This article explains how interest groups differ from political parties, how to evaluate the different types of interests and what they do and to compare public and private interest groups. It also describes how interest groups influence the government through elections and through the lawmaking processes.
*Remixed to add student questions to engage them with the material.

This article explains how interest groups differ from political parties, how to evaluate the different types of interests and what they do and to compare public and private interest groups. It also describes how interest groups influence the government through elections and through the lawmaking processes. Remix made to make it easier to understand.

Students will play an interactive game while learning how to be internet smart. Students will learn the fundamentals of digital literacy: sharing, kindness, security, determining what's real and what's fake, and reporting. This game comes with a full curriculum guide: https://storage.googleapis.com/gweb-interland.appspot.com/en-us/hub/pdfs/Google_BeInternetAwesome_DigitalCitizenshipSafety_2019Curriculum.pdf

The Aaron Burr treason trial in John Marshall’s court is one of America’s most important chapters. Just three years after the deadly Hamilton duel, President Thomas Jefferson had Aaron Burr charged with treason for plotting to carve out a kingdom for himself from parts of Louisiana and Mexico. The ensuing “trial of the century” in 1807 Richmond, VA, captivated a young nation. Accusations of treason. Claims of presidential privilege. The rule of law. Some things endure.What happened to Aaron Burr? Was he found guilty of treason? Watch The King of Crimes to find out.

Students will read General Order #3, the order that notified enslaved people in Texas that the Civil War had ended and they were to be emancipated. They will then analyze a primary source broadside from the Virginia Museum of History and Culture related to the earliest celebrations of Juneteenth. They will then be asked to write a letter to a member of their division’s central office regarding the celebration of Juneteenth.

The students will learn the reason for the creation of HBCUs in the United States. The students will analyze primary resource image frames through the two Google Jamboards: KWL and drag and drop the Virginia HBCUs and Fraternities and Sororities. 

Law & Order, Philadelphia Style; The city that just elected a civil rights lawyer as D.A. is the same city presided over for years by "Mayor Cop" Frank Rizzo.

The students will analyze the rise of violent activities against African Americans after the Civil War which lead to the addition of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. Begin with a KWL Jamboard (also attached, in a PDF format) which also includes an activity in analyzing primary resources about lynching.  Students will then develop their own 5-day trip itinerary using the Negro Green Book (see the list of free PDF versions for various years) as a travel reference guide. The objective of the lesson is to have the students understand the perils faced by US citizens of color during the Jim Crow Era and how prevalent the dangers were in some areas of the United States at that time. The teacher may wish to use a formative assessment in the form of an exit ticket (see attached). 

Legends and Lore; A roadside marker program in New York State embraces the gray area between official history and local lore.

In this lesson, students examine the poetry of Amanda Gorman, who was chosen to read her poem “The Hill We Climb” at President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021. Gorman’s poem will complement Biden’s message and themes of “unity.”

Students will use their knowledge and understanding of the lives and contributions of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln with focus on the Civil War era by reconstructing key aspects of their lives that connect them to the Civil War.

9 weeks Project designed to have Government students research and find how the Consititution is still useful in today's times. 

Like so many other government agencies during the New Deal, HOLC and its parent bureau, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, shaped Americans' lives and livelihoods profoundly during and after the Great Depression of the 1930s. Both proved critical to protecting and expanding home ownership, to standardizing lending practices, and to encouraging residential and commercial real estate investment in a flagging economy. Across the middle third of the twentieth century, arguably the most prosperous decades in American history, these agencies worked with public and private sector partners to create millions of jobs and help millions of Americans buy or keep their homes. At the very same time, federal housing programs helped codify and expand practices of racial and class segregation. They ensured, moreover, that rampant real estate speculation and environmental degradation would accompany America's remarkable economic recovery and growth.

This is part of a series of lessons commissioned by the Democracy Project at the University of Virginia centered around the podcast Democracy in Danger.Democracy in Danger  lessons share some basic characteristics.   In each of these inquiries, the explicit or implicit question is, “What should we do about .. “ because that is an essential question we must ask of all of our citizens.   Additionally,  Democracy in Danger lessons  will lead students through a problem analysis characterized by the 4A approach (assses the problem, analyze the causes and effects of the problem, address  potential solutions to the problem, act on a potential solution.   We hope to make this type of problem analysis process a routine that young people can transfer to any new challenge that we face in our democracy and that it will pave the way for healthy deliberation with their fellow students, to collaboratively act together, and to forge healthy civic friendships that will strengthen our democracy. 

This is part of a series of lessons commissioned by the Democracy Project at the University of Virginia centered around the podcast Democracy in Danger.Democracy in Danger  lessons share some basic characteristics.   In each of these inquiries, the explicit or implicit question is, “What should we do about .. “ because that is an essential question we must ask of all of our citizens.   Additionally,  Democracy in Danger lessons  will lead students through a problem analysis characterized by the 4A approach (assses the problem, analyze the causes and effects of the problem, address  potential solutions to the problem, act on a potential solution.   We hope to make this type of problem analysis process a routine that young people can transfer to any new challenge that we face in our democracy and that it will pave the way for healthy deliberation with their fellow students, to collaboratively act together, and to forge healthy civic friendships that will strengthen our democracy.   

Students will look at an overview of the rise of mass news media in the U.S.. They will then study the Civil Rights movement through the lens of media coverage to determine the impact news coverage of violence against peaceful protestors helped lead to social change.

After completing background research on what it was like to live during the colonial times students will be placed in a Minecraft world where they will have to collaborate with a group of classmates to build a colony that provides food and protection since the game will be played in survival mode.

Students will select a person, persons, or event from the Pre-war to Civil War era that had a significant impact on African American and United States history. They will design a monument or a memorial and create a proposal for it.

Mum’s the Word; In the height of the Cold War, the NSA created a series of posters to keep its secrets from leaking. They're both wonderful and creepy.

Create a museum exhibit that will explore a specific historical time period or event through the display and analysis of historical artifacts and primary sources.