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Annenberg Classroom

433 resources available

Video

The 19th Amendment: A Woman’s Right to Vote

Voting is the most basic right of a citizen and the most important right in a democracy. When you vote, you are choosing the people who will make the laws. For almost a century and a half of our nation’s history, women were barred from exercising this fundamental right. This is a film about their long, difficult struggle to win the right to vote. It’s about citizenship, the power of the vote, and why women had to change the Constitution with the 19th Amendment to get the vote.

19th amendment
Handout

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.

Video

The Story of the Bill of Rights

The story about the struggle over the Bill of Rights is told in this documentary, which explains how these individual freedoms that often are taken for granted today were controversial among the founding fathers and how they were eventually ratified. Ten short videos address each of the amendments.

Website

Core Knowledge Foundation

The Core Knowledge Foundation is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Charlottesville, Virginia, and founded in 1986 by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., professor emeritus at the University of Virginia and author of many acclaimed books on education. The Core Knowledge curriculum covers language arts, science, music, visual arts, and geography and history. Material are

Website

Florida Joint Center for Citizenship at the Lou Frey Institute

The Florida Joint Center for Citizenship Institute is a partnership between the Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government at the University of Central Florida and the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida. FJCC works in partnership with Florida teachers, social studies district coordinators and national partners to develop and

Video

The Constitution Project in the Classroom

This video describes the Constitution Project film series and shows teachers how to use the award-winning films in their classrooms. The films feature insightful commentary from Supreme Court justices and legal scholars, interviews with the plaintiffs and attorneys in landmark Supreme Court cases as well as historical footage.

constitution project
Video

Mandate: The President and the People

The complex relationship between the presidency and public opinion is examined by leading historians, political scientists and public figures who also offer insight into the office and its occupants from George Washington to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Video

Magna Carta and the Constitution – History

This video tells the story of the origins of the Magna Carta and explores the two most important principles that it symbolizes: rule of law and due process. Students will learn how the framers interpreted and redefined the rule of law and due process when they created our Constitution.

Video

Magna Carta and the Constitution

This video tells the story of the origins of the Magna Carta and explores the two most important principles that it symbolizes: rule of law and due process. Students will learn how the framers interpreted and redefined the rule of law and due process when they created our Constitution. And they will understand how those rights have been expanded and protected by the U.S. Supreme Court through two landmark Supreme Court cases: U.S. v. Nixon and Powell v. Alabama.

Timeline

Article II – Treaty-Making Authority

Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution gives the president the power to make treaties with other countries, with the approval of two-thirds of the Senate.

Timeline

15th Amendment

The 15th Amendment prohibits using race as a factor to determine which citizens can vote.

Timeline

21st Amendment

The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, which implemented Prohibition, a band on the sale of alcohol. The regulation of alcohol was returned to the states.

Game

NewsFeed Defenders

Our media literacy game teaches players how to detect and disregard disinformation and misinformation in today’s chaotic environment. Make your students’ gameplay more meaningful by using our activity and assessment set designed specifically for NewsFeed Defenders. An easy-to-use Extension Pack helps you give context and purpose to the game, as well as reinforce and assess the game concepts.

Timeline

Sixth Amendment

The Sixth Amendment provides rights and protections to people accused of crimes. These include the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury; the right to be informed of the charges; the right to confront adverse witnesses, and the right to counsel.

Timeline

14th Amendment

The 14th Amendment granted U.S. citizenship to former slaves and contained three new limits on state power: a state shall not violate a citizen’s privileges or immunities; shall not deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; and must guarantee all persons equal protection of the laws.

Timeline

Fifth Amendment

The Fifth Amendment addresses the right to a grand jury for serious federal criminal charges, protection against double jeopardy, the right against self-incrimination, the right to due process, and the takings clause.

Video

Constitution Class Videos

These 24 video lectures are part of an online course called Introduction to Key Constitutional Concepts and Supreme Court Cases, which is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Video

The Supremacy Clause: McCulloch v. Maryland

Tension between the states and the federal government has been a constant throughout U.S. history. This video explores the supremacy clause in Article VI of the Constitution and key moments in the power struggle, including the landmark case McCulloch v. Maryland.

Timeline

Article I

Article I creates the two sections of Congress – the Senate and the House – and outlines its powers and limits.

Timeline

Article I – War Powers

The framers specified the powers of Congress in great detail in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution. They include the power to declare war.

Handout

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.