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ResourcesSocial Studies Films and Resources from California Newsreel California Newsreel (www.newsreel.org) has launched a new collection of These documentaries would provide a complimentary visual component to Also check out our amazing African American Perspectives collection
Air & Waste Management Association High School Essay Contest The Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA)’s High School Essay Contest, “Greenhouse Gas Management Actions: What Can Students Do?” is asking high school students to weigh in on the issue of global climate change and greenhouse gas management. Any student in grades 9-12 is eligible to enter. The author of the winning paper will receive a $400 prize and an invitation to an awards ceremony during A&WMA’s 101st Annual Conference and Exhibition in Portland, OR.
A Woman's World: Women in Politics A Woman's World: Women in Politics, produced by Women in Politics Productions, LLC, is a 30-minute, bipartisan documentary about the entry and involvement of women in politics. The video opens and closes with a future scene of a woman president. It includes interviews with women politicians from all over the country at the local, state and federal levels. In addition, the video provides opinions of young women and men regarding women in politics and the importance of voting. Cost: $49.95 plus $4.95 S&H. To order a video or DVD, contact Women in Politics Productions, LLC, P.O. Box 172 Kelton, PA 19346, tel. (610) 345-9279, womeninpolitics@comcast.net.
Moments and Images of the Past The Salem, Oregon Statesman Journal has recently started posting moments and images of the past online at www.statesmanjournal.com/past. Moments of the Past features excerpts from old newspaper articles, old public domain books and articles, diaries, documents, personal memories and whatever else that can give people a sense of the people, times, places, things, events of the past.
Scholars Online Brought to you by the Choices Program Scholars Online (http://www.choices.edu/scholarsonline) brings university scholars into secondary level classrooms. Videos of scholars who have contributed to the development of curriculum units or participated in Choices professional development programs are provided in an interview format. Designed to be used with Choices printed curricula (http://www.choices.edu/resources), these short, informative videos can be used in conjunction with student readings or with lessons that accompany each unit. We currently have videos to supplement six of our written curriculum units, including our new edition of The US Role in the Changing World (http://www.choices.edu/usrole). Videos clips for this unit help students reflect on global changes, assess national priorities, and decide for themselves the role the United States should play in the world today. This is a great way to engage students in a range of issues being discussed by presidential candidates. Participating scholars for this unit included Joseph Cirincione from the Center for American Progress, Fernando Cardoso—former president of Brazil, Ricardo Lagos—Former President of Chile, Justine Rosenthal from The National Interest and many others.
Castro's Legacy and the Future of Cuba On February 19, 2008, Fidel Castro announced to Cuba and to the world that he would not be a candidate for Cuba’s presidency (this position will be elected by the Cuban National Assembly on February 24). Head of Cuba since 1959, Castro was one of the longest serving leaders of the modern era. His time in office, along with the revolution that he helped lead, are the subject of great controversy both within Cuba and around the world. Castro’s Legacy and the Future of Cuba http://www.choices.edu/resources/current.php is a one-day lesson that introduces students to the worldwide debate now taking place. The lesson includes links to internet resources from around the world. This lesson is available at no cost from the Choices Program’s Teaching with the News program. A new unit on the future of Cuba from the Cuban perspective will be available from the Choices Program this spring. Information is available at http://www.choices.edu/cuba.
TEACHER CURRICULUM PLANS from the 2006 NEH Institutes “Cultures and Religions of the Himalayan Region” held at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts 28 are available free online: http://college.holycross.edu/orgs/himalayan_cultures/ SAMPLE TOPICS:
Todd Lewis and Leonard van der Kuijp, co-Directors
GREAT AMERICAN DREAMING Help your students bring immigration history and politics to life.
WKCD learned this, when we coached and then published such work by New York City students in our photo essay book, Forty-Cent Tip: Stories of New York City Immigrant Workers (Next Generation Press, 2006). Now we are offering you a look at our coaching guidelines˜and a chance to be published online˜in the hope that you will try the project, too. WKCD offers the following resources to help with your project:
To get the details, download the manual, and order a complimentary copy of the book, please go to: http://www.whatkidscando.org/featurestories/2008/01_great_american/index.html If you already have immigrant stories collected by your students that you'd like to see and perhaps publish online, please send them to info@whatkidscando.org.
GILDER LEHRMAN INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN HISTORY ANNOUNCES SUMMER SEMINARS FOR TEACHERS The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is seeking applicants for thirty-two, one-week teacher enrichment seminars across the U.S. and England for teachers. Public, parochial, independent school teachers and National Park Service employees are eligible to apply. Each seminar is limited to thirty participants. Historians from universities including Stanford, Columbia, Yale, and the University of Virginia will lead seminars on topics ranging from the Colonial Era, the U.S. Constitution, and the Underground Railroad to the Great Depression, the Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement. Applications must be postmarked or submitted electronically by February 15, 2008. For information on how to apply, visit www.gilderlehrman.org.
Two new online resources from What Kids Can Do, Inc. What Kids Can Do (WKCD), an international leader in bringing youth voices to bear on issues facing communities, schools, and society, has just launched two new online resources for educators. Youth on the Campaign Trail: Election 2008 Over the next ten months, WKCD will scour the news for stories about Global Youth Voices: Across Four Continents Here we present a directory of what has come, to date, from WKCD’s
A Woman’s World: Women in Politics A Woman’s World: Women in Politics, produced by Women in Politics Productions, LLC, is a 30-minute, bipartisan documentary about the entry and involvement of women in politics. The video opens and closes with a future scene of a woman president. It includes interviews with women politicians from all over the country at the local, state and federal levels. In addition, the video provides opinions of young women and men regarding women in politics and the importance of voting. Cost: $49.95 plus $4.95 S&H. To order a video or DVD, contact Women in Politics Productions, LLC, P.O. Box 172 Kelton, PA 19346, tel. (610) 345-9279, womeninpolitics@comcast.net.
U.S. Policy on Iran Interactive Lesson Plans The U.S. and Iran: Confronting Policy Alternatives is an interactive lesson plan that engages students in consideration of policy alternatives concerning U.S. policy on Iran. Four Policy Options help students think about divergent policy alternatives, each driven by different underlying values, each with merits and trade-offs. The Options provided have been developed by the Choices Program with input from the research staff at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. A two-period lesson plan and links to online resources are provided. The lesson is focused on role-play and deliberation exploring the four Policy Options. A complete unit on Iran, Iran Through the Looking Glass: History, Reform, and Revolution, is also available.
