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Lesson Plans
Most of these lessons are based on Annenberg Classroom videos. Teachers may contact info@annenbergclassroom.org to get the Teacher’s Key for the lesson plans. Teachers will also find lessons for teaching critical thinking skills.
- A Conversation on the Japanese Internment Cases
- One School’s Fight: The Making of a Law
- Key Constitutional Concepts: Presidential Power
- Why the Bill of Rights Matters to You
- Background Beliefs
- A Conversation on the Nature, Origin and Importance of the Supreme Court
- Key Constitutional Concepts: Right to Counsel
- Civil Liberties vs. National Security: A Wartime Balancing Act
Teaching the Constitution
Use this guide to find videos and games that connect to the articles and amendments in the Constitution. Also available as a PDF to download and print.
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
- 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
Recommendations
Information about three types of recommended websites are provided here. Sister websites are those connected to Annenberg Classroom. Best Civics Websites are organizations that have excellent content for civics education. Most of the resources are free. Critical Thinking websites provide useful information for students who are researching topics such as legal rights, immigration, and the environment. The summaries include information about the websites' content, their founders, funding and political leanings.