they understand more deeply the qualities of verse — the importance of sound, compactness, internal integrity, imagination, and line. Working collaboratively on poetry provides a safe structure for student creativity.

K-2 4/11/2002
Allegory in Painting  Picturing America 
This lesson plan introduces students to allegory in the visual arts through the works of a number of well-known artists, including Thomas Cole and Caravaggio.

9-12 6/23/2005
The Alphabet is Historic 
Curiculum Unit overview. The youngest and newest writers often have a deep interest in the origin of writing itself. These lessons will follow the history of our alphabet.


K-2 11/27/2003
American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s: Distant Cousins 
This lesson introduces students to American colonial life and has them compare the daily life and culture of two different colonies in the late 1700s. Students study artifacts of the thirteen original British colonies and write letters between fictitious cousins in Massachusetts and Delaware.

3-5 7/16/2002
American Diplomacy in World War II  We the People Ken Burn 
Curriculum unit overview. This four-lesson curriculum unit will examine the nature of what Winston Churchill called the "Grand Alliance" between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union in opposition to the aggression of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.


9-12 9/12/2006
American Literary Humor: Mark Twain, George Harris, and Nathaniel Hawthorne 
Curriculum unit overview. In this three-part curriculum unit, students examine structure and characterization in several short stories and consider the significance of humor through a study of several American writers.


9-12 10/25/2006
The American War for Independence  We the People 
Curriculum Unit overview. The decision of Britain's North American colonies to rebel against the Mother Country was an extremely risky one. In this unit, consisting of three lesson plans, students will learn about the diplomatic and military aspects of the American War for Independence.


9-12 6/8/2006
“An Expression of the American Mind”: Understanding the Declaration of Independence  We the People 
This lesson plan looks at the major ideas in the Declaration of Independence, their origins, the Americans’ key grievances against the King and Parliament, their assertion of sovereignty, and the Declaration’s process of revision. Upon completion of the lesson, students will be familiar with the document’s origins, and the influences that produced Jefferson’s “expression of the American mind.”

9-12 3/22/2007
Analyzing Poetic Devices: Robert Hayden's “Those Winter Sundays” and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” 
Students examine the relationship of poetic form and content, shaped by alliteration, consonance, repetition, and rhythm, in two poems about fatherhood: Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" and Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz."

9-12 6/27/2005
Angkor What? Angkor Wat! 
Beginning in the 9th century the Khmer empire, which was based in what is today northwestern Cambodia, began to gather power and territory in mainland Southeast Asia. It would grow to be one of the largest empires in Southeast Asian history. In this lesson, students will learn about Angkor Wat and its place in Cambodian, and Southeast Asian, history. Students will attempt to “read” the temple, in a way which resembles the reading of a primary document, to gain insight into this history.

6-8 12/7/2004
Animals of the Chinese Zodiac 
In this lesson plan, students will learn about the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. In the process, they will learn about Chinese culture, as well as improve reading, writing, and researching skills

K-2 5/29/2002
Animating Poetry: Reading Poems about the Natural World 
Centered on poems about the natural world, this lesson encourages students, first, to make the reading of poetry a creative act; and, second, to appreciate particular literary devices in their functions as semaphores or interpretive signals.

6-8 7/10/2008
Anishinabe - Ojibwe - Chippewa: Culture of an Indian Nation 
This lesson focuses on one American Indian Nation, the Anishinabe, also known as the Ojibwe, Ojibway, or Chippewa Indians. Students will learn how to conduct a research project on different historical, geographical, and cultural aspects of this Native American group.

3-5 4/1/2002
Anne Frank: One of Hundreds of Thousands 
Drawing upon the online archives of the U.S. Holocaust Museum, this lesson helps students to put the events described by Anne Frank into historical perspective, and also serves as a broad overview of the Nazi conquest of Europe during World War II. After surveying the experiences of various countries under Nazi occupation, the lesson ends with activities related specifically to the Netherlands and Anne Frank.

6-8 6/5/2002
Anne Frank: Writer 
This lesson concentrates on Anne Frank as a writer. After a look at Anne Frank the adolescent, and a consideration of how the experiences of growing up shaped her composition of the Diary, students explore some of the writing techniques Anne invented for herself and practice those techniques with material drawn from their own lives.

6-8 6/5/2002
Arabic Poetry: Guzzle a Ghazal! 
This lesson engages students in the reading and writing of the ghazal, a public, participatory poetic form created by the ancient Bedouins of Arabia and Persia. Students examine the structure of the ghazal, which continues as a poetic form in India, Iraq, and Iran, to derive a definition of this intricate form of word-play, and collaboratively compose their own group ghazals.

9-12 8/20/2002
Argument in an Athenian Jail: Socrates and the Law 
Debate the relationship between individual rights and the rule of law with a philosopher condemned to death.

9-12 4/11/2002
Australian Aboriginal Art and Storytelling 
Australian Aboriginal art is one of the oldest continuing art traditions in the world. Much of the most important knowledge of aboriginal society was conveyed through different kinds of storytelling.

3-5 9/27/2005
The Aztecs — Mighty Warriors of Mexico 
The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan was the hub of a rich civilization that dominated the region of modern-day Mexico at the time the Spanish forces arrived. In this lesson, students will learn about the history and culture of the Aztecs and discover why their civilization came to an abrupt end.

3-5 12/19/2002
Background on the Patriot Attitude Toward the Monarchy 
Understanding the Patriot attitude toward the British monarchy is helpful in understanding the Founders’ reluctance to have a strong executive under the Articles of Confederation as well as their desire to build in checks of executive power under the Constitution.

6-8 5/30/2003
Balancing Three Branches at Once: Our System of Checks and Balances  Constitution Day 
Learn about the checks and balances system of the three branches of the U.S. government.

3-5 2/11/2002
Beatrix Potter's Naughty Animal Tales 
Through studying Beatrix Potter's stories and illustrations from the early 1900s and learning about her childhood in Victorian England, students can compare/contrast these with their own world to understand why Potter wrote such simple stories and why she wrote about animals rather than people.

3-5 6/13/2002
The Beauty of Anglo-Saxon Poetry: A Prelude to Beowulf 
After encountering visually stunning examples of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and engaging with the literary conventions of Anglo-Saxon poetry, students will be prepared to study Beowulf. Dispelling stereotypes about the so-called “dark ages,” this lesson helps students learn about the production of early manuscripts and the conventions of Anglo-Saxon poetry, solve online riddles, and write riddles of their own.

9-12 7/15/2002
Before and Beyond the Constitution: What Should a President do?  Constitution Day 
In this curriculum unit, students look at the role of President as defined in the Constitution and consider the precedent-setting accomplishments of George Washington


6-8 10/10/2003
Before Brother Fought Brother: Life in the North and South 1847-1861 
Curriculum Unit overview. More Americans lost their lives in the Civil War than in any other conflict. How did the United States arrive at a point at which the South seceded and some families were so fractured that brother fought brother?


6-8 6/22/2003
Being in the Noh: An Introduction to Japanese Noh Plays 
Noh, the oldest surviving Japanese dramatic form, combines elements of dance, drama, music, and poetry into a highly stylized, aesthetic retelling of a well-known story from Japanese literature, such as The Tale of Genji or The Tale of the Heike. This lesson provides an introduction to the elements of Noh plays and to the text of two plays.

9-12 5/9/2005
Born on a Mountaintop? Davy Crockett, Tall Tales, and History 
Using the life of Davy Crockett as a model, students learn the characteristics of tall tales and how these stories reflect their historical moment. The lesson culminates with students writing a tall tale of their own.

3-5 4/10/2002
The Boston Tea Party: Costume Optional? 
By exploring historical accounts of events surrounding the Boston Tea Party, students learn about the sources and methods that historians use to reconstruct what happened in the past.

6-8 6/24/2002
Browning’s “My Last Duchess” and Dramatic Monologue 
Reading Robert Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess,” students will explore the use of dramatic monologue as a poetic form, where the speaker often reveals far more than intended.

9-12 5/16/2005
The Campaign of 1840: William Henry Harrison and Tyler, Too 
Curriculum Unit overview. After the debacle of the one-party presidential campaign of 1824, a new two-party system began to emerge. Strong public reaction to perceived corruption in the vote in the House of Representatives, as well as the popularity of Andrew Jackson, allowed Martin Van Buren to organize a Democratic Party that resurrected a Jeffersonian philosophy of minimalism in the federal government. What issues were important to the presidential campaign of 1840? Why is the campaign of 1840 often cited as the first modern campaign?


9-12 2/4/2004
Can You Haiku? 
Students learn the rules and conventions of haiku, study examples by Japanese masters, and create haiku of their own.

3-5 5/21/2002
Carl Sandburg’s “Chicago”: Bringing a Great City Alive 
In this lesson students examine primary documents including photographs, film, maps, and essays to learn about Chicago at the turn of the 20th century and make predictions about Carl Sandburg's famous poem. After examining the poem's use of personification and apostrophe, students write their own pieces about beloved places with Sandburg's poem as a model.

9-12 6/9/2006
Cave Art: Discovering Prehistoric Humans through Pictures 
By studying paintings from the Cave of Lascaux and other caves in France, students will discover that pictures can be a way of communicating beliefs and ideas and can give us clues today about what life was like long ago.

K-2 6/5/2002
Certain Crimes Against the United States: The Sedition Act  Freedom of Speech Week, October 17-23 
Curriculum Unit overview. As the end of the 18th century drew near, relations between the United States and France were deteriorating. In 1797 President Adams expressed his concern about the possibility of war with France and dissension at home caused by France and its supporters. At the same time, two opposing political parties were developing in the U.S., with Thomas Jefferson-led Democratic-Republicans tending to sympathize with France in foreign policy. Their loyalty was called into question by the Federalists. It was a dangerous time both for the security of the young Republic and the freedoms its citizens enjoyed.


9-12 12/19/2003
Charles Baudelaire: The Poet of Sickness and Evil 
French Language and World Literature classes will study the works of 19th century poet Charles Baudelaire and will learn about the connections between the Romantic Movement and themes of 21st century popular culture.

9-12 6/17/2002
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wall-paper”—The “New Woman”  
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story "The Yellow Wall-paper" was written during this time of great change. This lesson plan, the first part of a two-part lesson, helps to set the historical, social, cultural, and economic context of Gilman's story.

9-12 6/15/2004
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-paper”—Writing Women 
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story "The Yellow Wall-paper" was written during this time of great change. This lesson plan, the first part of a two-part lesson, helps to set the historical, social, cultural, and economic context of Gilman's story.

9-12 6/15/2004
Chaucer's Wife of Bath 
Look into the sources of the Wife’s sermon on women’s rights to learn how real women lived during the Middle Ages.

9-12 4/10/2002
Childhood Through the Looking-Glass 
Students explore Lewis Carroll’s imaginative visions of childhood, captured in his photography and in the words and art of his Alice in Wonderland stories. Students also compare and contrast Carroll’s Victorian view of childhood to that of Romantic poet and printer William Blake.

6-8 4/10/2002
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: Teaching Through the Novel 
This lesson introduces students to Achebe's first novel and to his views on the role of the writer in his or her society.