Engaging in Document Analysis: The Center for Gifted Education Social Studies Curriculum The social studies units developed by the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary cover a wide range of topics while maintaining consistent models for understanding issues, documents, and artifacts. All of the units emphasize development of understanding of abstract, interdisciplinary concepts, including systems, cause and effect, and change over time. The units also place heavy emphasis on higher order reasoning, historical analysis using primary sources, and in-depth study of social studies content related to various strands of state and national standards. An emphasis on the development of student skills in the areas of discussion, writing, and research is embedded in the units. The workshop will engage participants in activities around the teaching models employed in the units, including a concept development model, the Paul model of reasoning, and primary source analysis. The ways in which these teaching models are employed within different units across the range of grade levels will also be explored. In addition, participants will have opportunities for small group discussions of the specific content of the different units. Dates: June 25-27, 2007
The Object of History: Behind the Scenes with the Curators of the National Museum of American History The Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History are pleased to announce the launch of The Object of History http://objectofhistory.org. The website features six artifacts from the Museum’s collections, related high school curriculum materials, and opportunities for students to participate in live online forums with Smithsonian curators. Schedule of Featured Objects: Each featured Object Lesson includes the following resources: Materials for Students:
Additional Materials for Teachers http://objectofhistory.org/teachers/:
Four Live Audiocasts with each object http://objectofhistory.org/forum/: Submit questions http://objectofhistory.org/forum/questions/ about the featured object for curators and historians to answer during the audiocasts streamed live on the web. Comments or Questions? Contact us: teachers@objectofhistory.org
CONFLICT IN IRAQ New Resources from the Choices Program The war in Iraq is sparking much debate today. One thing most can agree on: there are no easy answers. What the United States does in Iraq will affect Iraq, the Middle East, and the United States for years to come. Teaching about Iraq requires special sensitivity from teachers. It is likely there are students with family members or friends serving in the military. In addition, sharp political points of view about Iraq could short-circuit thoughtful consideration of the issues. Sorting through all of these issues is a classroom challenge for teachers. Yet teachers who address these challenges do their students a great service. Conflict in Iraq: Searching for Solutions is a new curriculum unit developed by the Choices Program at Brown University to help students consider the history of Iraq and the present conflict, and to participate in informed discussion about policy alternatives concerning the U.S. role in Iraq today. Conflict in Iraq: Confronting Policy Alternatives is an online lesson plan focused on the policy options at the center of Conflict in Iraq: Searching for Solutions. The material is available from “Teaching with the News”on the Choices web site http://www.choices.edu.
Free CD-Rom of Teaching Materials Related to the Lewis and Clark Expedition The Minot State University History Department announces the availability of a CD-Rom of teacher-produced resources and lesson plans created by participants in its 2005 NEH-sponsored summer institute for teachers on the Contexts and Legacies of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. These materials have been produced for use with students from grades 4-12. Formats include lesson plans, WebQuests, and DBQs. Themes include: Exploration and Environment, Jefferson and Nation-Building, American West, and Native Cultures and Legacies. To view the materials on-line or to request a free CD-Rom of the materials, go to the department’s website: http://history.misu.nodak.edu Bethany Andreasen
Are We Winning the Global War on Terror? In October 2003, seven months after the United States invaded Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, wrote a memo to four of his subordinates. In his memo he asked his colleagues to consider a number of questions he had about the “Global War on Terror.”
In this online lesson students will:
This lesson includes: Find this free resource in the TEACHING WITH THE NEWS section of the Choices Program web site http://www.choices.edu
Terrorism: How should we respond? “Terrorism: How should we respond?” is a free online teaching resource from the CHOICES Program (http://www.choices.edu) at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. Find the resource in the TEACHING WITH THE NEWS section of the Choices Program web site. The 5th anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon is upon us. As our country continues to deliberate on how to best confront the challenges and dangers of terrorism, the Choices Program has made available free resources to address the topic. “Terrorism: How Should We Respond?” invites students to explore four divergent policy options on the question of how the United States should respond to terrorism, each driven by different underlying values, each with merits and tradeoffs. A new ballot activity allows students to voice their own perspectives. The policy options presented in this online lesson plan are excerpted from Responding to Terrorism: Challenges to Democracy http://www.choices.edu/curriculum_unit.cfm?id=26, published by the Choices Program at Brown University.
American Indians in Children's Literature “American Indians in Children’s Literature” is a blog resource developed and maintained by Debbie Reese, an Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is using blogging technology to reach parents, teachers, and librarians who may not have access to print publications where articles on this topic are published. Reese’s blog/resource includes links to recommended books about American Indians, on-line articles on this topic, websites and blogs maintained by Native authors in addition to Reese’s blog posts on topics such as the origin of “Happy Hunting Ground” or discussion of the term “papoose.” http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com
Using the News to Teach Religion http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/teach/ This video and Web site resource created by the PBS series Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly for high school and college teachers of social studies, history, religion, etc. demonstrates an approach to teaching religion that incorporates reading and discussing the daily news. Shot at Colgate University in 2003-2004, the video features classroom footage illustrating how two teachers conduct a course on religion using the news, specifically THE NEW YORK TIMES, as a text. The video also includes interviews with the teachers themselves, augmented by the course description, syllabus, and exam questions. A free DVD is also available.
International school partnerships for the 2006-07 academic year Project Harmony (www.projectharmony.org) provides opportunities for educators and students to participate in cross cultural dialogue and cultivate international relationships by connecting with their peers in the nation of Armenia. The Armenia School Connectivity Program (ASCP) is a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and is implemented by Project Harmony. The program provides opportunities for students, educators, and community members to access and share information, to engage in online collaborative projects ranging in subject from the environment and cultural traditions, to democracy, civil society and the arts. ASCP increases school-community interaction, U.S.-Armenian partnerships at the school and community levels, and civic engagement on the local, national, and international levels. For more information, please visit www.projectharmony.org or email elizabeth@projectharmony.org.
America's Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty - Free Lesson Plan Resource America’s Heritage is a free lesson plan resource on America’s factual, philosophical heritage for K-12 teachers of social studies, US government, US history, economics, geography, music, & related subjects. Developed by and for teachers through collaboration of education/service organizations, it is free to use for educational purposes, paid for by grants. Lessons correlate with NCSS standards and are grouped into elementary, middle, and high school. An elementary edition in Spanish/ESL is available. The resource can be downloaded online or ordered in CD/binder formats. Request your free resource at ahef@americanheritage.org! (Indicate name, school, address, phone, email, grade(s), #, format (CD/binder). For more information visit www.americanheritage.org.
