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Annenberg Classroom

Common Core State Standards

Each pdf lesson plan has a comprehensive list of Common Core ELA standards alignment. Refer to the lesson plan for more details.

12 resources available

Handout

Battle for Emancipation and Full Citizenship: A Journey from Dred Scott to the 15th Amendment

This high school lesson plan is designed to accompany the film “Juneteenth” and encourages students to consider the connections between historical events before, during and after the Civil War that charted the course to citizenship for enslaved people in the United States. Students will also examine societal reactions to the emancipation of enslaved people and how the resulting conflicts necessitated the need for the three Reconstruction Amendments.

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Second Amendment: Why Is It Controversial?

This lesson will engage students in the history of the Second Amendment and how its meaning and importance have changed over time. Students will examine various eras in U.S. history that shaped the debate: the American Revolution; the Civil War and Reconstruction; the 1930s and Prohibition; the assassinations in the 1960s; and the Supreme Court decisions in D.C. v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010). Finally, students will be challenged to rewrite the amendment to make it more accessible to the world today.

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Freedom of Assembly: The Right to Protest

This lesson will focus on freedom of assembly, as found in the First Amendment. Students will consider the importance of the right to assemble and protest by analyzing cases where First Amendment rights were in question. Using the case National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie, students will consider if the government is ever allowed to control the ability to express ideas in public because viewpoints are controversial, offensive, or painful. Students will use primary sources and Supreme Court cases to consider whether the courts made the correct decision in the National Socialist Party v. Skokie case. Students will be able to form an opinion on the essential question: Is the government ever justified to restrict the freedom to assemble?

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Magna Carta’s Influence on the Constitution

Students will learn about the principles that undergird the Magna Carta and how they have influenced important legal documents. More specifically, students will evaluate the Magna Carta’s impact on the U.S. Constitution.

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Rights at Risk in Wartime

This lesson explores the four Supreme Court cases known as the Guantanamo cases. These cases are examples of how the Court, the president and even Congress fought to balance national security and civil liberties during the war on terror, a war that continues to this day.

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Understanding the Confrontation Clause

In this lesson, students will explore the fundamental reasons for the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment. Students will engage in a simulation and identify the history and evolution of the confrontation clause.

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Your Right to Remain Silent: Miranda v. Arizona

This lesson explores the landmark Supreme Court case that made law enforcement the protectors of individual liberty where people are most vulnerable – in the interrogation room.

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Making Our Fourth Amendment Right Real: Mapp v. Ohio

This lesson explores the landmark Supreme Court decision that makes state governments also responsible for protecting our Fourth Amendment right. With the exclusionary rule, this right becomes real for all of us.

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Our Heritage of Liberty: The Bill of Rights

This lesson explores one of the toughest political fights in American history – over a bill of rights for individuals – and the outcome that became a symbol of liberty and freedom in America.