9-12 5/23/2002
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart: Oral and Literary Strategies  
Through close reading and textual analysis of Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe's 1958 novel about the British colonization of Nigeria, students learn how oral, linguistic, and literary strategies are used to present one’s own story and history through literature.

9-12 5/23/2002
Choosing Sides: The Native Americans' Role in the American Revolution  We the People 
Native American groups had to choose the loyalist or patriot cause—or somehow maintain a neutral stance during the Revolutionary War. Students will analyze maps, treaties, congressional records, first-hand accounts, and correspondence to determine the different roles assumed by Native Americans in the American Revolution and understand why the various groups formed the alliances they did.

9-12 2/28/2007
Cinderella Folk Tales: Variations in Character 
This lesson plan compares the main characteristics of the heroine in several versions of the Cinderella tale to help students understand connections between a story’s main character and the plot’s outcome.

3-5 8/20/2002
Cinderella Folk Tales: Variations in Plot and Setting 
This lesson plan compares the plot and setting characteristics of several versions of the Cinderella tale to teach students about universal and culturally specific literary elements.

3-5 8/20/2002
Colonial Broadsides and the American Revolution 
Drawing on the resources of the Library of Congress's Printed Ephemera Collection, this lesson helps students experience the news as the colonists heard it: by means of broadsides, notices written on disposable, single sheets of paper that addressed virtually every aspect of the American Revolution.

6-8 6/17/2002
Colonial Broadsides: A Student-Created Play 
In this lesson, student groups create a short, simple play based on their study of broadsides written just before the American Revolution. By analyzing the attitudes and political positions are revealed in the broadsides, students learn about the sequence of events that led to the Revolution

6-8 6/17/2002
Common Sense: The Rhetoric of Popular Democracy  We the People 
In 1776 Tom Paine, an obscure immigrant, published a small pamphlet that ignited independence in America by shifting the political landscape of the patriot movement from reform within the British imperial system to independence from it. This lesson looks at Paine and at some of the ideas presented in Common Sense, such as national unity, natural rights, the illegitimacy of the monarchy and of hereditary aristocracy, and the necessity for independence and the revolutionary struggle.

9-12 3/22/2007
Common Visions, Common Voices 
Trace similar motifs in the artwork and folklore of India, Africa, the Maya, and Native Americans.

9-12 4/10/2002
Competing Voices of the Civil Rights Movement  We the People 
When most people think of the Civil Rights Movement in America, they think of Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. But "the Movement" achieved its greatest results due to the competing strategies and agendas of diverse individuals. This unit presents the views of several important black leaders who shaped the debate over how to achieve freedom and equality in our nation.


9-12 6/4/2007
Congressional Committees and the Legislative Process 
Learn how committees influence the legislative agenda and why your representatives’ committee assignments matter to you.

9-12 4/10/2002
The Constitutional Convention of 1787  We the People Constitution Day 
The delegates at the 1787 Convention faced a challenge as arduous as those who worked throughout the 1780s to initiate reforms to the American political system. In this unit, students will examine the roles that key American founders played in creating the Constitution, and the challenges they faced in the process.


9-12 9/4/2007
The Constitutional Convention: Four Founding Fathers You May Never Have Met  Constitution Day 
Witness the unfolding drama of the Constitutional Convention and the contributions of those whom we have come to know as the Founding Fathers. In this lesson, students will become familiar with four important, but relatively unknown, contributors to the U.S. Constitution Convention: Oliver Ellsworth, Alexander Hamilton, William Paterson, and Edmund Randolph.

6-8 6/27/2002
The Constitutional Convention: What the Founding Fathers Said  Constitution Day 
To what shared principles did the Founding Fathers appeal as they struggled to reach a compromise in the Constitutional Convention? In this lesson, students will learn how the Founding Fathers debated then resolved their differences in the Constitution. Learn through their own words how the Founding Fathers created “a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise."

6-8 6/27/2002
Couriers in the Inca Empire: Getting Your Message Across 
Focusing on the means used by the Incas to send messages over long distances, this lesson plan illustrates one of the many creative ways throughout history that humans have devised to meet a universal need -- that of cross-country communication. 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 AD.

3-5 7/26/2002
Crane, London, and Literary Naturalism 
Heavily influenced by social and scientific theories, including those of Darwin, writers of naturalism described—usually from a detached or journalistic perspective—the influence of society and surroundings on the development of the individual. In the following lesson plan, students will learn the key characteristics that comprise American literary naturalism as they explore London's "To Build a Fire" and Crane's "The Open Boat."

9-12 11/3/2005
Critical Ways of Seeing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in Context 
By studying Mark Twain's novel, Huckleberry Finn, and its critics with a focus on cultural context, students will develop essential analytical tools for navigating this text and for exploring controversies that surround this quintessential American novel.

9-12 1/9/2003
Cultural Change 
See how the rhetoric of women’s rights evolved from the “Declaration of Sentiments” of 1848 to the suffragist arguments that finally prevailed.

9-12 4/10/2002
Death in Poetry: A.E. Housman’s “To an Athlete Dying Young” and Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”  
In this lesson, students analyze, compare, and contrast two famous but different poems about death. Students will study poetry form (elegy and villanelle) and poetic devices such as repetition and tone.

9-12 7/20/2006
The Debate in the United States over the League of Nations 
Curriculum Unit overview. American foreign policy continues to resonate with the issues surrounding the debate over U.S. entry into the League of Nations-collective security versus national sovereignty, idealism versus pragmatism, the responsibilities of powerful nations, the use of force to accomplish idealistic goals, the idea of America. Understanding the debate over the League and the consequences of its ultimate failure provides insight into international affairs in the years since the end of the Great War and beyond. In this lesson, students read the words and listen to the voices of some central participants in the debate over the League of Nations.


9-12 5/26/2003
Declare the Causes: The Declaration of Independence 
Help your students see the development of the Declaration as both an historical process and a writing process through the use of role play and creative writing.

3-5 4/10/2002
Dr. King's Dream 
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.

K-2 4/17/2002
Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's The Crucible 
By closely reading historical documents and attempting to interpret them, students consider how Arthur Miller interpreted the facts of the Salem witch trials and how he successfully dramatized them in his play, The Crucible. As they explore historical materials, such as the biographies of key players (the accused and the accusers) and transcripts of the Salem Witch trials themselves, students will be guided by aesthetic and dramatic concerns: In what ways do historical events lend themselves (or not) to dramatization? What makes a particular dramatization of history effective and memorable?

9-12 11/15/2002
Dust Bowl Days 
Students will be introduced to this dramatic era in our nation's history through photographs, songs and interviews with people who lived through the Dust Bowl.

3-5 4/11/2002
The Eagle Has Landed: Aztecs Find a Home 
This lesson introduces students to the Aztec Empire and people and to the legend of their founding of Tenochtitlan, the city that later became the capital of Mexico.

3-5 10/29/2002
Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the Unreliable Biographers 
We are naturally curious about the lives (and deaths) of authors, especially those, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce, who have left us with so many intriguing mysteries. But does biographical knowledge add to our understanding of their works? And if so, how do we distinguish between the accurate detail and the rumor, between truth and slander? In this lesson, students become literary sleuths, attempting to separate biographical reality from myth. They also become careful critics, taking a stand on whether extra-literary materials such as biographies and letters should influence the way readers understand a writer's texts.

9-12 11/27/2002
Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the Unreliable Narrator 
Help your students consider a variety of narrative stances in Edgar Allen Poe's short story, "Tell Tale Heart," and Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."

6-8 12/1/2002
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.

9-12 2/28/2008
Edward Hopper's House by the Railroad: From Painting to Poem  Picturing America 
After a close reading and comparison of Edward Hopper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem about the painting, students explore the types of emotion generated by each work in the viewer or reader and examine how the painter and poet each achieved these responses.

6-8 9/16/2008
Edward Lear, Limericks, and Nonsense: A Little Nonsense 
This lesson plan explores the characteristics of the nonsense poem as developed by British poet Edward Lear and focuses on Lear’s well-known poem “The Owl and the Pussy Cat.” Students learn to recognize poetic devices such as rhyme, syllabification, and meter, and figures of speech such as alliteration, onomatopoeia, and personification, by analyzing nonsense poems and writing one of their own.

3-5 7/12/2002
Edward Lear, Limericks, and Nonsense: There Once Was… 
This lesson plan explores the limerick form as developed by British poet Edward Lear. Students learn about the form of the limerick poem, practice finding the meter and rhyme schemes in various Lear limericks, and write their own limericks.

3-5 6/28/2002
Egypt’s Pyramids: Monuments with a Message 
This lesson introduces students to Egyptian pyramids and to artifacts and archaeology in general. Through a discussion of the size, scale, and purpose of pyramids, students learn how these structures tell audiences of today about the peoples of ancient Egypt. An extension lesson allows students to consider what messages modern monuments provide about present-day cultures.

3-5 8/7/2002
Egyptian Symbols and Figures: Hieroglyphs 
Students will examine the art and history of ancient Egypt through the oldest writing system in the world. This lesson teaches students how to understand and write Egyptian hieroglyphs.

K-2 3/25/2002
Egyptian Symbols and Figures: Scroll Paintings 
This lesson introduces students to Egyptian art, culture, and history through the ancient tomb paintings and mythological figures of the Book of the Dead.

K-2 3/25/2002
Eleanor Roosevelt and the Rise of Social Reform in the 1930s  We the People 
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.

9-12 3/3/2008
The Election Is in the House: The Presidential Election of 1824 
Curriculum Unit overview. The presidential election of 1824 represents a watershed in American politics. The collapse of the Federalist Party and the illness of the "official candidate" of the Democratic-Republicans led to a slate of candidates who were all Democratic-Republicans. This led to the end of the Congressional Caucus system for nominating candidates, and eventually, the development of a new two-party system in the United States. In this unit, students will read an account of the election from the Journal of the House of Representatives, analyze archival campaign materials, and use an interactive online activity to develop a better understanding of the election of 1824 and its significance.


9-12 2/24/2004
The Emancipation Proclamation: Freedom's First Steps 
(Formerly titled "Attitudes Toward Emancipation"). 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."

9-12 4/11/2002
The Emergence and Evolution of the Cuneiform Writing System in Ancient Mesopotamia 
The earliest writing systems evolved independently and at roughly the same time in Egypt and Mesopotamia, but current scholarship suggests that Mesopotamia’s writing appeared first. That writing system, invented by the Sumerians, emerged in Mesopotamia around 3500 BCE. This lesson plan is designed to help students appreciate the parallel development and increasing complexity of writing and civilization in Mesopotamia.

6-8 3/17/2005
Esperanza Rising: Learning Not to Be Afraid to Start Over  <em>We the People</em> Bookshelf 
In this lesson students will look behind the story at the historical, social, and cultural circumstances that help account for the great contrasts and contradictions that Esperanza experiences when she moves to California. The lesson also invites students to contemplate some of the changes Esperanza undergoes as she grows from a pampered child into a resourceful and responsible young woman.