Crossword Puzzles on American History Topics Crossword puzzles suitable for students in grades 5 and aboves. Topics included are the explorers, the colonies, westward expansion, the Civil War, industrialism, World War I, World War II, US Presidents, US Government, Inventors and Inventions. Each puzzle comes with an answer key and permission to copy enough for your students. For a free sample and information on how to purchase the entire set, please visit http://home.comcast.net/~donnajmelton/.
U.S. Immigration Policy: What should we do? [Teaching with the News] "U.S. Immigration Policy: What should we do?" is a free online teaching resource from the CHOICES Program (http://www.choices.edu) at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. Find the resource in the TEACHING WITH THE NEWS section of the Choices Program web site. While leaders in Washington are debating changes in current immigration law, demonstrations for and against the proposed legislation are taking place around the country. Proposed legislation focuses primarily on issues related to border control, law enforcement, and policy toward undocumented workers. This has raised additional questions about human rights, the economy, the environment, and security. "U.S. Immigration Policy: What should we do?" enables students to consider these issues within the context of long-term goals for immigration policy. The material is drawn from "U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World" published by the Choices Program at Brown University.
The Challenge of Nuclear Weapons New from the Choices Program http://www.choices.edu "The Challenge of Nuclear Weapons" is a new supplemental curriculum unit from the Choices for the 21st Century Education Program at Brown University. This unit gives students the tools they need to wrestle with the questions that surround the future of nuclear weapons. http://www.choices.edu/curriculum_unit.cfm?id=49 Part I introduces students to the history of nuclear weapons and the concept of deterrence. Part II examines some of the arguments for and against nuclear weapons and then looks at three challenges: (1) the leftover arsenals of the Cold War, (2) proliferation, and (3) the threat of nuclear terrorism. At the core of the unit is a framework of choices for U.S. foreign policy concerning nuclear weapons. Links to additional online resources are available from the Choices web site. An online lesson focused on the Options at the center of this unit is available from the Choices Program's "Teaching with the News" web site. http://www.choices.edu/curriculum_twtn.cfm
U.S. Immigration Policy: What should we do? [Teaching with the News] "U.S. Immigration Policy: What should we do?" is a free online teaching resource from the CHOICES Program (http://www.choices.edu) at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. Find the resource in the TEACHING WITH THE NEWS section of the Choices Program web site.
Track Current Events TRACKER enables teachers and students to organize current online resources, such as online newspaper articles. The Internet is a great resource for displaying multiple articles on a current event, but is often overwhelming due to the huge amount of sites available today on the Internet. TRACKER organizes your selected articles by utilizing an interface that allows users to navigate from article to article with the click of a button. The TRACKER interface also includes an online newspaper that aids summarization and discussion of a current event. As the editor of your TRACKER, you create a summary of a current event that will be displayed on the "Front Page" of your TRACKER newspaper. The users may write a response to the current event by participating in a discussion board and "writing a letter to the editor". Both the discussion board and "letter to the editor" are features that are available only to those taking that specific TRACKER. You can create a TRACKER without knowing how to create a web site. All you need to do is find online articles for a current event, write down the address, and fill out a form. It's as simple as that! trackcurrentevents.org
Teaching Ethics The basic postings on www.ethicsineducation.com are two ETHICS WORKBOOKS for students in grades 7 through 12. These workbooks present ways to embed ethics education into standard world and American history programs. The workbooks, and the accompanying teacher’s guides, may be printed and duplicated by individual teachers for use with their classes. Supplementary active student involvement strategies developed by teachers to implement ideas in the Ethics Workbooks are also posted and are free to schools. The Ethics Workbook I: World History was written for younger students in typical secondary world history classes in grades 7 – 10 as a first introduction to ethical issues. It treats a wide array of topics and simplifies the thinking of the most common ethicists and philosophers across the span of civilization. The Ethics Workbook II: American History was written for older students in typical secondary American history classes in grades 11 – 12. It examines the major conflicts and turning points in American History.
Visit www.knowchildlabor.org The International Center on Child Labor and Education (ICCLE) has launched a new web-site www.knowchildlabor.org The purpose of this web site is to promote the sharing of resources and interaction among youth and teachers working on global child labor issues across the country and the world. The site features: Inter-linkages between child labor, education and poverty, Child labor myths, Child Labor Resource List, including curriculum and lessons plans, True Stories of child laborers turned advocates, Poetry and Art by US youth, Youth Action Plans to build community knowledge of child labor issues, Directory of youth clubs - big and small, established and new - working on global child labor issues across the country, Youth Action Toolkit on how to start a club, including a Club Registration Form and Activities Log, Quiz, interactive Youth Forum, and more... Initiate any discussion about child labor in the Youth Forum. Tell us about what you are doing by using the Activities Log. Test your knowledge of global child labor issues by taking the quiz. Tell your friends about this web site! Tell us what you think via the Contact Us page. Thank you. Beth Lindley
Workshop "Service Learning with a Human Rights Focus" HREA will be organizing a workshop on service learning during the Northeast Regional Conference on the Social Studies. This workshop demonstrates how a human rights-based approach can deepen students' critical engagement with the social justice component of service learning. Participants receive a copy of the new publication Human Rights Education and Service Learning Guide developed by Amnesty International-USA and Human Rights Education Associates (HREA). Participants take part in an activity from the new manual and engage in an overarching conversation of the value added from applying the human rights framework to service learning. Facilitators: Liz Sullivan and Felisa Tibbittts (HREA). This workshop is held during the Northeast Regional Conference on the Social Studies, March 13-16, 2006. Participants: middle school and high school teachers, and college/university professors Tuition, fee, lodging: Registration for Northeast Regional Conference on the Social Studies is required in order to participate in this workshop. Registration forms have to be submitted to the Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies. Registration form (in PDF format): http://www.masscouncil.org/NERC_PreRegistration.pdf Pre-registration deadline: February 15, 2006 For further information: HREA PO Box 382396 Cambridge, MA 02238 USA Tel: +1 978 341-0200 Fax: +1 978 341-0201 E-mail: nerc-workshop-2006@hrea.org Web: http://www.hrea.org
Women's Biography Sites http://home.earthlink.net/~sharynh/WBS.htm Within these pages, the reader can find information about women (and men) who have been or are presently mathematicians, computer scientists, artists, authors, inventors, and historical figures by connecting to the Internet address cited. The reader can choose from nine categories: Arts & Entertainment; Diversity, General; HerStory; International; Of Interest; Politics; Science, Math, & Technology; and Sports. There are thousands of biographies available on the more than 290 web sites listed.
