Civics Lesson
GRADE LEVEL: High School What are Human Rights?
What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
In 1946, in the immediate aftermath of World War II, with hopes of preventing future atrocities, an international committee with varied legal and cultural backgrounds began to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR was proclaimed by the new United Nations General Assembly in 1948. This document contains 30 Articles that set a standard…
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Civics Lesson
GRADE LEVEL: High School What is an Amendment?
How Does the Constitution Affect People Other than the Founding Fathers and Who They Represented at the Time?
Should the Constitution be Easier to Amend?
Imagine! The United States of America is still referencing the same Constitution that was written on September 17, 1787. What did the Constitution do for people who were not wealthy, white and male? What freedoms were left out from the original document?…
Civics Lesson
GRADE LEVEL: High School What are Ways to Enter the United States with Documentation?
What are the Experiences of those with Green Cards?
Against the backdrop of the recent refugee crisis and the overall increase in immigration, people have asked how one enters the United States with documentation. One way is to apply for a Green Card which leads to formal naturalization and citizenship in the United States if the application is approved. Gaining Green…
Civics Lesson
GRADE LEVEL: High School What is an Algorithm?
How are Algorithms Being Used in Our Daily Lives?
How Could Biased Algorithms Impact Political Institutions?
Algorithms are quickly replacing human judgment in many aspects of our lives. Algorithms started out as a way of making predictions, decisions and recommendations about products and entertainment by online service providers such as Amazon, Spotify, Google, Netflix and Facebook.
Today,…
Civics Lesson
GRADE LEVEL: High School What is a Government?
What are Different Forms of Government?
What is My Relationship to Government?
Governments, and the act of governing, have been part of human society for thousands of years. Governments have shifted and changed in the way they represent, operate and control, but one thing remains the same: they are created to organize groups of people and provide structure and accountability. Understanding the concept of…
Civics Lesson
GRADE LEVEL: High School How Do I Write a Bill?
When a change in the law is desired, whether at the community, state, or national level, people need to understand the processes of making that desired change, a bill, into a law. Submitting a bill for consideration by the legislature involves writing, revising and sharing bills with a focus on passing them in a Senate hearing.
About the Lesson Plan
In this lesson, students will brainstorm to identify changes they…
Civics Lesson
GRADE LEVEL: High School What Were the Multiple Perspectives of the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court Based on During the Repeal of DOMA?
According to the Supreme Court Decision, Who Has the Right to Marry?
What Assurances Do We Have that the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are Able to Be Non-partisan and Avoid Bias When Deciding a Case?
The Judicial branch of the U.S. government is headed by the Supreme Court. This court analyzes and judges cases…
Echoes & Reflections
GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening This unit introduces students to the Holocaust by providing a vocabulary for studying the Holocaust and establishing a rationale for the importance of learning about instances of mass atrocity and genocide. Students explore the value of examining different types of source material when studying the Holocaust, with a special emphasis on visual…
GRADE LEVEL: High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language The Origins of the Electoral College
The Electoral College, the process by which Presidential races are ultimately decided, is the subject of ongoing debate and controversy. The Electoral College always decides the outcome of the Presidential election, but five times in our history and two times in the last five elections, the Electoral College selected a president who did not win the majority…
Civics Lesson
GRADE LEVEL: High School How Do Lobbyists Impact the Democratic Process?
What are Effective Ways of Lobbying?
How Might I Lobby for My Bill?
“Lobbying” is an effort by individuals and groups to influence government decisions and actions, and specifically the writing of laws. Lobbying can take different forms including writing letters, making phone calls to legislators and meeting with people in the administration. As student activism in…
GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language Using Bitmoji to Build a Virtual Backdrop
As soon as teachers received the news that many schools would start the 2020-21 school year in virtual spaces, educators across the country began creating “bitmoji classrooms” to share with their students. These virtual classrooms, created on a Google or PowerPoint slide, enable teachers and others to design and…
Teach students about the role and importance of the youth vote and have them consider barriers to the youth vote.
Echoes & Reflections
GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening The purpose of this unit is for students to understand the effects of the Holocaust on its most innocent victims—children—since targeting babies and children was an important step in the attempt by the Nazis to erase the Jews and their future. Students will also research post-Holocaust genocides and analyze children’s rights…
Echoes & Reflections: Teaching the HolocaustThe purpose of this unit is for students to learn about one of humanity’s darkest chapters—the systematic mass murder of the Jews that came to be known as the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.” This includes learning about the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing squads), the Nazi extermination camps, and the perpetrators and collaborators who took part in the murder. Students also learn how Jews attempted to maintain…
Echoes & Reflections: Teaching the HolocaustThis unit provides an opportunity for students to examine the complex issues of responsibility and guilt within the context of the Nazi occupation of Europe. Students will also learn about the war crimes trials following World War II and consider the responsibility of the free world to provide a safe haven for refugees attempting to escape Europe. This unit also provides students with an introduction to Holocaust denial as a contemporary form of…
Teach students about the difference between caucuses and regular primary elections and engage them in a mock classroom caucus election.
Echoes & Reflections: Teaching the HolocaustThe purpose of this unit is to provide students with an understanding of the political, legal, social, and emotional status of the Jewish survivors. This unit also examines the role of the liberators following the defeat of the Nazis at the end of World War II.
Learning Objectives:
Describe the complex emotional ramifications of liberation for Jews at the end of World War II.
Describe the complex emotional ramifications of liberation…
Echoes & Reflections: Teaching the HolocaustThe purpose of this unit is for students to learn about the Weimar Republic’s fragile democracy between 1918 and 1933 and to examine historical events that allowed for the complete breakdown of democracy in Germany between 1933 and 1939, which led to the unfolding of anti-Jewish policies. Students will investigate primary source materials in order to understand how legislation, terror, and propaganda isolated German Jewry from German…
GRADE LEVEL: Middle School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Speaking and Listening, Language Seeing a Positive Reflection of Yourself in Media
O’Plérou Grebet, a 22-year-old digital artist from the Ivory Coast, was recently in the news because he created his own emojis, reflecting life in contemporary West Africa. In an interview with CNN, he stated, "I noticed that media and most articles about Africa were talking about the bad sides of the continent only. They reduced the…
GRADE LEVEL: High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Speaking and Listening, Language Polls and Opinion Surveys are Part of Our Daily Lives
From responding to surveys on social media to reading results from the latest election poll, we are inundated with information about what the public thinks about a variety of topics and issues. During elections, polls are used to provide information to the general public and for candidates to gain insight into their standing in the race. During the…