6-8 8/6/2007
Eudora Welty's “A Worn Path” in Graphical Representation 
By rendering aspects of Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" into carefully considered graphical forms, students learn to appreciate elements of characterization, setting, and plot in a manner that engages them actively in the production of meaning.

6-8 5/20/2008
Evaluating Eyewitness Reports 
Practice working with primary documents by comparing accounts of the Chicago Fire and testing the credibility of a Civil War diary.

9-12 2/17/2003
Everything in its right place: An Introduction to Composition in Painting  Picturing America 
Curriculum Unit overview. Why is it that when we walk into a museum so many people gravitate towards the same images? In this curriculum unit students will be introduced to composition in the visual arts, including design principals, such as balance, symmetry, and repetition, as well as one of the formal elements: line.


9-12 6/16/2005
Exploring Arthurian Legend 
Trace the elements of myth and history in the world of the Round Table.
Date Revised: 06/22/06

9-12 6/22/2006
Eyewitness to History 
Explore connections between family history and the history of the world around us.

K-2 4/17/2002
Fables and Trickster Tales Around the World  
The following lesson introduces children to folk tales through a literary approach that emphasizes genre categories and definitions. In this unit, students will become familiar with fables and trickster tales from different cultural traditions and will see how stories change when transferred orally between generations and cultures.

3-5 4/17/2002
Fairy Tales Around the World 
In this lesson plan, students read and learn to understand fairy tales in order to recognize their universal literary structures and themes. They compare similar fairy tales from different cultural and geographic regions of the world to see over-arching plots featururing conflicts between good and evil and imagery and motifs that are repeated across many cultures and time periods.

K-2 6/5/2002
Families in Bondage 
Learn how slavery shattered family life through the pre-Civil War letters of those whose loved ones were taken away or left behind.

9-12 4/9/2002
Family and Friendship in Quilts 
The lessons in this unit are designed to help your students recognize how people of different cultures and time periods have used cloth-based art forms to pass down their traditions and history.

K-2 2/18/2002
Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying: Form of a Funeral 
Curriculum Unit overview. William Faulkner’s self-proclaimed masterpiece, As I Lay Dying, originally published in 1930, is a fascinating exploration of the many voices found in a Southern family and community. The following lesson examines the novel’s use of multiple voices in its narrative.


9-12 1/8/2004
FDR and the Lend-Lease Act  We the People 
This lesson shows students how broadly the Lend-Lease Act of March 1941 empowered the federal government—particularly the President—and asks students to investigate how FDR promoted the program in speeches and then in photographs.

9-12 2/29/2008
FDR's Fireside Chats: The Power of Words  We the People 
In this lesson which focuses on two of FDR's Fireside Chats, 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 initial speeches, and make an overall analysis of why the Fireside Chats were so successful.

9-12 2/29/2008
FDR: Fireside Chats, the New Deal, and Eleanor  We the People 
The 1930s were an era of profound change in America that especially affected the relationship between the American people and the federal government. It was in these tumultuous times that Franklin D. Roosevelt steered the country through economic perils and major social changes.

9-12 4/7/2008
The Federalist Debates: Balancing Power Between State and Federal Governments  Constitution Day 
This lesson focuses on the debates among the U.S. Founders surrounding the distribution of power between states and the federal government. Students learn about the pros and cons of state sovereignty vs. federalism and have the opportunity to argue different sides of the issue.

6-8 9/9/2002
The First Amendment: What's Fair in a Free Country?  Constitution Day Freedom of Speech Week, October 17-23 
After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to summarize the contents of the First Amendment and give an example of speech that is protected by the Constitution and speech that is not protected by the Constitution.

3-5 4/15/2002
The First American Party System: Events, Issues, and Positions 
Curriculum Unit overview. Fear of factionalism and political parties was deeply rooted in Anglo-American political culture before the American Revolution. Leaders such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson hoped their new government, founded on the Constitution, would be motivated instead by a common intent, a unity. But political parties did form in the United States, with their beginnings in Washington's cabinet.


9-12 4/7/2004
Flannery O'Connor's “A Good Man is Hard to Find”: Who's the Real Misfit? 
Known as both a Southern and a Catholic writer, Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) wrote stories that are hard to forget. In this lesson, students will explore these dichotomies—and challenge them—while closely reading and analyzing "A Good Man is Hard to Find."

9-12 4/1/2005
“Fly Girls”: Women Aviators in World War II  Ken Burn 
This lesson plan explores the contributions of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) during World War II, and their aviation legacy.

6-8 9/27/2007
Folklore in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God 
Learn how writer Zora Neale Hurston incorporated and transformed black folklife in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. By exploring Hurston’s own life history and collection methods, listening to her WPA recordings of folksongs and folktales, and comparing transcribed folk narrative texts with the plot and themes of the novel, students will learn about the crucial role of oral folklore in Hurston’s written work.

9-12 7/9/2002
Folktales and Ecology: Animals and Humans in Cooperation and Conflict 
The study of humans and animals in cooperation and conflict within folktales from different cultures lends itself to a simple lesson on ecology and endangered species to help students can make connections between the relationships between human beings and animals in folklore and the relationship between people and the environment in our world.

3-5 5/31/2002
Following the Great Wall of China 
The famous Great Wall of China, which was built to keep the China’s horse-riding neighbors at bay, extends more than 2,000 kilometers across China, from Heilongjiang province by Korea to China’s westernmost province of Xinjiang. This lesson will investigate the building of the Great Wall during the Ming Dynasty, and will utilize the story of the wall as a tool for introducing students to one period in the rich history of China.

6-8 1/21/2005
Freedom by the Fireside: The Legacy of FDR's “Four Freedoms” Speech 
One of the most famous political speeches on freedom in the twentieth century was delivered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his 1941 State of the Union message to Congress.This lesson examines some of the nuances and ambiguities inherent in the rhetorical use of "freedom." The objective is to encourage students to glimpse the broad range of hopes and aspirations that are expressed in the call of—and for—freedom.

6-8 7/28/2004
French and Family 
This unit on French language and culture focuses on the family and keeps the lessons simple and age-appropriate. Students will learn about French families and gain a preliminary knowledge of the French language, learning the French names for various family members.

K-2 4/17/2002
French Connections 
Take a virtual tour of Paris, create an English language guide to French Internet resources, and compare journalistic practices in the United States and France.

9-12 4/9/2002
From Courage to Freedom: Frederick Douglass's 1845 Autobiography 
Curriculum Unit overview. In 1845 Frederick Douglass published what was to be the first of his three autobiographies: the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. As the title suggests, Douglass wished not only to highlight the irony that a land founded on freedom would permit slavery to exist within its midst, but also to establish that he, an American slave with no formal education, was the sole author of the work.


9-12 10/1/2004
From the White House of Yesterday to the White House of Today 
In this curriculum unit, students take a close look at the design of the White House and some of the changes it has undergone. They also reflect on how the “President’s House” has been and continues to be used.


3-5 5/5/2003
Galileo and the Inevitability of Ideas 
Test the arguments on both sides in the case that shook the foundations of faith and science.

9-12 4/9/2002
George Washington: The Living Symbol 
Compare the leader who emerges through Washington’s own writings with the symbolic figure of patriotic memory.

9-12 4/12/2002
Go West: Imagining the Oregon Trail 
Students compare imagined travel experiences of their own with the actual experiences of 19th-century pioneers.

3-5 4/9/2002
The Great War: Evaluating the Treaty of Versailles 
Was the Treaty of Versailles, which formally concluded World War I, a legitimate attempt by the victorious powers to prevent further conflict, or did it place an unfair burden on Germany? This lesson helps students respond to the question in an informed manner. Activities involve primary sources, maps, and other supporting documents related to the peace process and its reception by the German public and German politicians.

9-12 8/30/2002
Hamlet and the Elizabethan Revenge Ethic in Text and Film 
Study Shakespeare's Hamlet in the context of Elizabethan attitudes toward revenge. The lesson includes activities in which students compare the text of Hamlet to the interpretations of several modern filmmakers.

9-12 6/21/2002
Hamlet Meets Chushingura: Traditions of the Revenge Tragedy 
This lesson sensitizes students to the similarities and differences between cultures by comparing Shakespearean and Bunraku/Kabuki dramas. The focus of this comparison is the complex nature of revenge explored in The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark and Chushingura, or the Treasury of the Loyal Retainers.

9-12 6/21/2002
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.

9-12 5/20/2005
Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales 
This lesson focuses on the works of Hans Christian Andersen and helps students understand the fairy tale genre through exploration and analysis of themes, plots, and characterizations in The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor’s New Clothes, and other tales.

3-5 8/16/2002
Haven’t I Seen You Somewhere Before? samsara and karma in the Jataka Tales 
Many English speakers are familiar with the Sanskrit word karma, which made its way into the language during the first half of the nineteenth century. It is often used in English to encapsulate the idea that "what goes around comes around." A more complete understanding of the word is brought to life in the stories known collectively as the Jataka Tales. This lesson will introduce students to the concepts of samsara and karma, as well as to the Jataka Tales.

9-12 9/13/2004
Having Fun: Leisure and Entertainment at the Turn of the Twentieth Century 
How did Americans "have fun" a century ago? In this lesson, students will learn how Americans spent their leisure time and explore new forms of entertainment that appeared at the turn of the century. In addition, they will learn how transportation and communication improvements made it possible for Americans to travel to new destinations.

6-8 6/10/2006
Hawthorne: Author and Narrator 
Compare the storyteller?s voice with that of the writer who was a contemporary of Whitman and Douglass.

9-12 4/9/2002
Helpful Animals and Compassionate Humans in Folklore 
Through examining several examples of tales from around the world that focus on the relationship between people and animals, students will learn about humans living in cooperation with the land and sea and with the beasts that inhabit them. This lesson plan addresses various helpful animal tale types, such as animal nurses who rear great heroes after they have been abandoned as infants, and beasts that lend supernatural aid to humans.

3-5 6/4/2002
History in Quilts 
The lessons in this unit are designed to help your students recognize how people of different cultures and time periods have used cloth-based art forms (quilts) to pass down their traditions and history.

3-5 4/17/2002
Holocaust and Resistance 
In this lesson, students reflect on the Holocaust from the point of view of those who actively resisted Nazi persecution. Weigh the choices faced by those for whom resistance seemed both futile and the essence of survival.

9-12 4/9/2002
Horse of a Different Color: An Introduction to Color in the Visual Arts  Picturing America 
Curriculum Unit overview. Color has a tremendous effect on the way in which we perceive the tone, the story, or the message of art works. In this curriculum unit students will be introduced to the importance and effect of color in the visual arts.


9-12 6/22/2005
A House Dividing: The Growing Crisis of Sectionalism in Antebellum America  We the People 
Curriculum Unit overview. In this unit, students will trace the development of sectionalism in the United States as it was driven by the growing dependence upon, and defense of, black slavery in the southern states.


9-12 11/2/2005
I Do Solemnly Swear: Presidential Inaugurations 
Students reflect on what the presidential inauguration has become and what it has been by examining archival materials.