Black History & Classical Music Black composers and musicians have enriched classical music for centuries. AfriClassical profiles over 50 Black composers and performers from Africa, Europe and the Americas. A Black History Quiz, audio samples and CD covers can also be found at www.AfriClassical.com
Young Politicians of America This website is amazing! It offers students a wonderful forum to discuss the issues, it fosters a sense of civic duty and gives schools across the country an opportunity to establish chapters of the YPA (Young Politicians of America). Their web address is www.ypa.org.
Ramadan Mubarak Curriculum unit for the primary level social studies classroom. Stories, poems, black line masters and lesson plans. 35 pp.
Mr. Mummert's Social Studies Sites A collection of sites intended to facilitate the integration of technology in the social studies classroom. Activities are specifically geared to a manipulative and interdisciplinary approach to the social studies. Activities and lessons are categorized by subject, time period, learning strategy, technology, and professional development.
Class Notes Online ClassNotesOnline is a way for teachers to communicate with students and parents by creating a FREE website. ClassNotesOnline allows teachers to keep students up to date and parents informed on the daily work, assignments, homework, and grades in all of their classes.
GenerationsEd - U.S. history, library skills, and more GenerationsEd (GenEd) is a creative resource that uses the theme of family history to bring U.S. history to life while developing library research skills, communications skills, and much more. GenEd can provide short term projects or be adapted to follow your history units through-out the school year. GenerationsEd is included with the boardgame Generations. The game uses deductive reasoning (like Clue - Parker Bros) as players search for their make believe ancestors, U.S. birthplaces, careers, and lifestyles. GenerationsEd's applications free students from "playing" the game while leveraging stories related to ancestors' lives. It can also be adapted for state history and provides means for introducing native American and international cultures as well.
Ecological Footprints: Thinking Critically about History Under a grant from the EPA, Redefining Progress has designed training programs for social studies and history teachers to incorporate the scientific and social aspects of humanity's use of renewable resources into classroom teaching, using the Ecological Footprint (EF). The EF is a scientifically reviewed framework for problem solving and critical thinking that challenges teachers to analyze history from a new perspective and helps students understand cumulative environmental impacts. The EF quiz can be found at www.myfootprint.org. The workshop materials can be found at www.rprogress.org/education.
North Korea and Nuclear Weapons: Teaching with the News "North Korea and Nuclear Weapons" is a free online teaching resources from the CHOICES Program (http://www.choices.edu) at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. Find the resource in the TEACHING WITH THE NEWS section of the Choices Program web site. Online resources include teaching materials, lesson plans, and vetted links to news sources. Resources are updated regularly. All resources--printed and online--are designed to engage secondary level students in deliberation on contested international issues.
The Genocide Education Project The Genocide Education Project proudly announces its formal establishment as a non-profit educational organization. The mission of The Genocide Education Project is to assist educators in teaching about human rights and genocide, particularly the Armenian Genocide, by developing and distributing instructional materials, providing access to teaching resources and organizing educational workshops. In addition to reaching out to public school districts about the importance of genocide and human rights education, organizing workshops for teachers, distributing resources and lesson plans to be used in the classroom, The Genocide Education Project maintains a website at http://www.TeachGenocide.org. This cyber-resource library was published specifically for teachers, providing resources for classroom use about the Armenian Genocide and other gross human rights violations. The Genocide Education Project has published a comprehensive binder for educators that includes step-by-step lessons to use in the classroom as well as information about other curriculum, videos, books, and discussion topics. The binder, "Human Rights and Genocide: A Case Study of the First Genocide of the 20th Century" is sponsored by the San Francisco Unified School District and was developed in close cooperation with San Francisco high school history teachers.
The Genocide Education Project began seven years ago as the Genocide Curriculum Project, one of the many public education initiatives of the Bay Area Armenian National Committee. When members recognized that the Armenian Genocide was generally not being taught in public schools, despite a 15-yr old California law mandating instruction of the Armenian Genocide, an effort was conceived to reach out to school districts, reminding them of the need for instruction on this crucial part of modern history. With the publication of the "Human Rights and Genocide" lesson plans and TeachGenocide.org website, volunteers began the process of establishing a new organization whose mission is to help institutionalize public education about the Armenian Genocide and the problem of genocide and human rights violations. Volunteers from Southern California, New York, Washington DC and Chicago joined the effort to reach school districts all over the country, and the process of establishing a new organization and receiving non-profit status began in 2004. Tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) status is now pending and expected to be complete within the coming year. For more information about the efforts of The Genocide Education Project please visit their website at http://www.GenocideEducation.org.
Educators for Social Responsibility's Online Teacher Center Educators for Social Responsibility announces its new Online Teacher Center at http://www.esrnational.org/otc/. Quickly find lessons and resources for K-12 on international security, conflict resolution, peacemaking, violence prevention, and social responsibility -- all free of charge and ready to be downloaded after simple registration. The OTC features a link library as well. ESR welcomes your ideas and comments.
CitizenJoe.org: a clear window on government http://CitizenJoe.org is a nonprofit site - created by a team of liberals, moderates, and conservatives - that offers a clear, unbiased window onto the policies and votes being debated in DC. With fact-based issue guides and up-to-date information on major bills being voted on in Congress, CitizenJoe aims to encourage open policy dialogue and greater civic engagement. While CitizenJoe's first aim is to make it easy for busy Americans to get the information they need to take a stand on the issues, it's also an excellent resource for young people learning about the connection between policy and government and for the teachers working with those students. In brief, CitizenJoe.org offers: weekly updates on the major bills being voted on in Congress, guides to key policy issues with facts and a balanced pro & con, and facts on over fifty policy areas with recommended links for readers who want to find out more.
Although the organizers of the site acknowledge that it's not possible to be 100% unbiased and balanced, they shoot to get as close as we can by creating and keeping a team that balances liberals with conservatives so they can be their own checks and balances.
Center on Congress Web Site The Center on Congress at Indiana University Web site provides students, teachers, and citizens with a wealth of resources for learning about the U.S. Congress including interactive activities, videos, articles and commentary, Q&A, and links to other great resources for learning about Congress. The site includes rich resources of several types: interactive e-learning modules; Lee Hamilton's "Comments on Congress"; audio files from the "Congressional Moment" radio series; short humorous "Facts of Congress" videos highlighting key historical facts about Congress; downloadable TIME for Kids mini magazines; streaming video of the "Close Up" television programs; background papers and reference materials, lesson plans for grades 4-12; and much more! The Web site focuses on several major themes related to Congress and representative democracy: the role of Congress, how Congress works, the legislative process, the impact of Congress, members of Congress and what they do, public criticisms of Congress, the importance of citizen participation, and how to learn about and contact Congress. The Web site and all resources from the Center are provided free of charge.
