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Annenberg Classroom

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.

70 resources available

Lesson Plan

Making an Issue-Based Video

In this unit, students will learn how to take their research on a community-based issue that they care about and create a video. By showing their video to elected officials, policymakers, the general public and their peers, students may add their voices to the dialogue about community issues.

Lesson Plan

Campaign Curriculum – Spanish

This lesson for Spanish-speaking students requires students to analyze data, explain data, and articulate their ideas about civic participation.

Lesson Plan

Student Voices Campaign Curriculum – English

Students will: Interpret data about voting patterns by age group. Discuss possible reasons for current turnout statistics. Write an essay articulating why they think young people should vote.

Lesson Plan

Justice for All in the Courtroom

In this lesson, students analyze the interplay of processes and procedures that courts use to seat an impartial jury and gain appreciation for the essential role of juries in the justice system. They also explore the responsibilities and limits placed on government by the Constitution in the context of civil and criminal trials.

Lesson Plan

Key Constitutional Concepts: Creating a Constitution

The first section of the film “Key Constitutional Concepts” examines the creation of the U.S. Constitution and why it was needed. Before viewing the film, students are asked to respond to a key question, which will set a conversation in motion for the whole lesson.

Lesson Plan

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.

Lesson Plan

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.

Lesson Plan

The Unfinished Business of Women’s Equality: Educators’ Guide

This guide for K-12 educators provides four types of activity suggestions and related resources for your upper elementary, middle or high school students: class starters; in-depth classroom activities; projects/performances for assessment; and culmination activities.

Lesson Plan

How a Bill Becomes a Federal Law

Through this lesson, students will learn about the dynamic process of federal lawmaking and how it relates to them.

Lesson Plan

Key Constitutional Concepts: Right to Counsel

The landmark Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright examines the impact that one event can make on the Constitution through the judicial process. This lesson is designed to give students an opportunity to interact with the Constitution

Lesson Plan

Key Constitutional Concepts: Presidential Power

This lesson focuses on the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, which challenged the extent to which the president of the United States can exercise power during times of foreign conflict.

Lesson Plan

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.

Lesson Plan

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.

Lesson Plan

Jury Selection on Trial

In this lesson, students learn about the process used for jury selection and how the role and responsibilities of government in civil and criminal jury trials are viewed by the Supreme Court. They also reflect on the democratic values, principles, and dispositions of character working behind the scenes.

Lesson Plan

Jury Service: Our Duty and Privilege as Citizens

In this lesson, students learn about the importance, history, and constitutional foundations of jury service. They become familiar with federal and state juror questionnaires and jury summonses.

Lesson Plan

Judicial Independence: Essential, Limited, Controversial

In this lesson, students learn about the role of an independent judiciary in the United States. Through a cooperative learning jigsaw activity, they focus on operational differences, essential functions, limited powers, and controversial issues.

Lesson Plan

Freedom of Speech: Finding the Limits

In this lesson students gain insight into the many challenges involved in defining and protecting free speech. They also learn about principles that come from U.S. Supreme Court decisions, such as Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District and Morse v. Frederick, and case law that are applied to define the limits for us today.

Lesson Plan

Equal Justice Under Law: Yick Wo v. Hopkins

This lesson teaches about the cause-and-effect relationships between historical events and the development of constitutional principles that protect the rights of all people in America today.

Lesson Plan

A Conversation on Judicial Interpretation

This lesson plan focuses on the essential question: How does philosophy affect the way a judge reads the Constitution and what is the effect of that?

Lesson Plan

The Power of One Decision: Brown v. Board of Education

Through the lesson, students gain insight into decision-making at the Supreme Court, learn about the people behind the case, construct a persuasive argument, and evaluate the significance of Brown v. Board of Education.