3-5 4/17/2002
I Hear the Locomotives: The Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad 
Students analyze archival material such as photos, documents, and posters, to understand the phenomenon of the Transcontinental Railroad.

3-5 5/21/2002
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Someone a Letter 
Using EDSITEment's vast online resources, you and your students read the correspondence of the famous, the infamous, and the ordinary and use these letters as a starting point for discussion of and practice in the conventions and purposes of letter writing.

3-5 4/11/2002
I've Just Seen a Face: Portraits  Picturing America 
Students learn to analyze a variety of portraits, both literary and visual.

3-5 4/9/2002
If You Were a Pioneer on the Oregon Trail 
As a class, students create an imagined travel experience and then compare it with the actual experiences of 19th-century pioneers.

K-2 4/12/2002
Images at War 
Explore American attitudes toward conflict through Civil War photographs and World War II poster art.

9-12 4/9/2002
Images of the New World  We the People 
How did the English picture the native peoples of America during the early phases of colonization of North America? This lesson plan will enable students to interact with written and visual accounts of this critical formative period at the end of the 16th century, when the English view of the New World was being formulated, with consequences that we are still seeing today.

9-12 2/8/2007
The Impact of a Poem's Line Breaks: Enjambment and Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” 
Students will learn about the impact of enjambment in Gwendolyn Brooks' short but far-reaching poem "We Real Cool." One element of this lesson plan that is bound to draw students in is this compelling video of working-class Bostonian John Ulrich reciting the poem (scroll down that web page to and click on the John Ulrich thumbnail).

9-12 8/18/2005
In My Other Life 
Find out what it might feel like to grow up in an Asian, African, or Latin American country.

6-8 4/9/2002
In Old Pompeii 
Take a virtual field trip to the ruins of Pompeii to learn about everyday life in Roman times.

9-12 11/12/2008
The Industrial Age in America: Robber Barons and Captains of Industry 
How shall we judge the contributions to American society of the great financiers and industrialists at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries? In this lesson, students explore a variety of primary historical sources to uncover some of the less honorable deeds as well as the shrewd business moves and highly charitable acts of the great industrialists and financiers, men such as Andrew Carnegie, J. Pierpont Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt.

6-8 10/2/2002
The Industrial Age in America: Sweatshops, Steel Mills, and Factories 
About a century has passed since the events at the center of this lesson-the Haymarket Affair, the Homestead Strike, and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. In this lesson, students use primary historical sources to explore some of the questions raised by these events, questions that continue to be relevant in debates about American society: Where do we draw the line between acceptable business practices and unacceptable working conditions? Can an industrial-and indeed a post-industrial-economy succeed without taking advantage of those who do the work?

6-8 10/2/2002
Introducing Jane Eyre: An Unlikely Victorian Heroine 
Through their interpretation of primary documents that reflect Victorian ideals, students can learn the cultural expectations for and limitations placed on Victorian women and then contemplate the writer Charlotte Brontë's position in that context. Then, through an examination of the opening chapters of Jane Eyre, students will evaluate Jane's status as an unconventional Victorian heroine.

9-12 3/13/2006
Introducing Metaphors Through Poetry 
Metaphors are used often in literature, appearing in every genre from poetry to prose and from essays to epics. This lesson introduces students to the use of metaphor through the poetry of Langston Hughes, Margaret Atwood, and others.

9-12 12/1/2004
Introducing the Essay: Twain, Douglass, and American Non-Fiction 
The essay is perhaps one of the most flexible genres: long or short, personal or analytical, exploring the extraordinary and the mundane. American essayists examine the political, the historical, and the literary; they investigate what it means to be an "American," ponder the means of creating independent and free citizens, discuss the nature of American literary form, and debate the place of religion in American society.

9-12 10/6/2004
Introduction to Modernist Poetry 
Curriculum Unit overview. Modernist poetry often is difficult for students to analyze and understand. A primary reason students feel a bit disoriented when reading a modernist poem is that the speaker himself is uncertain about his or her own ontological bearings. The rise of cities; profound technological changes in transportation, architecture, and engineering; a rising population that engendered crowds and chaos in public spaces; and a growing sense of mass markets often made individuals feel less individual and more alienated, fragmented, and at a loss in their daily worlds.


9-12 1/14/2005
An Introduction to the Relationship Between Composition and Content in the Visual Arts  Picturing America 
How do artists create a story that provides a message or provokes emotions in that single frame? This lesson will help students analyze ways in which the composition of a painting contributes to telling the story or conveying the message through the placement of objects and images within the painting.

9-12 6/30/2005
It Came From Greek Mythology 
Enliven your students' encounter with Greek mythology, to deepen their understanding of what myths meant to the ancient Greeks, and to help them appreciate the meanings that Greek myths have for us today.

3-5 2/4/2002
Jack London's The Call of the Wild: “Nature Faker”? 
A critic of writer Jack London called his animal protagonists “men in fur,” suggesting that his literary creations flaunted the facts of natural history. London responded to such criticism by maintaining that his own creations were based on sound science and in fact represented “…a protest against the ‘humanizing’ of animals, of which it seemed to me several ‘animal writers’ had been profoundly guilty.” How well does London succeed in avoiding such “humanizing” in his portrayal of Buck, the hero of his novel, The Call of the Wild?

6-8 10/23/2002
James Madison: From Father of the Constitution to President  Constitution Day 
Curriculum Unit overview. Even in its first 30 years of existence, the U.S. Constitution had to prove its durability and flexibility in a variety of disputes. More often than not, James Madison, the "Father of the Constitution," took part in the discussion.


9-12 4/2/2004
Jamestown Changes 
Students study census data showing the names and occupations of early settlers of the English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. (Archaeology, U.S. Colonial History)

3-5 4/17/2002
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: The Novel as Historical Source 
Jane Austen's classic novel offers insights into life in early nineteenth-century England. This lesson, focusing on class and the status of women, teaches students how to use a work of fiction as a primary source in the study of history.

9-12 4/22/2008
Japanese Poetry: Tanka? You're Welcome! 
This unit on the Japanese poetic form tanka encourages students to explore the structure and content of the form and to arrive at a definition of the tanka’s structure in English. Students will read and analyze the tanka form and compare it to English structures of poetry, and will finally compose their own tankas.

9-12 6/27/2002
Jazz and World War II: A Rally to Resistance, A Catalyst for Victory  Ken Burn 
Learn about the effects that the Second World War had on jazz music as well as the contributions that jazz musicians made to the war effort. This lesson will help students explore the role of jazz in American society and the ways that jazz functioned as an export of American culture and a means of resistance to the Nazis.

9-12 6/24/2002
Jefferson vs. Franklin: Renaissance Men 
Students examine primary sources in order to compare the intellectual achievements of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. The lesson serves as an introduction to the complementary EDSITEment lesson, Jefferson vs. Franklin: Revolutionary Philosophers.

6-8 7/19/2002
Jefferson vs. Franklin: Revolutionary Philosophers  Constitution Day 
Explore the philosophical contributions that Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson made to the movement for American independence. The lesson introduces students to some of the important precursor documents, such as Franklin's Albany Plan of 1754 and Jefferson's Draft of the Virginia Constitution, that led to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

6-8 7/19/2002
Kate Chopin's The Awakening: No Choice but Under? 
In this curriculum unit, students will explore how Chopin stages the possible roles for women in Edna's time and culture through the examples of other characters in the novella.


9-12 11/9/2006
Kennewick Man: Science and Sacred Rights 
Explore the controversy sparked by the discovery of a prehistoric skeleton.

9-12 4/8/2002
Knowledge or Instinct? Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” 
As a man and his animal companion take a less-traveled path to their Yukon camp, they step into a tale of wilderness survival and dire circumstances in this excellent example of American literary naturalism by Jack London.

9-12 7/6/2005
La Familia 
This unit on Spanish language and culture focuses on the family and keeps the lessons simple and age-appropriate. Students will learn about Spanish families and gain a preliminary knowledge of the Spanish language, learning the Spanish names for various family members.

K-2 4/11/2002
La Vie en Cave! 
In this French language lesson, elementary-school students learn about the ways that early humans communicated through art by exploring cave paintings of France and creating their own wall artwork.

3-5 8/12/2002
A Landmark Lesson: The United States Capitol Building 
Presented with a variety of archival documents, your students can answer that question: What makes the Capitol symbolic? Working in small groups, the students will uncover and share the Capitol's story.

3-5 4/11/2002
The Language Bank 
Students practice reading, listening to, and writing in a foreign language by making Internet excursions to foreign language web sites.

9-12 4/12/2002
“Leap, plashless”: Emily Dickinson & Poetic Imagination 
Emily Dickinson's poetry often reveals a child-like fascination with the natural world. She writes perceptively of butterflies, birds, and bats and uses lucid metaphors to describe the sky and the sea.

3-5 12/8/2004
Learning the Blues 
Take a virtual field trip to Memphis, Tennessee, and explore the history of the blues.

9-12 2/18/2002
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 
Students explore the artistry that helped make Washington Irving our nation's first literary master and ponder the mystery that now haunts every Halloween--What happened to Ichabod Crane?

6-8 5/21/2002
Leonardo da Vinci: Creative Genius 
Leonardo da Vinci—one of history’s most imaginative geniuses—was certainly born at the right time and in the right place. In this lesson plan, the students will explore Leonardo da Vinci and the age in which he lived and consider the meaning of the Greek quotation, “Man is the measure of all things” and why it particularly applies to the Renaissance and to Leonardo.

6-8 3/30/2005
Lessons of the Indian Epics: Following the Dharma 
The epic poem the Ramayana is thought to have been composed more than 2500 years ago, and like the Iliad and the Odyssey, was originally transmitted orally by bards. This lesson will introduce students to the Indian concept of dharma through a reading of the epic, The Ramayana.

9-12 11/2/2004
Lessons of the Indian Epics: The Ramayana 
The Ramayana (ram-EYE-ya-na) and the Mahabharata (ma-ha-BA-ra-ta), the great Indian epics, are among the most important works of literature in South Asia. Both contain important lessons on wisdom, behavior and morality, and have been used for centuries not only as entertainment, but also as a way of instructing both children and adults in the exemplary behavior toward which they are urged to strive and the immoral behavior they are urged to shun. In this lesson students will be introduced to the story of Rama and his bride, Sita.

9-12 12/1/2004
Lessons of the Indian Epics: The Ramayana: Showing your Dharma 
The story of the Ramayana has been passed from generation to generation by numerous methods and media. Initially it was passed on orally as an epic poem that was sung to audiences by a bard, as it continues to be today.

9-12 10/20/2004
Let Freedom Ring: The Life & Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. 
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.

3-5 4/8/2002
Letters from Emily Dickinson: 'Will you be my preceptor?' 
Curriculum Unit overview. Long perceived as a recluse who wrote purely in isolation, Emily Dickinson in reality maintained many dynamic correspondences throughout her lifetime and specifically sought out dialogues on her poetry. These correspondences—both professional and private—reveal a poet keenly aware of the interdependent relationship between poet and reader.