Please visit the Web site at http://congress.indiana.edu
Many Peoples, Many Histories: Exploring Native American Cultures of the United States This is an interdisciplinary project designed for middle-school students. It is driven by the national standards of several disciplines, including social studies, geography, and English language arts. The project provides students with the opportunity to master historical content, to learn how to conduct research, and to build upon their language and critical thinking skills as they assist a historical society in planning, organizing, advertising, and presenting an exhibit. Students become "authorities" on Native American history and culture as they engage in the activities throughout the project. The project is free to educators. Visit http://techknowassociates.com/projects/native.htm for more information. Or visit http://techknowassociates.com/projects/index.htm for a complete list of free projects that integrate technology into the curriculum.
Presidential Freedom Scholarships available now! (Deadline July 1, 2005) The Presidential Freedom Scholarships program recognizes high school juniors and seniors for their outstanding leadership and commitment to their communities by offering a $1,000 scholarship for college. The program, administered by Learn and Serve America at the Corporation for National and Community Service, provides $500, which must be matched with $500 from a community organization or business and secured by the high school.
Students who complete at least 100 hours of community service, either through a school-based service-learning program or independently are eligible to receive the scholarship. Each high school in the nation may select up to two students who have met and exceeded these requirements. This year the Corporation for National and Community Service is offering up to 7,800 scholarships. Certification forms completely submitted by April 1, 2005, are eligible for early notification. All other certification forms must be submitted by the final postmark deadline of July 1, 2005. For more information please visit: http://www.cns.gov/scholarships.
Teaching U.S. History with Traditional Folk Music Visit http://www.balladofamerica.com for songs, lyrics and background information that will enhance American History lessons from elementary school through college.
The 18-track CD "Ballad of America Volume 1" is available at the site. It tells the story of the United States of America through a wealth of traditional folk songs. The journey begins in the latter part of the eighteenth century when the United States of America became an independent nation. It follows the paths of the pioneers, sailors, lumberjacks, immigrants, '49ers, farmers, slaves, soldiers, cowboys, and railroaders who moved the country across the continent and into the twentieth century.
Teaching with the News TEACHING WITH THE NEWS (http://www.choices.edu/curriculum_twtn.cfm) is a free online teaching resource from the CHOICES Program (http://www.choices.edu) at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. Teaching with the News provides up-to-date resources on international topics such as Iraq after war, North Korea and nuclear weapons, responding to terrorism, global environment, defining genocide, Tsunami relief in the context of foreign aid, and America's role in the world. Online resources include teaching materials, lesson plans, and vetted links to news sources. Resources are updated regularly. All resources are designed to engage secondary level students in deliberation on contested international issues.
Clusty.com Government Tab The new website http://gov.clusty.com focuses exclusively on government and politics. The site lets you search government content, news, special reports and articles from policy think tanks, helping you and your students stay connected with policy decisions and perspectives on current events. Gov Tab has been created to be a one-stop resource for accessing information related to government and politics, combining Gov+ search with a number of specialized search collections, making it a fairly complex resource that includes:
Learning About the Silk Road The Grist Mill Gazette (http://www.gristmillgazette.com) from Reach And Teach.com is an online newspaper written by your class, based on a particular date, era or social issue. The Nueva School in Burlingame, CA was looking for an innovative way for kids to learn about the Silk Road and demonstrate their knowledge through research, creative writing, and art. Using the Grist Mill Gazette product, the students named their newspaper The Spitting Camel and got right to work on articles, editorials, political cartoons, drawings, crossword puzzles, and other creative ideas for communicating what they had learned about the Silk Road's rich and fascinating history. See what they created.
Contact Derrick Kikuchi at Reach and Teach, 415-586-1713 for more information.
Mightier than the Sword: Calligraphy of the 16th Century Imperial Courts This is a web-based curriculum unit designed to provide a creative and interactive approach to studying many of the major empires that dominated the world stage in the 15th and 16th centuries. Using Islamic calligraphy as an entry point, students learn about seven empires: the Songhay, Saadian, Mughal, Safavid, Ottoman, Ming, Tokugawa Shogunate, and the Hapsburg, from historical, literary and artistic angles. This free on-line tool is designed for high school students of World History, Literature, Art and Mathematics. It addresses national standards for 9th and 10th grade subject areas. It is a means of studying Arab and Islamic contributions to the arts and cultures of the world through a neutral lens that encourages research, dialogue and creative presentation. It also includes an extensive listing of resources for teachers and students to help in their exploration of Arab and Islamic culture. To access this exciting online resource, please visit http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/gallery/callig. Questions? Contact Jessica Robertson Wright, Cultural Coordinator of the Jerusalem Fund at (202) 338-1958 or jrwright@thejerusalemfund.org.
Winston Churchill Biography The Churchill Centre offers a free biography of Winston Churchill. Teachers, request the 160-page, lavishly-illustrated, hardcover book for your library at http://www.winstonchurchill.org. See "Teachers Only" at lower left. Use code: SW1 (offered while supplies last).
Written by his granddaughter, Celia Sandys, the book was published only in England to accompany the 3-hour PBS program aired there (and in the U.S. in October 2003). The book provides an excellent introduction and overview to Churchill's life and times. The book has been adopted as the official publication of the new Churchill Museum in London.
Making Sense of Place: Phoenix, The Urban Desert The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Northern Light Productions have produced a one hour documentary about urban growth and change entitled "Making Sense of Place: Phoenix, The Urban Desert". While Phoenix is the case study in this film, the issues covered in this film are applicable to many other cities and regions across the country, regardless of the size of the town or city. The lessons are designed to be adapted to the region, city or town where the lesson is being taught.
The 58-minute DVD is accompanied by an educators' kit on CD-ROM, containing lessons, for use in social studies courses in grades 7-12. Two video worksheets have been created for each grade. The lessons may be printed from PDFs. The film is tied to national Social Studies standards for geography, history, civics, government and economics. Web resources are also available. To order copies of the complete kit at $25 each you can contact Laurel Arndt, Outreach Education Manager at larndt@lincolninst.edu, or visit www.makingsenseofplace.org or call (800)526-3873.
