Teaching the Constitution
Use this guide to find videos, lesson plans and games that connect to the articles and amendments in the Constitution.
The Origin and Nature of the Constitution
- Handout: Magna Carta’s Influence on the Constitution
- Video: Magna Carta and the Constitution – History (20 minutes)
- Video: Magna Carta and the Constitution (27 minutes)
- Handout: Key Constitutional Concepts: Creating a Constitution
- Handout: A Conversation on Judicial Interpretation
- Video: Our Constitution: A Conversation with Justices Stephen Breyer and Sandra Day O’Connor (29 minutes)
- Video: Key Constitutional Concepts (60 minutes)
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia: Judicial Interpretation (37 minutes)
Separation of Powers
Three Branches of Government
- Handout: Rights at Risk in Wartime
- Handout: Actions That Changed the Law: Ledbetter v. Goodyear
- Video: Habeas Corpus: The Guantanamo Cases (25 minutes)
- Video: A Call to Act: Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. (23 minutes)
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justice Stephen Breyer: Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. (9 minutes)
- Game: Branches of Power
Article I: The Legislative Branch
- Timeline: Article I
- Timeline: Article I – War Powers
- Handout: How a Bill Becomes a Federal Law
- Handout: One School’s Fight: The Making of a Law
- Video: Legislative Process: How a Bill Becomes a Federal Law (19 minutes)
- Video: One School’s Fight: The Making of a Law (20 minutes)
- Timeline: Article I – Commerce Clause
- Game: LawCraft
Article II: The Executive Branch
- Video: Mandate: The President and the People
- Timeline: Article II – Treaty-Making Authority
- Handout: Key Constitutional Concepts: Presidential Power
- Video: Key Constitutional Concepts (60 minutes)
- Video: Presidential Signing Statements
- Game: Executive Command
Article III: The Judicial Branch
- Handout: What Are the Challenges to Judicial Independence?
- Handout: State vs. Federal Courts
- Handout: The Nature of Judicial Independence
- Handout: Is the Supreme Court Different?
- Handout: How Do Judges Decide Cases?
- Handout: Deciding Difficult Cases
- Video: Fair and Impartial Judiciary Symposium
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justice Stephen Breyer: The Nature of Dissent in the Supreme Court (18 minutes)
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.: The Origin, Nature and Importance of the Supreme Court (37 minutes)
- Handout: An Independent Judiciary: Cherokee Nation v. Georgia and Cooper v. Aaron
- Handout: Judicial Independence: Essential, Limited, Controversial
- Handout: A Conversation on the Nature, Origin and Importance of the Supreme Court
- Video: The Role of the Courts (22 Minutes)
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justices Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor: Judicial Independence (32 minutes)
- Video: An Independent Judiciary: Cherokee Nation v. Georgia and Cooper v. Aaron (34 minutes)
- Game: Court Quest
The Amendments and Landmark Cases
- Handout: Why the Bill of Rights Matters to You (2 class periods)
- Video: The Story of the Bill of Rights (16 minutes)
- Handout: Our Heritage of Liberty: The Bill of Rights
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justice Stephen Breyer: Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. (9 minutes)
- Game: Annenberg Classroom’s That’s Your Right
First Amendment: Freedom of Speech, Religion, and Press
- Video: First Amendment: New York Times v Sullivan (25 min)
- Handout: Striking a Balance on Student Free Speech
- Video: First Amendment: Student Freedom of Speech
- Video: Freedom of Assembly: National Socialist Party v. Skokie (29 minutes)
- Handout: Defenders of Liberty: The People and the Press
- Handout: Freedom of Speech: Finding the Limits
- Video: Freedom of the Press: New York Times v. United States (25 minutes)
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justices Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor: Freedom of Speech (29 minutes)
- Timeline: First Amendment – Freedom of the Press
- Timeline: First Amendment – Freedom of Speech
- Timeline: First Amendment – Freedom of Religion
- Timeline: First Amendment
Fourth Amendment: Freedom from Unreasonable Search and Seizure
- Handout: Making Our Fourth Amendment Right Real: Mapp v. Ohio
- Video: Search and Seizure: Mapp v. Ohio (25 minutes)
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justice Sandra Day O’Connor: Search and Seizure (17 min)
- Timeline: Fourth Amendment
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Amendments: Juries and Trials
- Timeline: Fifth Amendment
- Handout: Your Right to Remain Silent: Miranda v. Arizona
- Handout: Jury Service: Our Duty and Privilege as Citizens
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justice Anthony Kennedy: Miranda v. Arizona (25 minutes)
- Video: Right to Remain Silent: Miranda v. Arizona (25 minutes)
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justices Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor: Jury Service (10 minutes)
- Video: FAQs: Juries (40 minutes)
- Timeline: Fifth Amendment – Takings Clause
- Timeline: Sixth Amendment – Right to Trial by Impartial Jury
- Timeline: Fifth Amendment – Right to Due Process
- Timeline: Fifth Amendment – Right Against Self-Incrimination
- Timeline: Fifth Amendment – Protection Against Double Jeopardy
Sixth Amendment: Right to a Speedy Trial, Impartial Jury, Confrontation of Witnesses, and Counsel
- Timeline: Sixth Amendment
- Handout: Justice for All in the Courtroom
- Handout: Understanding the Confrontation Clause
- Video: The Confrontation Clause: Crawford v. Washington (25 minutes)
- Handout: Key Constitutional Concepts: Right to Counsel
- Handout: Jury Selection on Trial
- Video: Key Constitutional Concepts (60 minutes)
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justice Anthony Kennedy: Miranda v. Arizona (25 minutes)
- Video: Jury Selection: Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Company (23 minutes)
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justices Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor: The Right to Trial by an Impartial Jury (9 minutes)
- Timeline: Sixth Amendment – Right to Be Informed of Criminal Charges
- Timeline: Sixth Amendment – Right to Assistance of Counsel
- Timeline: Sixth Amendment – Right to Speedy Trial
- Game: Sixth Amendment Interactive
Fourteenth Amendment: Due Process, Equal Protection, and Discrimination
- Handout: Civil Liberties vs. National Security: A Wartime Balancing Act (3 class periods)
- Timeline: 14th Amendment
- Handout: Key Constitutional Concepts: Right to Counsel
- Handout: One Person, One Vote: Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims
- Handout: A Conversation on the Fourteenth Amendment (42 minutes)
- Handout: Equal Justice Under Law: Yick Wo v. Hopkins
- Handout: The Power of One Decision: Brown v. Board of Education
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justice Anthony Kennedy: The Importance of the Yick Wo Case (29 minutes)
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Fourteenth Amendment (42 minutes)
- Video: One Person, One Vote: Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims (26 minutes)
- Video: Korematsu and Civil Liberties (27 minutes)
- Video: Jury Selection: Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Company (23 minutes)
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justices Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor: The Importance of the Japanese Internment Cases (36 minutes)
- Video: A Conversation on the Constitution with Justices Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor: Brown v. Board of Education (26 minutes)
- Video: Yick Wo and the Equal Protection Clause (20 minutes)
- Video: Thurgood
- Handout: A Conversation on the Japanese Internment Cases