9-12 4/6/2004
Life in Old Babylonia: The Importance of Trade 
Trade was critical to Old Babylonia, where many highly prized natural resources were scarce but agricultural goods were in surplus. A vibrant trading system developed, bringing manufactured goods and raw materials from as far as Turkey, and even India, 1500 miles away. Trade became integral to the economy and the culture. In this lesson, students explore the trade industry in Old Babylonia and its far-flung influence.

6-8 6/23/2005
Life in the Floating World: Ukiyo-e Prints and the Rise of the Merchant Class in Edo Period Japan 
The Edo Period (1603-1868) in Japan was a time of great change. The merchant class was growing in size, wealth, and power, and artists and craftsmen mobilized to answer the demands and desires of this growing segment of society. Perhaps the most well known art form that gained popularity during this period was the woodblock print, which is often referred to as ukiyo-e prints. In this lesson students will learn about life in Japan during the Edo period through an investigation of ukiyo-e prints.

9-12 1/19/2005
Life on the Great Plains 
Examine the history and geography of a region that has been at the heart of the American experience.

9-12 4/8/2002
Like Father, Like Son: Presidential Families 
The lessons in this unit provide an opportunity for students to learn about and discuss two U.S. families in which both the father and son became President.

K-2 4/8/2002
Lincoln Goes to War 
Relive the decisions that led to the attack on Fort Sumter to determine whether Lincoln aimed to preserve peace or provoke the hostilities that led to the Civil War.

9-12 4/8/2002
Lions, Dragons, and Nian: Animals of the Chinese New Year 
In this lesson, the students study the differences between eastern and western dragons and discover why the eastern dragons are associated with the Chinese New Year. They learn about the dragon dancers and lion dancers in the New Years parade and discover that firecrackers are set off to drive off evil spirits, particularly one called Nian.

K-2 4/17/2002
Listening to History 
This lesson plan is designed to help students tap oral history by conducting interviews with family members.

6-8 4/11/2002
Listening to Poetry: Sounds of the Sonnet 
While teaching some of the formal terms used to describe sonnets will be one of the aims of this lesson, our starting point and central focus throughout will be learning to appreciate the sounds of poetry.

9-12 3/21/2002
Live from Ancient Olympia! 
This exhibit includes sections on the cultural and historical context of the Games.

6-8 2/4/2002
Live From Antiquity! 
Return to ancient Athens for the world premier of Antigone. This is the revised and updated version of the lesson plan.

9-12 7/13/2006
Lost Hero: Who Was Really Our First President? 
In this curriculum unit, students look at the role of President as defined in the Articles of Confederation and consider the precedent-setting accomplishments of John Hanson, the first full-term “President of the United States in Congress Assembled.”


6-8 4/29/2003
The Magical World of Russian Fairy Tales 
Many children are familiar with Snow White's evil stepmother and her poisonous apple, Cinderella's fairy godmother, and the witch in the gingerbread house waiting to eat Hansel and Gretel for dinner. But have they met Baba Yaga, the old crone who is both wise and cruel, who lives in a house standing on chicken legs, and whose servants bring with them the day, sunset and the night? Baba Yaga, the iconic witch of Slavic fairy tales, is one of the characters students will meet in this journey through Russian fairy tales.

3-5 9/29/2004
Magna Carta: Cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution 
Magna Carta served to lay the foundation for the evolution of parliamentary government and subsequent declarations of rights in Great Britain and the United States. In attempting to establish checks on the king's powers, this document asserted the right of "due process" of law.

9-12 6/22/2007
Mapping Colonial New England: Looking at the Landscape of New England  We the People 
The lesson focuses on two 17th century maps of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to trace how the Puritans took possession of the region, built towns, and established families on the land. Students will learn how these New England settlers interacted with the Native Americans, and how to gain information about those relationships from primary sources such as maps.

9-12 2/20/2007
Mapping Our Worlds 
Students explore the world of maps and learn how to view the world around them in a two-dimensional format.

K-2 4/15/2002
Mapping the Past 
Find out what ancient maps can tell us about the aspirations of those who made them.

6-8 4/17/2002
Marco Polo Takes A Trip 
During the Middle Ages, most people in Europe spent their entire lives in the village where they were born. But in the 13th century, a young Italian named Marco Polo traveled all the way to China! In this lesson, students will learn about the remarkable travels of Marco Polo.

K-2 4/16/2003
Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Power of Nonviolence 
Students learn about Martin Luther King, Jr.'s philosophy of nonviolence and the teachings of Mohandas K. Gandhi that influenced King's views.

6-8 4/15/2002
Martin Puryear’s Ladder for Booker T. Washington  Picturing America 
Students examine Martin Puryear’s Ladder for Booker T. Washington and consider how the title of Puryear’s sculpture is reflected in the meanings we can draw from it. They learn about Booker T. Washington’s life and legacy, and through Puryear's ladder, students explore the African American experience from Booker T.'s perspective and apply their knowledge to other groups in U.S. History. They also gain understanding on how a ladder can be a metaphor for a person’s and a group’s progress toward goals.

9-12 12/31/2008
The Meaning Behind the Mask 
Students explore the cultural significance of masks, discuss the use of masks in stories, and then investigate the role masks play in ceremonies and on special occasions in various African cultures.

K-2 4/12/2002
Metaphorical Gold: Mining the Gold Rush for Stories 
Explore the Alaskan Gold Rush by "mining" EDSITEment resources for primary texts and period photographs. Just as writer Jack London discovered "metaphorical gold" in the Yukon, students can search several online databases for period details that will enhance their own narratives based on the Gold Rush era.

6-8 10/10/2002
Mexican Culture and History through Its National Holidays 
In this lesson students will study four popular Mexican holidays and examine images to see how these particular celebrations represent Mexico's colorful history.

6-8 8/24/2007
Midnight Ride of Paul Revere—Fact, Fiction, and Artistic License  Picturing America 
An interdisciplinary lesson focusing on Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. While many students know this historical event, this lesson allows them to explore the true story of Paul Revere and his journey through primary source readings as well as to compare artist Grant Wood's and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's interpretations of it.

9-12 10/7/2008
Mission Nuestra Señora de la Concepción and the Spanish Mission in the New World  Picturing America 
In this Picturing America lesson, students explore the historical origins and organization of the Spanish missions in the New World, and discover the varied purposes these communities of faith served.

6-8 8/26/2008
The Monroe Doctrine: Origin and Early American Foreign Policy 
Curriculum Unit overview. Monroe brought a vision of an expanded America to his presidency—a vision that helped facilitate the formulation of what has become known as the Monroe Doctrine. In this unit, students will review the Monroe Doctrine against a background of United States foreign relations in the early years of the republic.


9-12 6/28/2004
Morality “Tails” East and West: European Fables and Buddhist Jataka Tales 
Fables, such as those attributed to Aesop, are short narratives populated by animals who behave like humans, and which convey lessons to the listener. Jataka Tales are often short narratives which tell the stories of the lives of the Buddha before he reached Enlightenment. In this lesson students will be introduced to both Aesop’s fables and to a few of the Jataka Tales, and through these stories will gain an understanding of one genre of storytelling: morality tales.

3-5 9/20/2004
More Amazing Americans: A WebQuest 
Through a series of interactive lessons, guided by a WebQuest, students learn about many amazing Americans. Ulimately, students get to nominate and highlight their own amazing Americans.

3-5 5/21/2002
More than a Metaphor: Allegory and the Art of Persuasion 
Allegories are similar to metaphors: in both the author uses one subject to represent another, seemingly unrelated, subject. However, unlike metaphors, an allegory extends its representation over the course of an entire story, novel, or poem. This lesson plan will introduce students to the concept of allegory by using George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

9-12 1/7/2005
Music from Across America 
Students listen to a variety of popular, traditional, and ethnic American music, from the evocative sounds of Native American drumming to the lively sounds of zydeco music from Louisiana.

3-5 4/17/2002
My Piece of History 
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.

K-2 4/17/2002
Native American Cultures Across the U.S. 
This lesson discusses the differences between common representations of Native Americans within the U.S. and a more differentiated view of historical and contemporary cultures of five American Indian tribes living in different geographical areas. Students will learn about customs and traditions such as housing, agriculture, and ceremonial dress for the Tlingit, Dinè, Lakota, Muscogee, and Iroquois peoples.

K-2 4/12/2002
Nature and Culture Detectives: Investigating Jack London's White Fang 
In White Fang, Jack London sought to trace the “development of domesticity, faithfulness, love, morality, and all the amenities and virtues.” In this lesson, students explore images from the Klondike and read White Fang closely to learn how to define and differentiate the terms “nature” and “culture."

6-8 1/24/2007
Norman Rockwell, Freedom of Speech—Know It When You See It  Picturing America 
This lesson plan highlights the importance of First Amendment rights by examining Norman Rockwell’s painting of The Four Freedoms. Students discover the First Amendment in action as they explore their own community and country through newspapers, art, and role playing.

9-12 1/7/2009
Not Everyone Lived in Castles During the Middle Ages 
In this lesson, students will learn about the lifestyle of the wealthy elite and then expand their view of medieval society by exploring the lives of the peasants, craftsmen, and monks.

3-5 1/15/2003
Not 'Indians,' Many Tribes: Native American Diversity 
Students study the interaction between environment and culture as they learn about three vastly different Native groups in a game-like activity that uses vintage photographs, traditional stories, photos of artifacts, and recipes.

3-5 5/24/2002
Not Only Paul Revere: Other Riders of the American Revolution 
While Paul Revere's ride is the most famous event of its kind in American history, other Americans made similar rides during the Revolutionary period. After learning about some less well known but no less colorful rides that occurred in other locations, students gather evidence to support an argument about why at least one of these "other riders" does or does not deserve to be better known.

6-8 5/21/2002
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.

3-5 4/11/2002
The Olympic Medal: It's All Greek to Us! 
This lesson plan uses an EDSITEment-created Greek alphabet animation to help students "decode" the inscription on the Olympic medal. Because the Olympic medal is both a familiar and mysterious object for students, it presents an ideal prompt to build basic literacy in the Greek alphabet. Thus, this lesson uses the Athens 2004 medal inscription as an elementary "text" to help students practice reading Greek and to help reinforce the link between ancient Greek culture and the Olympic games.

3-5 8/3/2004
On the Home Front  Ken Burn 
Learning about World War II American efforts helps students gain some perspective regarding the U.S. response to the conflict generated by the September 11th terrorist attacks.

3-5 2/4/2002
On the Oregon Trail 
Work with primary documents and latter-day photographs to recapture the experience of traveling on the Oregon Trail.

6-8 5/21/2002
On the Road with Marco Polo 
In this curriculum unit, students will become Marco Polo adventurers, following his route to and from China in order to learn about the geography, local products, culture, and fascinating sites of those regions.


3-5 7/31/2003
On This Day With Lewis and Clark 
Looking at historic maps of the West, students can begin to appreciate the immensity and mystery of the mission Lewis and Clark accepted.

6-8 4/17/2002
Ordinary People, Ordinary Places: The Civil Rights Movement 
By researching these "ordinary" people and the now historic places where they brought about change, students will discover how the simple act of sitting at a lunch counter in North Carolina could be considered revolutionary, and how, combined with countless other acts of nonviolent protest across the nation, it could lead to major legislation in the area of civil rights for African Americans.

