It’s like solving a puzzle!” was the consensus of students fascinated by transcribing letters of a Civil War soldier. They were using a curriculum developed for middle- and high-school classroom through a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, a division of the National Archives. The curriculum has been tested in classrooms and a summer camp. It is available on the website of the Historical Society of Cheshire County, who with Keene State College and Keene High School, comprised the grant team. The URL is: http://hsccnh.org/education/making-history-now/…

An examination of the two featured letters, one by a Leavenworth prisoner and the other by his warden, to President Wilson's attorney general, can spark an engaging study of America's criminal justice system and the Eighth Amendment.

Examining photographs of women participating in elections around the world can help students make important connections to the Nineteenth Amendment and prompt a fascinating comparative study of women’s voting rights worldwide.

Students will gain a deeper understanding of issues related to the First Amendment and religious freedom when they study two renowned Supreme Court flag-saluting cases.

A close look at the struggle to pass the 13th Amendment will ignite a stimulating classroom debate on the legacies of slavery that persist today.

The 100th anniversary year of the Nineteenth Amendment offers an important opportunity to deepen student understanding of the women’s suffrage movement.

The featured documents related to the Equal Rights Amendment can launch an engaging lesson on the significance of the ERA and on how constitutional amendments are ratified.

* The Pledge of Allegiance, its history, and the addition of the phrase "under God" can serve as a jumping off point into major themes of U.S. history and First Amendment freedoms. Here is a free article in Social Education, September 2013 by Eric C. Groce, Tina Heafner, and Elizabeth Bellows: https://www.socialstudies.org/publications/socialeducation/september2013/under_god_and_pledge_allegiance. * After reading that lesson plan and article (above), teachers (and students) can examine the hand-typed sermon that inspired President Eisenhower to support inserting the phrase "Under God" into…

Learning the stories of Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Stacey Abrams can deepen students’ understanding of the long and ongoing struggle for voting rights in the United States.

Teaching about Title IX presents rich opportunities to involve students in inquiry-based learning that examines the legacy of this groundbreaking legislation.