Andy's American History Worksheets At http://andya.org teachers can find middle school worksheets on topics in American History. They have rhyming couplets on the front (good mnemonic device) and questions on the back. Covers just about everything in U.S. history up to the Civil War.
Free Lewis and Clark Curriculum The Official Lewis and Clark Curriculum is an integrated curriculum that links to NCSS Standards. It can be used within your existing curriculum to address such areas as Time, Continuity & Change . . . People, Places and Environments . . . Global Connections . . . and Civic Ideals and Practices. This must-bookmark Web site is available on-line. Go to http://www.lewisandclark200.org/curriculum and click "View Site!"
All Country Info http://www.allcountryinfo.org
All Country Info offers free detailed information on 200+ countries and territories spanning the entire world. Reference information includes national geography, econonomic data, demographic statistics, country maps and flags, descriptions of national military forces, overviews of each country's governmental structure, data on transportation and telecommunications, and more.
K12 STUDY CANADA http://www.wwu.edu/depts/castudies/k12studycanada/ The goal of the K-12 STUDY CANADA website is to provide teachers and students with a wealth of resources for teaching and learning about Canada. We offer workshops, teacher loan-kits, lesson plans, curriculum modules and extensive links to Canada-related websites.
K-12 STUDY CANADA represents the shared K-12 outreach efforts by the Canadian Studies Center, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies,University of Washington, and the Center for Canadian-American Studies, Western Washington University. Our centers jointly form the Pacific Northwest National Resource Center for Canada funded by the U.S. Department of Education under Title VI with the mandate to provide education to students, educators and the community about Canada.
Educational board game on commodities market North American kids today are growing up in an ever smaller world with homes filled with goods and produces from all over the globe. Moreover, as they grow these kids will do business with others to acquire those goods from around the world. StakXchange helps them to develop global competency in a fun and entertaining way by exposing them at an early age to the commodity market. Knowledge of the stock market is becoming a necessity in our world. STAKXCHANGE recently won two prestigious Awards: The Seal of Approval 2004 from the National Parenting Center and the 2004 Preferred Choice Award from Creative Child Magazine. "Think 'Monopoly' with enough twists and turns to keep everyone focused and having fun" commented the National Parenting Center. "It starts out slowly but builds to a crescendo of trading and speculating, that is frenzied and fun. A few parents said they wished they had played this game when they were younger." This exciting boardgame was also featured on CNN and TQS as a great educational product for kids and grown-ups.
For futher details, please visit http://www.StakXchange.com
Teaching about the Inauguration The Inaugural Address has become a presidential tradition. Where did this tradition begin? What is the historical significance of past presidents' inaugural addresses? What language have presidents used? What audiences were addressed?
Use the online archived video and discussion questions in C-SPAN in the Classroom's Inauguration resource to analyze how inaugural addresses have taken shape throughout American history, and how have they shaped the nation. Challenge students to make predictions about the tone and the language of George W. Bush's 2nd inaugural address. Visit http://www.c-span.org/classroom/govt/inauguration.asp
Teaching The Film: To Kill A Mockingbird Media educator Frank Baker has created a film study guide on-line for the classic "To Kill A Mockingbird." If you use this film in your classroom, you will want to visit the web resource, because the approach is one involving both the "language of film" and "media literacy." Extensive use of images from the film are used as well as advice for teachers on how to use the film on DVD. The URL for the website is: http://medialit.med.sc.edu/tkam.htm
PowerPoint Templates for Social Studies Teachers Do you want to deliver great PowerPoint presentations to your class, but don't have the time to put it all together? Teacher Jumpstarts (http://www.teacherjumpstarts.com) has created an incredible collection of custom-made PowerPoint templates designed specifically for social studies teachers. There are currently three different sets: World History, United States History and American Civics. Each one is packed with over 150 standards-aligned templates that are ready to use. For pricing and download information, please visit http://www.teacherjumpstarts.com.
Learning by Cartooning Web site created by two classes during the 2003-2004 school year. Includes lesson plans for using political/editorial cartoons and links to historical and contemporary political cartoons. Student created cartoons are included by topics in US history (immigration/migration, civil rights, etc.) http://www.learningbycartooning.org
"Interactive History" bilingual media series on DVD/CD Interactive History is a bilingual media series on selected historical topics. It is our goal to combine linear (DVD-video) and interactive (CD-ROM) media and thus to take new exciting paths on communicating knowledge. The series makes it possible to experience complex contents by vividly communicating background information and showing the interactions of innovations and technology with politics, society and economics. The Main Film (23 minutes), shot in England and Scotland, tells the dramatic story of the Industrial Revolution with specially shot location footage as well as archive films, photographs, interviews and animated sequences. The seven modules (6 to 9 minutes each) can be accessed individually. They give a more detailed analysis of the key areas of the Industrial Revolution. The DVD price includes a teaching licence, so that it can be used in the classroom without any further obstacles. The price is €49.90 and shipping rates depend on the country where it is to be sent to and how fast it should get there. Payments can be securely made with any major credit card via PayPal.
Further information can be found at: http://www.dokumentarfilm.com/en
Just War Theory http://www.JustWarTheory.com is a free, non-profit aid to research and instruction in just war theory, theoretical and empirical peace and war studies, military ethics, terrorism, nationalism, humanitarian intervention, international law, war crimes, U.S. foreign policy, and related current events. It has introductory materials appropriate for advanced high school and introductory college education, in addition to more advanced materials for professional scholars.
What's New -- November issue from the History/Social Studies for K-12 Teachers What's New -- November issue from the History/Social Studies for K-12 Teachers. See the large collection of Updates back to 2001 and the Archive that includes previous years (the page has been online over ten years). http://home.comcast.net/~dboals1/new1129.html
Current events and geography: Free weekly feature For the past three years, I've produced "Around the World With Nellie Bly," a weekly geography-in-the-news feature for the Post-Star in Glens Falls, NY. Because it is written on deadline, it would be tough to market to other papers, so we've decided to make it available free to teachers. The feature updates late Tuesday each week. We keep the most recent five episodes on the site, but you'd do well to use it as soon as possible each week, since it often refers to immediate events. (Nellie once had a nationwide scoop shared only with the Washington Post!) We write it at a level upper elementary students can understand, but it's applicable for middle and high school as well.