9-12 5/21/2002
The Origins of the Cold War, 1945-1949  We the People 
Curriculum unit overview. Since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Soviet leaders had been claiming that communism and capitalism could never peacefully coexist. Agreements regarding the postwar world were reached at Yalta and Potsdam, but the Soviets wasted no time in violating them. Harry Truman believed that the proper means of responding to an international bully was a credible threat of force.


9-12 6/19/2006
Other Worlds: The Voyage of Columbus 
Meet the people whose encounter with Columbus led to the creation of a New World.

9-12 4/12/2002
The Panic of 1837 and the Presidency of Martin Van Buren 
President Martin Van Buren inherited “the severe downturn in the American economy that began in 1836.” In this lesson, students will analyze period political cartoons as they study the causes of the economic downturn, Van Buren’s response as president, and the reaction to his measures.

9-12 12/24/2004
The Path of the Black Death 
The Black Death cut a path—both literal and figurative—through the middle of the 14th Century. In this lesson, students analyze maps, firsthand accounts, and archival documents to trace the path and aftermath of the Black Death.

9-12 3/16/2006
Pearl S. Buck: “On Discovering America” 
American author Pearl S. Buck spent most of her life in China. She returned to America in 1934, "an immigrant among immigrants…in my native land." In this lesson, students will explore American attitudes toward immigration in the 1930s through Pearl S. Buck's essay, "On Discovering America." They will explore the meaning of the term "American" in this context and look at how the media portrayed immigrants.

9-12 6/14/2007
Personal or Social Tragedy? A Close Reading of Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome 
Students practice strategies of "close reading" in order to understand Edith Wharton's gripping tragedy about an unhappy marriage set against the stark backdrop of rural New England.

9-12 3/1/2007
Perspective on the Slave Narrative 
Trace the elements of history, literature, polemic, and autobiography in the 1847 Narrative of William W. Brown, An American Slave. This Lesson Plan was revised 01/19/2006

9-12 4/12/2002
Pictures in Words: Poems of Tennyson and Noyes 
Striking examples of poetic "pictures"-not just vivid images but the entire mental picture conjured up by a poet-are to be found in "The Charge of the Light Brigade," by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and "The Highwayman," by Alfred Noyes. As they explore the means by which Tennyson and Noyes create these compelling pictures in words, students will also learn the critical terminology to analyze and describe a variety of poetic techniques and will have an opportunity to create their own pictures in words.

6-8 9/9/2002
Picturing First Families 
Students gain an understanding of the significant role the First Family plays in representing the nation.

K-2 4/17/2002
Pioneer Values in Willa Cather's My Antonia 
Students learn about the social and historical context of Willa Cather’s My Antonia and work in groups to explore Cather's commentary on fortitude, hard work, faithfulness, and other values that we associate with pioneer life

9-12 11/27/2002
Play with Words: Rhyme & Verse 
Poetry provides us with a rich vehicle for helping children explore how language sounds and works. Students will use their senses to experience poetry

K-2 5/21/2002
Poems that Tell a Story: Narrative and Persona in the Poetry of Robert Frost 
Behind many of the apparently simple stories of Robert Frost's poems are unexpected questions and mysteries. In this lesson, students anaylize what speakers include or omit from their narrative accounts, make inferences about speakers' motivations, and find evidence for their inferences in the words of the poem.

6-8 5/31/2002
The Poet's Voice: Langston Hughes and You 
Poets achieve popular acclaim only when they express clear and widely shared emotions with a forceful, distinctive, and memorable voice. But what is meant by voice in poetry, and what qualities have made the voice of Langston Hughes a favorite for so many people?

6-8 4/1/2002
Poetry of The Great War: 'From Darkness to Light'? 
The historian and literary critic Paul Fussell has noted in The Great War and Modern Memory that, "Dawn has never recovered from what the Great War did to it." With dawn as a common symbol in poetry, it is no wonder that, like a new understanding of dawn itself, a comprehensive body of "World War I Poetry" emerged from the trenches as well.

9-12 11/16/2004
“Police Action”: The Korean War, 1950-1953  We the People 
In 1950, North Korean forces, armed mainly with Soviet weapons, invaded South Korea in an effort to reunite the peninsula under communist rule. This lesson will introduce students to the conflict by having them read the most important administration documents related to it.

9-12 6/19/2006
Portrait of a Hero 
Heroes abound throughout history and in our everyday lives. After completing the activities, students will be able to understand the meaning of the words hero and heroic.

K-2 4/8/2002
Portraits, Pears, and Perfect Landscapes: Investigating Genre in the Visual Arts 
This lesson plan will help students to understand and differentiate the various genres in the visual arts, particularly in Western painting. Students will learn to identify major genres, and will learn to discriminate between a painting’s subject and its genre.

9-12 1/6/2005
Practical Criticism 
Conduct an experiment in literary interpretation with little-known specimens of Victorian verse.

9-12 4/12/2002
The Preamble to the Constitution: How Do You Make a More Perfect Union?   Constitution Day Freedom of Speech Week, October 17-23 
Students will learn how the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution was shaped by historical events and how it reflected the fundamental values and principles of a newly independent nation.

3-5 10/3/2006
Preparing for Poetry: A Reader's First Steps 
Students are often gleeful to discover that their reading homework involves only a few short poems. Yet the attentive student realizes that carefully reading a poem involves as much work as reading a short story, article, or passage from a novel. This EDSITEment lesson teaches students how to read a poem so that they are prepared, rather than simply present, for class discussion.

9-12 6/10/2005
President Madison's 1812 War Message 
Curriculum Unit overview. A crisis over U.S. shipping rights actually began while George Washington was president and grew during Thomas Jefferson's term in office (1800-1808), when Madison served as Secretary of State. Between 1805-07, a large number of American ships were seized and impressments of American sailors into service on British ships increased, leading Congress to pass an extreme measure, the Embargo Act of 1807. The act restricted trade with foreign nations (Napoleon's France was also interfering with American shipping during its long conflict with the British). A state of war then began in 1803 and would continue until after Napoleon's abdication in 1814.


9-12 5/3/2004
The President's Roles and Responsibilities: Communicating with the President  Constitution Day 
Through these lessons, students learn to identify and describe the various roles and responsibilities of the U.S. president and their own roles as citizens of a democracy.

K-2 5/21/2002
The President's Roles and Responsibilities: Understanding the President's Job  
This lesson introduces students to the roles and responsibilities of the president of the United States and helps them understand how the president and the public communicate with each other by allowing them to express their views in a letter to the president.

K-2 5/21/2002
Profiles in Courage: To Kill A Mockingbird and the Scottsboro Boys Trial 
Students study select court transcripts and other primary source material from the second Scottsboro Boys Trial of 1933, a continuation of the first trial in which two young white women wrongfully accused nine African-American youths of rape.

9-12 12/12/2003
Profiles in Courage: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird 
This lesson plan asks students to read To Kill A Mockingbird carefully with an eye for all instances and manifestations of courage, but particularly those of moral courage.

9-12 12/12/2003
“The Proper Application of Overwhelming Force”: The United States in World War II  We the People Ken Burn 
Curriculum Unit overview. After learning that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, thus ensuring that the United States would enter World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill breathed a sigh of relief. "Hitler's fate was sealed," he would later recall. "Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder. All the rest was merely the proper application of overwhelming force." In this unit, students will examine the role that the United States played in bringing about this victory.


9-12 9/14/2005
Quest for the American Dream in A Raisin in the Sun 
The play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is used as a focal point for discussion of "The American Dream" as students explore how the social, educational, economical and political climate of the 1950's affected African Americans' quest for "The American Dream".

9-12 1/20/2003
Reading, Writing and 'Rithmetic in the One-Room Schoolhouse 
This lesson ecourages students to explore the similarities and differences of being a student in a one-room schoolhouse versus attending their own well-equipped, modern school.

K-2 4/12/2002
Realistic Impressions: Investigating Movements in the Visual Arts  Picturing America 
Impressionism, Cubism, Realism, Neoclassicism, Mannerism. When we visit a museum or flip through a book we often see these terms, along with the word movement (or sometimes style). This lesson plan will help students to understand the idea of movements in the visual arts, and begin to differentiate between some of the most well known movements in Western art- particularly in painting.

9-12 1/31/2005
Recognizing Similes: Fast as a Whip 
Similes are used often in literature, appearing in every genre from poetry to prose and from epics to essays. Utilized by writers to bring their literary imagery to life, similes are an important component of reading closely and appreciating literature.

9-12 12/15/2004
The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Courage 
In The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane presents war through the eyes —and thoughts —of one soldier. The narrative’s altered point of view and stylistic innovations enable a heightened sense of realism while setting the work apart from war stories written essentially as tributes or propaganda.

9-12 12/9/2002
The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Realism 
The Red Badge of Courage’s success reflects the birth of a modern sensibility; today we feel something is true when it looks like the sort of thing we see in newspapers or on television news.

9-12 12/9/2002
Regulating Freedom of Speech  Freedom of Speech Week, October 17-23 
With the Internet, students can observe firsthand how today's Court exercises this responsibility at a time when technology has extended the freedom to speak in ways our nation's founders could not have imagined.

9-12 5/21/2002
Religion in 18th Century America  We the People 
The traditional religions of Great Britain’s North American colonies had difficulty maintaining their holds over the growing population. This did not, however, result in a wholesale decline in religiosity among Americans. In fact, the most significant religious development of 18th century America took place along the frontier, in the form of the Great Awakening. This curriculum unit will, through the use of primary documents, introduce students to the First Great Awakening, as well as to the ways in which religious-based arguments were used both in support of and against the American Revolution.


9-12 2/15/2007
Remember the Ladies: The First Ladies 
Explore the ways in which First Ladies were able to shape the world while dealing with the expectations placed on them as women and as partners of powerful men.

3-5 5/21/2002
Revolutionary Tea Parties and the Reasons for Revolution 
This lesson explores tea party protests other than the Boston Tea Party, and includes activities to help students analyze the reasons behind the tea protests as well as their consequences for the American Revolution.

6-8 6/24/2002
The Road to Pearl Harbor: The United States and East Asia, 1915-1941  We the People Ken Burn 
Curiculum unit overview. Although most Americans were shocked by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the outbreak of war between the two countries came as no surprise to most observers of international affairs. Using contemporary documents, students explore the rise of animosity between the United States and Japan from its origins in World War I and culminating two decades later in the Pearl Harbor attack.


9-12 11/28/2007
Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”: A Marriage of Poetic Form and Content 
Studying Robert Frost's "Mending Wall," students explore the intricate relationship between a poem's form and its content.

9-12 6/23/2005
The Royal Art of Benin 
This lesson plan introduces students to art of the West African kingdom of Benin, which flourished from the 12th or 13th to the end of the 19th centuries in what is now southern Nigeria. Students learn about how the royal power of the king of Benin was communicated through brass plaques and use symbolism to create their own paper plaques.

