While the state constitutions were being created, the Continental Congress continued to meet as a general political body. Despite being the central government, it was a loose confederation and most significant power was held by the individual states. By 1777 members of Congress realized that they should have some clearly written rules for how they were organized. As a result the Articles of Confederation were drafted and passed by the Congress in November.

What did it mean to think like an American? Once the colonists had thrown off the burdens and controls of England, the possibilities for political, social and artistic creativity and experimentation seemed limitless.

The arts reflect the society that creates them. Nowhere is this truer than in the case of the ancient Greeks. Through their temples, sculpture, and pottery, the Greeks incorporated a fundamental principle of their culture: arete. To the Greeks, arete meant excellence and reaching one's full potential.

This 8th grade unit highlights main events of the Civil Rights Movement and navigates to the life of Jackie Robinson and watching the movie 42.

8th Grade Historical Literacy consists of two 43 minute class periods. Writing is one 43 minute block and reading is another. The teacher has picked themes based on social studies standards, and a read-aloud novel based on social studies serves as the mentor text for writing and reading skills. More social studies content is addressed in reading through teaching nonfiction reading skills and discussion.

V is for vocabulary. A content area unit provides the theme for a specialized ABC book, as students select, research, define, and illustrate a word for each alphabet letter.

In this special revised and updated feature for Black History Month, teachers, parents, and students will find a collection of NEH-supported websites and EDSITEment-developed lessons that tell the four-hundred-year old story of African Americans from slavery through freedom and citizenship to the presidency.

Overview: This Anne Frank unit is designed with several lessons of various lengths. These lessons are usable in many different disciplines. Using one, several, or all of the lessons will address the unit's objectives to some degree. Students will accomplish some or all of the objectives depending on the number and nature of the lessons in which they participate.

"A lot of people thought we were an overnight sensation," says The Beatles' Paul McCartney in The Beatles: Eight Days a Week “The Touring Years," "but they were wrong." Indeed, though to many fans The Beatles seem to have been a big bang, bursting from Liverpudlian obscurity to international stardom with their 1963 debut album Please Please Me, quite the opposite is true. Between 1960-63, The Beatles worked. They were, after all, young men from the working classes of Liverpool, a city still recovering from World War II. They worked to earn money for basic necessities, playing pub sets both day and night and performing lengthy residencies in Hamburg, Germany, one of which included a stretch of 104 consecutive shows. They worked on repertoire, learning dozens of "cover" songs spanning several genres. They worked on their group sound, playing several sets a night and fine tuning the skills that helped them "hold" audiences at the dance floor, even those who may not have come specifically to see them.

In this curriculum unit, students look at the role of President as defined in the Constitution and consider the precedent-setting accomplishments of George Washington.

Students will discuss the definition of a biography and determine what elements it contains. They will research a famous person and create a web graphic organizer with key achievements and personal information from their life. Peer feedback will be given on the web creation and then an oral presentation will be given.

Students must think critically to create comic strips highlighting six important scenes from a book they have read.

Through a series of picture book read-alouds, students engage in critical discussion of complex issues of race, class, and gender.

The students are introduced to the research process through an assignment (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aV1canXyzEv0imNlA3VgYuAqXqJV4ax7xv0opIt4mtQ/edit?usp=sharing) that requires them to perform research on an individual who has had to overcome challenges and has benefitted others (eg. Jackie Robinson)

I want to work towards making them more savvy researchers as well as more digitally literate. I envision this lesson as part of a focus on conducting quality research. Another lesson, probably prior to this, would be on identifying credible sources of research. A follow-up lesson could easily be on performing effective web searches in research.

Drawing on the resources of the Library of Congress's Printed Ephemera Collection, this lesson helps students experience the news as the colonists heard it: by means of broadsides, notices written on disposable, single sheets of paper that addressed virtually every aspect of the American Revolution.

Before learning the format and features of The Constitution, the students  have a chapter that relates the challenges to governing post Revolutionary War and subsequent failure of our first form of government (The Articles of Confederation) during Shays's Rebellion.  During this chapter they represent historical characters present at the convention and have a series of debates to settle the pressing issues of the time (how states should be represented in government, how slaves should be counted, and how to elect a president).

For this lesson students will learn how to create a Works Cited page in MLA. They will watch a video, play games, and read a handbook to learn the many steps and processes required in a Works Cited page.

This lesson plan looks at the major ideas in the Declaration of Independence, their origins, the Americans' key grievances against the King and Parliament, their assertion of sovereignty, and the Declaration's process of revision.

This curriculum unit explores some of the most important arguments of those opposing or supporting the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Using their new skills in deconstructing advertisements, students will look at advertisements through the lens of gender.  Students will be encouraged to critically analyze the cultural stereotypes for men and women. Students will deconstruct advertisements based on gender representation.Rationale: Students will begin to see how believing in stereotypes can lead towards a negative self image for men and women.  This is Part 4 of a 5 part Unit: Media Manipulation: What Are They Really Saying?