Download the PDF files at: http://www.nelliebly.org
PowerPoint Templates for Social Studies Teachers Do you want to deliver great PowerPoint presentations to your class, but don't have the time to put it all together? Teacher Jumpstarts (http://www.teacherjumpstarts.com) has created an incredible collection of custom-made PowerPoint templates designed specifically for social studies teachers. There are currently three different sets: World History, United States History and American Civics. Each one is packed with over 150 standards-aligned templates that are ready to use. Selling for only $35.00 per collection and they can be downloaded today.
Primary Source Lesson Plans Primary Source is a professional development organization in Watertown, Mass. that brings together scholars and social studies teachers for document-based examination China, inclusive American history, the Middle East and West Africa. Our site now includes several lesson plans on China and the U.S., created by teachers, for teachers, in our summer seminars. Go to http://www.primarysource.org/library/curriculum.htm to view available lessons.
Tire Tracks- Interactive, web-based, Africa-based program Through the Tire Tracks dedicated Teachers and Kids websites (http://www.tiretracks.org), students and teachers can discover the sights, sounds and stories of Africa's diverse regions and cultures with the Tire Tracks Explorers. During our two-year long, overland African expedition through 35 countries, we will provide students and teachers with interactive, multi-media content from the field that reinforces concepts taught in social studies, science, technology and reflective writing courses. Students and teachers can access daily and bi-weekly content, participate in monthly and semester-end projects with other classes, and interact frequently with the Tire Tracks Explorers. Students and teachers will also have the opportunity to exchange questions and ideas with the estimated 1,000+ participating classrooms, as well as our pilot schools in the USA, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. With our innovative program, we aim to make the traditional learning experience more fun, dynamic and alive, while also helping students to improve their understanding and appreciation of African cultures as well as their own, and better prepare them to make informed and balanced decisions on a global, local and personal level. Read more about the program at http://www.tiretracks.org.
GenerationsEd-web GenerationsEd-web (TM Genealogy for Fun) is a free resource for educators (schools, libraries, museums, etc) that is based upon Generations(TM) - the game of family history. Students use "facts" of U.S. birthplace, career, lifestyle, and time in history to develop stories. The stories enhance U.S. history education while also developing library research and communications skills. Find out more at http://www.genealogy4fun.com/genedweb.html
Cases & Materials on American Federalism The free publicly accessible version of "Cases and Materials on American Federalism" developed for use in American Government courses at Purdue University (Calumet). The site contains over two hundred pages of essays, historical documents [American, British, and English], a timeline, a glossary, edited court cases, review questions, and a variety of other free resources. Please note: This is an academic site. It is neither affiliated with any political group, nor is it a commercial enterprise. The site is funded as part of a public/private partnership between Purdue? Dept. of History and Political Science and a supportive law firm that donates the high-speed server space and bandwidth. The site has been listed / indexed in a number of significant academic databases in the UK and the US.
The site is found at: http://www.agh-attorneys.com/3_camo_contents.htm
Battles of Saratoga DVD/VHS From Videos For Change, this exciting new program provides educators with the most complete resource relating to the Battles of Saratoga. Complete with a study guide that can be downloaded and printed off the internet or accessed using the CD-ROM feature of the DVD, this 32 minute program will enhance any classroom discussion of this historic battle. For more information and clips of "Battles of Saratoga" as well as of our other films, please visit http://www.videosforchange.com
Civil War Music and Materials Unit The Civil War Music Store (http://civilwarmusicstore.com) has a materials unit available that is geared specifically to the music presented in Bobby Horton's albums. It has:
Texas Tides Texas Tides, originally called Tides in Early Texas History, was funded in 2002-2003 by a Texas Infrastructure Fund Board's (TIFF) LB-9-12 month competitive grant. Through this collaborative digital project, a platform was created for memory institutions, educators, and schools to work together to enhance learning experiences for students, to bridge gaps between academic disciplines, and to increase and promote virtual access to unique cultural collections. Highlights of the Tides in Early Texas History project include: A web site designed to meet the needs of 4th and 7th grade Texas history teachers and students with both chronological and cultural access to eastern Texas history from prehistory through 1900, Over 10,000 digitized primary sources, 26 lesson plans for 4th and 7th grade teachers that highlight the required Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) met by each activity, Examples of student projects, using Texas Tides, complete with planning material and rubrics, Tools for educators to teach information literacy and encourage life long learning, Virtual reference service through a web link to QuestionPoint.
You can visit the Texas Tides website at: http://tides.sfasu.edu.
DocuSeek: An Educational Film Database DocuSeek is a unique search site. It allows users to simultaneously search the combined collections of America's leading postsecondary documentary film and video distributors. Included in the DocuSeek database are over 2,850 award-winning independent documentary, social issue and educational videos. Best of all, access to DocuSeek is free of charge and no registration is required. DocuSeek currently searches the collections of seven leading distributors: Bullfrog Films, Direct Cinema, Fanlight Productions, First Run/Icarus Films, Frameline, New Day Films, and Women Make Movies. The titles included cover every discipline ranging from Anthropology to Zoology. Hundreds of new titles are added every year, and the combined collections encompass decades of audiovisual history.
The DocuSeek search engine enables users to search by grade level, length, filmmaker, film title, country, year, and multiple keywords. There are basic and advanced search pages. The DocuSeek site also includes recommended listings of other educational resources, including Associations, Journals, Reviews, and Sites. You will find DocuSeek at http://www.DocuSeek.com
Tire Tracks: an interactive, Africa-based program Through the Tire Tracks dedicated Teachers and Kids websites (http://www.tiretracks.org), students and teachers can discover the sights, sounds and stories of Africa's diverse regions and cultures with the Tire Tracks Explorers. During our two-year long, overland African expedition through 35 countries, we will provide students and teachers with interactive, multi-media content from the field that reinforces concepts taught in social studies, science, technology and reflective writing courses. Students and teachers can access daily and bi-weekly content, participate in monthly and semester-end projects with other classes, and interact frequently with the Tire Tracks Explorers. Students and teachers will also have the opportunity to exchange questions and ideas with the estimated 1,000+ participating classrooms, as well as our pilot schools in the USA, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. With our innovative program, we aim to make the traditional learning experience more fun, dynamic and alive, while also helping students to improve their understanding and appreciation of African cultures as well as their own, and better prepare them to make informed and balanced decisions on a global, local and personal level. Read more about the program at http://www.tiretracks.org.
InspirEd U.S. & State Studies These two gigantic units are PACKED with varied and engaging lessons and skill activities. Part I provides a geographical overview and covers history through the Civil War. Part II traces history from Reconstruction through modern issues. Learn more about these wonderful resources at http://www.inspirededucators.com.