3-5 7/24/2002
Rudyard Kipling’s “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”: Mixing Fact and Fiction 
During the Victorian Era, British author Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was both respected as a journalist and lauded as "The Poet of the [British] Empire." In this lesson, students will use interactive materials to learn about Rudyard Kipling's life and times, read an illustrated version of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," and learn how Kipling effectively uses personification by mixing fact and fiction.

3-5 8/3/2004
Rudyard Kipling’s “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”: Mixing Words and Pictures 
During the Victorian Era, British author Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was both respected as a journalist and lauded as "The Poet of the [British] Empire." In this lesson, students will read an illustrated version of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," examine how Kipling and visual artists mix observation with imagination to create remarkable works, and follow similar principles to create a work of their own.

3-5 8/4/2004
Say Hi to Haibun Fun 
In a typical high school language arts or social studies curriculum, students are asked to record events of their lives along with emotional responses and reflections. In contrast, the Japanese art of haibun, developed in Japan in the late 17th century by Matsuo Munefusa (Basho), focuses on objective reporting of the everyday moment and focusing the insights of that moment into a theme developed in a concluding poem. In this lesson students will be introduced to the Japanese writing form, the haibun.

9-12 8/26/2004
Scripting the Past: Exploring Women's History Through Film 
Students employ the screenwriter's craft to gain a fresh perspective on notable women in American history.

9-12 5/21/2002
The “Secret Society” and FitzGerald's The Great Gatsby  
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, "class struggle" is portrayed as an intensely personal affair, as much a tension within the mind of a single character as a conflict between characters. Students' own experience of the struggle to belong can provide a starting point for an exploration of the mixed emotions--jealousy, admiration, desire, resentment--that characterize main character Nick Caraway's attitude towards the "secret society" of wealthy Easterners. Other lesson activities also include a close study of the text and an examination of Fitzgerald's letters and other statements.

9-12 10/4/2002
Seeing Sense in Photographs & Poems 
Through close study of Alfred Stieglitz’ 1907 photograph “The Steerage” and William Carlos William’s 1962 poem “Danse Russe,” students will explore how poetry can be, in Plutarch’s words, “a speaking picture,” and a painting (or in this case a photograph) can be “a silent poetry.”

9-12 10/15/2007
Shakespeare's Macbeth: Fear and the “Dagger of the Mind” 
Shakespeare's preeminence as a dramatist rests in part on his capacity to create vivid metaphors and images that embody simple and powerful human emotions. This lesson is designed to help students understand how Shakespeare's language dramatizes one such emotion: fear.

9-12 2/11/2002
Shakespeare's Macbeth: Fear and the Motives of Evil  
Students search an online version of Shakespeare's Macbeth for clues to the motives behind Macbeth's precipitous descent into evil.

9-12 2/18/2002
Shakespeare's Othello and the Power of Language 
By means of group performances, writing exercises, and online search activities, students learn about the sometimes dangerous and destructive powers of language, particularly when wielded by such an eloquent and unscrupulous character as Shakespeare's Iago.

9-12 6/26/2002
“Shooting An Elephant”: George Orwell's Essay on his Life in Burma 
George Orwell, is today best known for his last two novels, the anti-totalitarian works Animal Farm and 1984. He was also an accomplished and experienced essayist. Among his most powerful essays is the 1931 autobiographical essay "Shooting an Elephant," which Orwell based on his experience as a police officer in colonial Burma. This lesson plan is designed to help students read Orwell's essay both as a work of literature and as a window into the historical context about which it was written.

9-12 12/6/2004
Slave Narratives: Constructing U.S. History Through Analyzing Primary Sources  
The realities of slavery and Reconstruction hit home in poignant oral histories from the Library of Congress. In these activities, students research narratives from the Federal Writers' Project and describe the lives of former African slaves in the U.S. -- both before and after emancipation. From varied stories, students sample the breadth of individual experiences, make generalizations about the effects of slavery and Reconstruction on African Americans, and evaluate primary source documents.

3-5 3/21/2002
The Social Security Act  We the People 
This lesson engages students in the debate over the Social Security Act that engrossed the nation during the 1930s.

9-12 2/29/2008
Sodbusters! 
Students examine photographs of sod houses, build a model sod house, and picture themselves living in a soddie to gain a firsthand perspective on this important period of American history.

K-2 4/11/2002
Spirituals 
Tap into an African-American song tradition that has fired hope throughout the long struggle for freedom.

9-12 4/12/2002
Stars and Stripes Forever: Flag Facts for Flag Day 
Students will learn what a symbol is, and how this particular symbol—the American flag—is an important part of our everyday lives.

K-2 4/15/2002
The Statue of Liberty: Bringing the 'New Colossus' to America 
While the French had kept their end of the bargain by completing the statue itself, the Americans had still not fulfilled their commitment to erect a pedestal. In this lesson, students learn about the effort to convince a skeptical American public to contribute to the effort to erect a pedestal and to bring the Statue of Liberty to New York.

6-8 4/12/2002
The Statue of Liberty: The Meaning and Use of a National Symbol 
Help clarify the nature of symbols for your students as they study the Statue of Liberty, complete research on a national symbol, and use their research to communicate a message of their own.

3-5 5/21/2002
Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat” 
The harrowing adventure of four men fighting for survival after a shipwreck is chronicled by Stephen Crane in "The Open Boat." Students learn about narration, point of view, and man's relationship to nature in this classic example of American literary naturalism.

9-12 7/6/2005
Stories in Quilts 
Quilts can be works of art as well as stories through pictures. They also tell a story about their creators and about the historical and cultural context of their creation through the choices made in design, material, and content.

K-2 4/29/2002
A Story of Epic Proportions: What makes a Poem an Epic? 
Some of the most well known, and most important, works of literature in the world are examples of epic poetry. This lesson will introduce students to the epic poem form and to its roots in oral tradition.

6-8 8/20/2004
A Storybook Romance: Dante's Paolo and Francesca 
Journey through the Inferno to learn how allegory, allusion, and drama combine in Dante’s poetic art.

9-12 4/11/2002
The Supreme Court: The Judicial Power of the United States  Constitution Day 
The federal judiciary, which includes the Supreme Court as well as the district and circuit courts, is one of three branches of the federal government. The judiciary has played a key role in American history and remains a powerful voice in resolving contemporary controversies. This lesson provides an introduction to the Supreme Court. Students will learn basic facts about the Supreme Court by examining the United States Constitution and one of the landmark cases decided by that court.

6-8 1/10/2005
Symmetry in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 
Arthur, Camelot, Gawain, a challenge, a perilous journey, a beheading, an enchantment, and a shape-shifter are the ingredients of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. For the modern reader, Sir Gawain's tale is riveting even without understanding its symmetry or cultural and historical context. Viewed through the lens of the medieval thinker, reading this Arthurian tale becomes a rich, multi-layered experience.

9-12 12/8/2004
Taking Up Arms and the Challenge of Slavery in the Revolutionary Era  We the People 
Was the American Revolution inevitable? This lesson is designed to help students understand the transition to armed resistance and the contradiction in the Americans’ rhetoric about slavery through the examination of a series of documents. While it is designed to be conducted over a several-day period, teachers with time constraints can choose to utilize only one of the documents to illustrate the patriots’ responses to the actions of the British.

9-12 2/27/2007
Tales of King Arthur 
In this lesson, students will discover how historical events gradually merged with fantasy to create the colorful tales we enjoy today. This Lesson Plan revised: 12/30/2005

6-8 2/19/2003
Tales of the Supernatural 
Examine the relationship between science and the supernatural in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the “horror stories” of Hawthorne and Poe.

9-12 4/12/2002
The American Civil War: A “Terrible Swift Sword”  We the People 
This curriculum unit introduces students to important questions pertaining to the war: strengths and weaknesses of each side at the start of the conflict; the two turning points of the war-the concurrent battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg-as well as the morality of the Union's use of "total war" tactics against the population of the South; Abraham Lincoln's wartime leadership.


9-12 10/25/2007
“The Missiles of October”: The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962  We the People 
Most historians agree that the world has never come closer to nuclear war than it did during a thirteen-day period in October 1962, after the revelation that the Soviet Union had stationed several medium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba. This lesson will examine how this crisis developed, how the Kennedy administration chose to respond, and how the situation was ultimately resolved.

9-12 6/15/2006
Then and Now: Life in Early America, 1740 - 1840 
Using archival materials, re-creations, and classroom activities, help your students think about which aspects of everyday life have changed and which have stayed the same.

K-2 4/8/2002
Thomas Edison’s Inventions in the 1900s and Today: From “New” to You! 
This lesson plan introduces students to Thomas Edison’s life and inventions. It asks students to compare and contrast life around 1900 with their own lives and helps students understand the connections between the technological advancements of the early twentieth century and contemporary society and culture.

3-5 7/5/2002
Thornton Wilder's Our Town: the Reader as Writer 
To appreciate some of the extra-literary elements of a play, students pause at various intervals in their study of Thornton Wilder's Our Town to develop their own settings, characters, and conflicts.

6-8 3/25/2008
Traces: Historic Archaeology 
Students electronically recover and analyze artifacts from historic archeological sites in order to discover what these artifacts reveal about the people who used them.

3-5 4/12/2002
Traditions and Languages of Three Native Cultures: Tlingit, Lakota, & Cherokee 
This lesson compares the cultures and languages of the Tlingit, Lakota, and Cherokee American Indian tribes, and helps students learn the importance of preserving a group's traditions.

K-2 10/17/2003
Trekking to Timbuktu—Student Version 
Curriculum Unit overview. For many people, Timbuktu is a metaphor for the mysterious, the remote, or the unobtainable. But the Malian city of Timbuktu was, in fact, once a thriving center of commerce and intellectual activity. In the lessons of this curriculum unit, students will learn about the geography of Mali and the early trade networks that flourished there.


6-8 10/28/2003
Trekking to Timbuktu—Teacher Version 
Curriculum Unit overview. For many people, Timbuktu is a metaphor for the mysterious, the remote, or the unobtainable. But the Malian city of Timbuktu was, in fact, once a thriving center of commerce and intellectual activity.

In the lessons of this curriculum unit, students will learn about the geography of Mali and the early trade networks that flourished there. They will study how the spread of Islam influenced the cultures and economies along the Niger River. They will find out about the three kingdoms that evolved in ancient and medieval West Africa. They will discover how Timbuktu rose from a simple watering place to the most important city in Islamic West Africa. And they will find out what is being done today to protect the city’s antiquities



6-8 10/28/2003
A Trip to Wonderland: The Nursery 'Alice' 
Revised version, updated 2/3/06. This unit explores elements of wonder, distortion, fantasy, and whimsy in Lewis Carroll's adaptation for younger readers of his beloved classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

K-2 5/21/2002
Under the Deep Blue Sea 
This lesson gives students the opportunity to explore oceans and ocean life. Students will listen to stories and poems with oceanic settings and learn about the forms of sea life featured in each.

