Mississippi's Eighth Grade Standards

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Course: United States History from Exploration through Reconstruction/h2>

Content Strand: Domestic Affairs

  1. Understand the major events, actors and ideas that precipitated the founding of the nation and relate their significance to the development of American constitutional democracy.
      • a. Describe the relationship between the moral and political ideas of the Great Awakening, the Enlightenment, and Western Political philosophies and the development of revolutionary sentiment among the colonists. (DOK 2)
      • b. Analyze the philosophy of government expressed in the Declaration of Independence, with an emphasis on government as a means of protecting individual rights (e.g., phrases such as "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights"). (DOK 3)
      • c. Explain major events (The Stamp Act, The Intolerable Acts, Boston Tea Party, First Continental Congress, etc.) that led to the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. (DOK 2)
      • d. Compare and contrast the major documents and works (e.g., Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, the Federalist Papers, etc.) that laid the foundation for American democracy. (DOK 2)
      • e. Describe and explain the role of the Founding Fathers (e.g., Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson) and their impact on the development of America‘s political landscape. (DOK 2)
  2. Understand how technology, geography, and social conflict has impacted the development of the United States.
      • a. Discuss the influence of industrialization and technological developments in the various regions of the U.S., including human changes to the landscape and how the physical geography affected human actions (e.g., growth of cities, deforestation, farming, mineral extraction). (DOK 2)
      • b. Cite evidence and evaluate the importance of improvements in transportation and communication (e.g., steamboats, railroads, canals, telegraph, etc.) in the development of American society. (DOK 3)
      • c. Describe the purpose, challenges, and economic incentives associated with westward expansion, including the concept of Manifest Destiny (e.g., the Lewis and Clark expedition, accounts of the removal of Indians, the Cherokees' "Trail of Tears," settlement of the Great Plains) and the territorial acquisitions that spanned numerous decades. (DOK 2)
      • d. Trace the origins and development of slavery; its effects on African Americans and on the nation‘s political, social, religious, economic, and cultural development; and identify the strategies that were tried to both overturn and preserve it. (DOK 2)
      • e. Analyze the causes, key events, and consequences of the Civil War. (DOK 3)
      • f. Evaluate and examine the Reconstruction Era (using primary and secondary sources such as political cartoons, documents, letters, etc.). (DOK 3)

    3. Content Strand: Global Affairs

  3. Understand how geography and politics have influenced the historical development of the United States in the global community.
      • a. Examine the exploration and colonization periods of the United States using social studies tools (e.g., timelines, time zones, maps, globes, graphs, political cartoons, tables, technology, etc.). (DOK 2)
      • b. Analyze how the American Revolution impacted other nations, (e.g. France, Canada, Spain, Mexico, etc.). (DOK 3)
      • c. Analyze U.S. foreign policy in the early period prior to reconstruction. (DOK 3)

    4. Content Strand: Civil/Human Rights

  4. Understand the impact of American ideals and institutions on the development of American democracy.
      • a. Analyze how conflict, cooperation, and interdependence (e.g., social justice, diversity, mutual respect, and civic engagement) among groups, societies, and nations influenced the writing of early historical documents. (DOK 3)
      • b. Study the lives of formerly enslaved African Americans who gained freedom in the North and founded schools and churches to advance their rights and communities. (DOK 2)
      • c. Examine the women‘s suffrage movement (e.g., biographies, writings, and speeches of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Fuller, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony). (DOK 2)
      • d. Research and analyze political and social impacts of civil rights movements throughout the history of the United States pre-Reconstruction era (e.g., slave revolts, abolitionist movement, protests over British taxation in the colonies, individual and group resistance, organizing efforts, and collective action/unity). (DOK 3)

    5. Content Strand: Economics

  5. Understand the interaction of individuals, families, communities (microeconomics), businesses, and governments (macroeconomics) and the potential costs and benefits to the United States economy.
      • a. Compare and contrast the economic factors that led to the development of America (e.g., exploration, colonization, immigration, sectionalism, industry in the North vs. agriculture in the South, tariffs, etc.). (DOK 2)
      • b. Analyze and evaluate the causes and effects of the Industrial Revolution, Westward Expansion, and immigration on the United States (e.g., inventions, railroads, canals, roads, gold rush, etc.). (DOK 3)

    6. Content Strand: Culture

  6. Understand the purposes and principles embodied in the ideals and values of American society.
      • a. Evaluate the value and the challenge of diversity in American life. (DOK 3)
      • b. Assess the importance of certain character traits in a democracy, such as civility, nationalism, freedom, authority, justice, equality, responsibility, etc. (DOK 3)
      • c. Examine how American society has been influenced culturally by exploration, immigration, colonization, sectionalism, religious and social movements, etc.
        (DOK 3)
Teaching the Declaration without Overwhelming Students Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/03/2009 - 13:13
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photomechanical print, Writing the Declaration of Independence--1776, 28 July 19
Question

How might I teach the Declaration of Independence to high school students who are visual and verbal learners? What films or reading assignments will engage them, and yet not overwhelm them with the sometimes difficult wording of the Declaration itself?