The Power of One This thorough, well-organized resource by InspirEd Educators is invaluable for service-learning programs! Varied lessons motivate students to become involved in their world and guide them step-by-step through the research process to develop and implement a service project. Go to http://www.inspirededucators.com for more information.
Everything You Need to Teach World Studies InspirEd Educators offers comprehensive, thought-provoking, multi-disciplinary units for North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Oceania. Recently updated, each of these valuable resources provides dozens of engaging and varied activities. Everything is included: skill development, tests, rubrics, technology; you name it. Go to http://www.inspirededucators.com for additional information.
Lesson Plan Writing Contest with Cash Prize The Rock & Roll Library is proud to announce that Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Want to Be" has been selected as the theme song for the 2004-05 Song Lesson Contest. RRL and Gavin will visit the winner's school for a performance and Q&A spring 2005. The contest challenges educators to create a lesson plan for any subject and topic based on Gavin's song. Possible subjects include: civics, health, math, music, art and English. Lessons will be judged based on creativity, educational content and how well they meet educational standards. All submissions must be made online at RockLibrary.com. The Grand Prize includes a cash award and an in-school concert by J Records Recording Artist Gavin DeGraw.
For further information go to http://www.rocklibrary.com or email jenhicks@rocklibrary.com. The contest homepage is http://www.rocklibrary.com/Library/Entity.aspx?id=78fe312d-8fa5-49b3-91a5-0194670613ef.
Understanding Taxes The IRS Educational Web site combines three IRS educational kits into a single resource center. Readers can find lessons on the nation's history of taxation, tax return preparation for high school classes and the economics of taxes. The site is divided into a student section and an educator section. The teacher home page includes detailed lesson plans along with numerous interactive student activities, student assessments and presentations. The student home page offers links to student lessons, word puzzles, tax trivia questions, story problems and examples of how and why taxes affect and influence our daily lives. Tax filing simulations deliver real-life applications for today's students. All lessons are correlated to both national and state educational standard and curriculum area. The site conforms to the accessibility requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. In cases where student activities require the user to use drag-n-drop capabilities, the sight-impaired user has the same activity in an appropriate format. http://www.irs.gov/app/understandingTaxes/index.jsp
Core Democratic Values Resources Visit: http://www.teachersongs.com
Learning Core Democratic Values through role play activities, speeches, and songs. Handy for teachers K-8.
BROADWAY on PBS October 19-21 Many NCSS members who teach high school will soon be receiving free teacher's guides to accompany BROADWAY: THE AMERICAN MUSICAL, a six-part series airing from October 19-21 on PBS. The guide includes a music CD with six classic songs from Broadway, activities that explore history and culture in the American musical, program descriptions, biographies, discussion questions, suggested resources, and more. Because of the unpredictability of the mail, Thirteen's Educational Publishing Department strongly urges NCSS members to videotape BROADWAY: THE AMERICAN MUSICAL. Teachers have the right to tape the programs and play them for instructional purposes for one year after the broadcast. Additional teacher's guides are available from guiderequest@thirteen.org. Please be aware that supplies are limited.
PBS Documentary about five diverse teenage musicians "Soundmix: Five Young Musicians" will air nationally on PBS October 7 at 10pm ET (check local listings). The one-hour program tells the stories of five teenage musicians with deep connections to different musical traditions in the United States. "Soundmix" brings together a jazz horn player from New Orleans, an old-time fiddler from rural West Virginia, a classical cellist and rock bassist from San Francisco, a Native American flutist from Idaho and a Latin percussionist from New York City. Through hometown profiles and scenes from a three-day workshop where the musicians meet for the first time, the program explores the music, cultures and mentors that fuel the passions of these young players. Accompanying the broadcast is a website that includes a lesson plan for middle- and high-school social studies and music classes. The lesson plan is designed to help students gain a better understanding of music's connection to history and culture, the power of music in people's lives, and different musical cultures in America.
For more information about the program and purchasing tapes for classroom use, please visit http://www.freerangeproductions.org
Independence Road Trip video now available More than half a million visitors watched the dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence as our Road Trip toured across the country. Now, due to overwhelming demand, the video is available at http://www.DeclareYourself.com (click on "ORDER STUFF") This dramatic 14-minute reading, hosted by Morgan Freeman, features actors Kathy Bates, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Douglas, Mel Gibson, Whoopi Goldberg, Graham Greene, Ming-Na, Edward Norton, Winona Ryder, Kevin Spacey and Renée Zellweger. Also included is The Declaration of Independence: Preserving Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, a 10-minute film starring Reese Witherspoon, about the history of our nation's birth certificate and the importance of civic activism.
There are only 5,000 copies left, so please order now. This video can be purchased
online for $10.00 -- but ONLY UNTIL OCTOBER 30, 2004.
New Online Journal from the Gilder Lehrman Institute The Gilder Lehrman Institute is pleased to announce the launch of HISTORY NOW, an exciting new online journal for history teachers and students, now available on the Web at http://www.historynow.org. HISTORY NOW features articles by noted historians as well as lesson plans, links to related websites, bibliographies, and many other resources. In each issue, the editors will bring together historians, master teachers and archivists to comment on a single historical theme. Don't miss the first issue of HISTORY NOW, which tackles a topic at the forefront of current debate: Elections. In this issue, Joanne Freeman discusses the contested election of 1800, Liette Gidlow looks at television's effect on the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates, Steven Mintz examines the history of voting rights, and Ted Widmer reflects on the electoral process from the perspective of Muslim exchange students.
Visit us at http://www.historynow.org.
Justice Learning Justice Learning is an innovative, issue-based approach for engaging high school students in informed political discourse. The web site uses audio from the Justice Talking radio show and articles from The New York Times to teach students about reasoned debate and the often-conflicting values inherent in our democracy. The web site, http://www.justicelearning.org, includes articles, editorials and oral debate from the nation's finest journalists and advocates. All of the material is supported by age-appropriate summaries and additional links. In addition, for each covered issue, the site includes curricular material from The New York Times Learning Network for high school teachers and detailed information about how each of the institutions of democracy (the courts, the Congress, the presidency, the press and the schools) affect the issue.
Much of the traditional civics curricula begin with an historical perspective and move forward. The lessons start from a point distant from students' lives. Justice Learning reverses traditional methods by starting with current issues that directly affect their lives. The curricula engage them early with a multimedia set of online materials and then relate it to the historical context that generated it. In doing so, the project incorporates into its methodology the new reality of where students turn for information and how they learn.
Federal Court Concepts Module | |