K-2 5/21/2002
Understanding the Salem Witch Trials 
In 1691, a group of girls from Salem, Massachusetts accused an Indian slave named Tituba of witchcraft, igniting a hunt for witches that left 19 men and women hanged, one man pressed to death, and over 150 more people in prison awaiting a trial. In this lesson, students will explore the characteristics of the Puritan community in Salem, learn about the Salem Witchcraft Trials, and try to understand how and why this event occurred.

6-8 9/29/2006
Unicorns, Dragons, and Other Magical Creatures 
This lesson will explore images of magical creatures from around the world. After discussing the special attributes of such creatures, students will view images of specific mythological creatures from two cultures and listen to stories about them.

K-2 5/21/2002
The United States and Europe: From Neutrality to War, 1921-1941  We the People Ken Burn 
Curiculum unit overview. Over the two decades between World War I and World War II, Americans pursued strategies aimed at preventing another war. In this four lesson unit, students use primary sources and an interactive map to examine the rise of antiwar sentiment and legislation in the United States and the main arguments used by both sides as to whether the United States should enter the war or remain neutral.


9-12 1/15/2008
United States Entry into World War I: A Documentary Chronology 
In this curriculum unit, students reconsider the events leading to U.S. entry into World War I through the lens of archival documents.


9-12 5/26/2003
Voices of the American Revolution 
This lesson helps students "hear" some of the diverse colonial voices that, in the course of time and under the pressure of novel ideas and events, contributed to the American Revolution. Students analyze a variety of primary documents illustrating the diversity of religious, political, social, and economic motives behind competing perspectives on questions of independence and rebellion.

9-12 8/28/2002
Voting Rights for Women: Pro- and Anti-Suffrage 
Students research archival material to examine nineteenth and early twentieth century arguments for and against women's suffrage.

6-8 11/6/2002
Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy 
Walt Whitman sought to create a new and distinctly American form of poetry. His efforts had a profound influence on subsequent generations of American poets. In this lesson, students will explore the historical context of Whitman's concept of "democratic poetry" by reading his poetry and prose and by examining daguerreotypes taken circa 1850. Next, students will compare the poetic concepts and techniques behind Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" and Langston Hughes' "Let America Be America Again," and will have an opportunity to apply similar concepts and techniques in creating a poem from their own experience.

9-12 9/17/2002
Walt Whitman's Notebooks and Poetry: the Sweep of the Universe 
Clues to Walt Whitman's effort to create a new and distinctly American form of verse may be found in his Notebooks, now available online from the American Memory Collection. In an entry to be examined in this lesson, Whitman indicated that he wanted his poetry to explore important ideas of a universal scope (as in the European tradition), but in authentic American situations and settings using specific details with direct appeal to the senses.

9-12 9/17/2002
Was There an Industrial Revolution? Americans at Work Before the Civil War 
In this lesson, students explore the First Industrial Revolution in early nineteenth-century America. By reading and comparing first-hand accounts of the lives of workers before the Civil War, students prepare for a series of guided role-playing activities designed to help them make an informed judgement as to whether the changes that took place in manufacturing and distribution during this period are best described as a 'revolution' or as a steady evolution over time.

9-12 8/27/2002
Was There an Industrial Revolution? New Workplace, New Technology, New Consumers 
In this lesson, students explore the First Industrial Revolution in early nineteenth-century America. Through simulation activities and the examination of primary historical materials, students learn how changes in the workplace and less expensive goods led to the transformation of American life.

9-12 8/26/2002
Washington and the Whiskey Rebellion 
Weigh the choices Washington faced in the nation’s first Constitutional crisis by following events through his private diary.

9-12 4/12/2002
We Must Not Be Enemies: Lincoln's First Inaugural Address 
Students explore the historical context and significance of Lincoln's inaugural address through archival documents.

3-5 5/21/2002
What Happens in the White House? 
Curriculum Unit overview. The “President’s House,” built under George Washington’s personal supervision, was the finest residence in the land and possibly the largest. In a nation of wooden houses, it was built of stone and ornamented with understated stone flourishes. It did not fit everyone’s concept for the home of the leader of the young democracy. In this lesson, students take a close look at the White House in recent times and throughout our history.


3-5 5/19/2003
What is History? Timelines and Oral Histories 
This lesson plan addresses the ways people learn about events from the past and discusses how historical accounts are influenced by the perspective of the person giving the account. To understand that history is made up of many people’s stories of the past, students interview family members about the same event and compare the different versions, construct a personal history timeline and connect it to larger historical events, and synthesize eyewitness testimony from different sources to create their own “official” account.

K-2 7/5/2002
What Made George Washington a Good Military Leader? 
Curriculum Unit overview. What combination of experience, strategy, and personal characteristics enabled Washington to succeed as a military leader?
In this unit, students will read the Continental Congress's resolutions granting powers to General Washington; analyze some of Washington's wartime orders, dispatches, and correspondence in terms of his mission and the characteristics of a good general


9-12 12/16/2003
What Makes a Hero? 
A common lament one hears today is that young people lack heroes to emulate. Is that true? After completing this lesson plan, students will be able to describe what makes a hero in various contexts.

3-5 5/21/2002
What Masks Reveal 
Explore the cultural significance of masks by investigating the role they play in ceremonies and on special occasions in societies from widely separated regions of the world.

6-8 4/12/2002
What Portraits Reveal 
Tour a gallery of presidential portraits to learn how they can reflect shifting attitudes and conflicting points of view.

9-12 5/21/2002
What Should a House Do? 
Students will look closely at the design, construction and materials of at least one Native American house and one house built by European settlers to understand why houses are designed the way they are.

K-2 4/15/2002
What They Left Behind: Early Multi-National Influences in the United States 
Students make connections between European voyages of discovery, colonial spheres of influence, and various aspects of American culture.

3-5 4/15/2002
What Was Columbus Thinking? 
Students read excerpts from Columbus's letters and journals, as well as recent considerations of his achievemenets in order to reflect on the motivations behind Columbus's explorations.

3-5 5/21/2002
What’s In A Name? 
In this curriculum unit, students will learn about the origins of four major types of British surnames. They will consult lists to discover the meanings of specific names and later demonstrate their knowledge of surnames through various group activities. They will then compare the origins of British to certain types of non-British surnames. In a final activity, the students will research the origins and meanings of their own family names.


3-5 8/7/2003
What’s in a Picture? An Introduction to Subject in the Visual Arts  Picturing America 
When you visit an art museum and enter one of the halls filled with paintings, drawings, photographs and sculptures your eye falls on the image closest to you and you wonder what is that picture about? This lesson plan focuses on helping students to answer that question by investigating the subject of works of art.

9-12 1/28/2005
Where I Come From 
Students take research into their heritage a step beyond the construction of a family tree, traveling through cyberspace to find our what's happening in their ancestral homelands today.

3-5 4/12/2002
Who Was Cinque? 
Meet the leader of the Amistad revolt through contemporary news reports, court records, and illustrations.

9-12 4/12/2002
Who Were the Foremothers of Women’s Equality? 
This lesson introduces students to the achievements of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, the "foremothers" of women's equality. By studying a variety of primary historical materials, students will also learn about some of the lesser-known activists who fought alongside Stanton and Anthony in the formative Women's Rights Movement.

6-8 10/25/2002
Why Do We Remember Revere? Paul Revere's Ride in History and Literature 
After an overview of the events surrounding Paul Revere's famous ride, this lesson challenges students to think about the reasons for that fame. Using both primary and secondhand accounts, students compare the account of Revere's ride in Longfellow's famous poem with actual historical events, in order to answer the question: why does Revere's ride occupy such a prominent place in the American consciousness?

6-8 10/9/2003
William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury: Narrating the Compson Family Decline and the Changing South 
Curriculum unit overview. Published in 1929, The Sound and the Fury is often referred to as William Faulkner's first work of genius. Faulkner's style is characterized by frequent time shifts, narrator shifts, unconventional punctuation and sentence structure, as well as a stream-of-consciousness technique that reveals the inner thoughts of characters to the reader. This curriculum unit will examine narrative structure and time, narrative voice/point of view, and symbolism throughout The Sound and the Fury.


9-12 11/30/2005
William Penn’s Peaceable Kingdom  We the People 
By juxtaposing the different promotional tracts of William Penn and David Pastorius, students will understand the ethnic diversity of Pennsylvania along with the “pull” factors of migration in the 17th century English colonies.

9-12 2/20/2007
William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream: Conflict Resolution and Happy Endings 
The activities in this lesson invite students to focus on the characters from A Midsummer Night's Dream, to describe and analyze their conflicts, and then to watch how those conflicts get resolved.

6-8 8/7/2008
Witch Hunt or Red Menace? Anticommunism in Postwar America, 1945-1954  We the People 
Curriculum unit overview. Americans emerged from World War II as the only major combatant to avoid having its homeland ravaged by war, the U.S. economy was clearly the strongest in the world, and, of course, the United States was the only country in the world to possess that awesome new weapon, the atomic bomb. However, over the next five years relations between the United States and the Soviet Union went from alliance to Cold War. In this curriculum unit students will study this turbulent period of American history, examining the various events and ideas that defined it, and considering how much of the anticommunist sentiment of the era was justified, and how much was an overreaction.


9-12 6/16/2006
Witnesses to Joan of Arc and The Hundred Years' War 
Joan of Arc is likely one of France's most famous historical figures, and has been mythologized in popular lore, literature, and film. She is also an exceptionally well-documented historical figure. Through such firsthand accounts students can trace Joan's history from childhood, through her death, and on to her nullification trial.

9-12 12/19/2005
Women in Africa: Tradition and Change 
Examine the role of women in African society as represented in traditional artwork and postcolonial literature.

9-12 4/12/2002
Women in the White House 
Explore the role and impact of recent First Ladies through research and family interviews.

6-8 4/15/2002
Women’s Equality: Changing Attitudes and Beliefs 
Students analyze archival cartoons, posters, magazine humor, newspaper articles and poems that reflect the deeply entrenched attitudes and beliefs the early crusaders for women’s rights had to overcome.

6-8 10/31/2002
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.

6-8 11/7/2002
Woodrow Wilson and Foreign Policy  We the People 
Curriculum Unit. The influence of President Woodrow Wilson on American foreign policy has been profound and lasting. Using a variety of primary sources, students analyze the origins of the ambitious foreign policy that came to be known as Wilsonianism and compare it with important alternative traditions in American foreign policy.


9-12 1/23/2008
“World enough, and time”—Andrew Marvell's Coy Mistress 
Students explore the metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell's use of tone, imagery, and poetic form as he attempts to seduce his “Coy Mistress.”

9-12 5/25/2005
The World of Haiku 
Explore the traditions and conventions of haiku and compare this classic form of Japanese poetry to a related genre of Japanese visual art.

6-8 4/11/2002
Worth a Thousand Words: Depression-Era Photographs 
Spend a day with a model American family and the photographer who molded our view of their lives.

9-12 4/11/2002
Writing Poetry Like Pros 
Poems, classic and contemporary, make good company for your students. They can also serve as the inspiration for some terrific writing.

3-5 4/8/2002
'You Kiss by the Book': Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet 
Learn how Shakespeare used the sonnet tradition to enhance his stagecraft by performing a scene from this timeless tragedy.

9-12 4/11/2002