Students create art works based on an examination of the language of the Constitution and the personal connections they make. These art works will incorporate words, illustrations, and mixed media images.
Voting Rights in America Timeline
This timeline explores when different groups of Americans gained the right to vote.
Sons of Liberty: Patriots and Terrorists
In this lesson, students engage in dialogue regarding the Sons of Liberty. Students will identify, explain and analyze arguments that the Sons of Liberty were both patriots and terrorists. The goal being to understand and reflect on perspectives. Students will understand historical narratives, while considering their own perspective.
Sons of Liberty: Patriots and Terrorists
In this lesson, students engage in dialogue regarding the Sons of Liberty. Students will identify, explain and analyze arguments that the Sons of Liberty were both patriots and terrorists. The goal being to understand and reflect on perspectives. Students will understand historical narratives, while considering their own perspective.
Managing the Balance Between Freedom and Safety
This dialogic lesson is an excellent way for students to begin to generate their own thoughts on the balance between freedom and safety while being exposed to numerous potentially differing points of view and others life experiences. The lesson prepares students for future persuasive writing and argument with supporting evidence.
Background Overview: United States Election Policy
In this lesson students will gain a deeper understanding of the history of election policy in the United States. Students will read a short summary of United States election policy and examine two graphs to consider how changes to election laws have impacted the electorate and our government.
Why Have Civil Dialogue?
What is civil dialogue and why is it important? Drawing on the writings of Supreme Court Justices Louis Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, explains the central role civil dialogue has played in American democracy throughout history and today.
Created by National Constitution Center.
Bell Ringer: Federalism
The United States government is organized on the principle of federalism, the sharing of power between national and state/local authorities. There are three broad categories of powers: 1. Exclusive powers: held by only one level of government and includes both enumerated powers (expressly articulated in the United States Constitution) and implied powers (which are are not specifically enumerated in the Constitution but inferred from expressed powers, particularly the Necessary and Proper Clause, as affirmed in the landmark McCulloch v. Maryland decision). 2. Reserved powers: any powers not granted to the national government or forbidden to the states, as affirmed in the Tenth Amendment (“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”). 3. Concurrent powers: shared between both levels of government.
The Great Debate on the Constitution
This resource pairs the text of the U.S. Constitution with the Federalist Papers.
Should the United States Ban TikTok to Preserve National Security?
In this mini simulation, students step into the shoes of the National Security Council to decide if the United States should impose a ban on TikTok to safeguard citizens’ data and the country’s security. Students will learn about the ways that private businesses can intersect with national security and the opportunities and limitations for government regulation of digital technologies.