U.S. Government Lessons - TeachersFirst

U.S. Government Lessons

Updated: April 8, 2002

Affirmative Action: Is It Still Necessary? by Henry A. Rhodes, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - U.S. History: Grades 8-12 - This unit investigates the original intent, evolution, and application of Affirmative Action, including ten specific legal cases.

An Analysis of Jim Crow Laws and their Effects on Race Relations by Jennifer Blue, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Language Arts and Social Studies, Grade 1 - Through language arts activities and discussion, young students learn about Jim Crow laws and the devastating impact of discrimination on society and individuals.

Constitutional Rights Foundation Lesson Plans - Grades 9-12 - This is a collection of lesson plans and discussion suggestions for topics ranging from impeachment to school violence. Each presents linkages to underlying constitutional issues and principles. The lessons could be used for in-class discussion or as the basis for a written project.

The Impact of Culture on U.S. Law by Macella Monk Flake, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Social Studies/Gifted: Grades 8-12 - By enacting mock-trials and other role-play on the direct conflict with the U.S. legal system and immigrants from the Hmong of Southeast Asia, Samoans, Japanese, Cuban, African and Vietnamese because of cultural and/or religious practices, students face the "growing pains that result from our great diversity" in this unit originally designed for gifted students.

Justice Demands an End to Segregation, But it Does Not End by Joyce Bryant, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Social Studies: Grades 7-8 - This unit centers on the civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties and uses this as the foundation for understanding Constitutional rights and the history of legal cases that clarified rights as we know them today.

Multicultural Issues and the Law: Gender and Race Based Schooling by Sequella H.Coleman, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - U.S. History-Bill of Rights - Grades 6-8, 9-12 - This unit uses five legal cases to probe issues of gender and race-based schooling and their relationship to the fourteenth amendment.

National Constitution Center Lesson Plans - Grades 6-12 - The teacher section of this site offers a collection of topical lesson plans and discussion themes on current events issues with constitutional implications. Topics include Internet speech, the Electoral College, and school vouchers. Each presentation presents pro-con arguments along with the relevant constitutional issues.

Playing the Race Card: Two Famous Criminal Trials by Peter N. Herndon, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - U.S. History/Government/Law: Grade 11-12 - A study of the trials of O.J. Simpson and Bernhard Goetz addresses the question, "When is race an important factor in the American justice system?" and goes beyond the individual trials to look at race in our criminal system and lessons we have learned from the trials.

U.S. Government Web Resources