This lesson introduces students to a structured approach for analyzing visual sources. Students will practice observational skills, evidence-based interpretation, and questioning techniques using the See, Think, Wonder strategy. This analytical framework supports critical thinking and visual literacy skills.
Girls in Detention Centers
This lesson addresses challenges facing girls in juvenile detention centers, with special attention to the disproportionate representation of girls of color (e.g., Latinx, African American). Students will examine how adverse childhood experiences and trauma can lead to involvement in the juvenile justice system. The lesson explores daily life in detention facilities, including separation from families,
Far From Home: Locations and Logistics of Women Facing Incarceration
This lesson explores the complex and far-reaching consequences of maternal incarceration. Students will examine how incarceration of mothers impacts their children through separation trauma, and how this effect is magnified for marginalized communities. The lesson addresses barriers incarcerated mothers face in reuniting with their children after release, including legal challenges, limited access to family support services, and societal stigma. Students will also investigate human rights issues related to maternal incarceration through research and discussion.
Defining Justice
This 60-minute activity requires students to actively interpret Lady Justice, a symbolic statue designed to encapsulate the American criminal justice system and then define Justice using a Frayer model.
Intro Activities for Discussions on Incarceration
This 75-minute activity explores the historical through lines between the 13th Amendment, incarceration, and prison labor including a case study analysis. Students will explore the ethics of incarceration, reflecting on rehabilitation, labor practices, prisoner wage and benefits, and workplace safety.
Bell Ringer: Harry Burn & the 19th Amendment
Author Misty Heggeness highlighted the significance of Harry Burn as it relates to the 19th Amendment.
Bell Ringer: The Constitution of the United States Vignette
This 1950s classroom film depicts the problems that led to the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, such as Shay’s Rebellion and confusing state currencies, and then dramatizes some of the major events of the 1787 Constitutional Convention.
2025-2026 Supreme Court Term Preview
The lesson opens with reflective questions that ask students to consider their knowledge of famous Supreme Court cases and rulings, the issues that the Court addressed last term and the last term’s impact, and potential issues that the Court may address during this term. Students then watch, analyze, and respond to an introductory video in which Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer talks about the process that the Supreme Court uses to select cases each term. Next, students engage in an activity where they choose to study three cases that will be argued in front of the Supreme Court during this term. Students will conduct additional self-guided research as needed to determine each case’s petitioner(s) and respondent(s), key issue(s), expected outcome, facts of the case, and question(s) before the court, presenting their findings to the class.
Bell Ringer: Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Legal Analysis and Originalism
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett talked about the different between original public meaning and original intent, the use of history in legal analysis, the legal analysis of unenumerated rights, and why she is an originalist.
Bell Ringer: Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the Shadow Docket
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett talked about the Court’s emergency docket, also known as the shadow docket. Justice Barrett spoke at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia with president & CEO Jeffrey Rosen.