Answer

Ah, the Declaration of Independence, a document so essential to understanding our American past and present that every student should read and learn about it. Luckily, its ideas and historical significance are truly engaging and can help make its difficult eighteenth century prose more accessible for our students.

Below are some ideas:

How about starting with an idea or line from the document? One of our favorites is the line regarding the right and duty for those threatened with absolute tyranny to “throw off such government.” This is one of several powerful ideas in the Declaration that can engage students before they confront the entire document. (It could also be just considering the document’s title! Declaring independence is something most adolescents can get their heads around and this can lead into exploring when and why this might happen and how one might frame such a declaration to win supporters. Consider what “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,” signaled to readers on both sides of the Atlantic and how they had gotten to this radical place.)

Considering the historical and contemporary significance of the document can also engage. Do students have a grasp of the road to Revolution, do they understand the chain of events and rising discontent in the Colonies? The risk to the signers? The historical moment? This background knowledge can help students in understanding the import of the document and its prose. Or look at instances where the document serves as a model (the Seneca Falls Declaration)
or reference point (MLK’s reference to it as “promissory note” in his I Have a Dream Speech)

As far as reading the document, we suggest two intertwined approaches (both to be used with a transcribed version).

1. Help students see the structure of the document so they know what to expect. Show them how it moves from initial paragraphs that get what the states are doing and why, to a list of specific grievances, to assurances that these are not capricious complaints or actions and then the ultimate declaration.

2. Plan activities where they read excerpts from the document closely and carefully. Phrases and sentences work here—select them carefully and scaffold student work with strategies like pair work, paraphrasing, and vocabulary help.

Some other ideas include:
Looking at the original document.

Sign the document. Have students find the anomaly (your signature) on a handout or decide whether to sign on themselves after considering the stories behind the signers and the historical moment.

Look at the rough draft of the Declaration or use this lesson plan which involves a careful comparison between the drafts.

For a primer on the document, see this historian’s helpful discussion that includes a consideration of the historical events surrounding the Declaration, analyses of particular excerpts and its consequences and legacy.

See the Library of Congress’ Web Guide

Connect with images. For example, this one or this one.

Admittedly, we focus on the reading of the document. There are several resources like the recent film National Treasure, the older film 1776, or the Independence episode of the recent TV miniseries John Adams that some teachers use to talk about the Declaration of Independence.

A new way to bring visual learners to the text of the Declaration is through YouTube. Your students may be interested in this video clip of well-known actors reading the Declaration in its entirety .

While these resources could be used to accompany the kinds of reading activities we mention here, it would be too bad if they trumped the actual Declaration, a document that talked about equality before our Constitution did and deserves every student’s eye.

Elizabeth Schaefer on the Interactive Declaration of Independence Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/02/2010 - 15:29
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Lithograph, The Declaration Committee, 1876, Currier and Ives, LoC
Lithograph, The Declaration Committee, 1876, Currier and Ives, LoC
Lithograph, The Declaration Committee, 1876, Currier and Ives, LoC
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The Library of Congress's Interactive Declaration of Independence

The Library of Congress has created a brilliant interactive tool for studying the Declaration of Independence in your classroom. It allows in-depth primary source research while lending itself naturally to reading skills and reinforcing good writing behavior. I explain some of the activities that I used, but there is a wide range of possibilities with this tool.

What is It?

The template for the computer interactive is a real rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, complete with edits made by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. On the "Overview" page, students can scroll their mouse over Thomas Jefferson's original script, transforming sections from the original handwriting to student-friendly printed font with word-processor-style edits.

The remaining tabs highlight specific concepts included in the Declaration (All Men Are Created Equal, Pursuit of Happiness, Consent of the Governed, Train of Abuses, and Slavery). For each section, four antecedent sources can be chosen which relate to the same concept and in some cases, use the same words.

Why Do I Love It?

Watching the Declaration warp time zones is equally thrilling for my students and me. It has a magical quality to it. Suddenly the students are excited about reading the Declaration of Independence! The interactive creates the best of both worlds—allowing students to see the original primary source but also helping them to understand it. Not only is the text teaching them history, but the visuals also prompt many critical questions:

They actually had to go back and rewrite this whole thing? What if Jefferson messed up writing at the very end—did he have to start all over? Did they have white-out? Did they use rulers? Where did they learn to write like that? Could everyone write like that?

Students see the handwriting of Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin and suddenly these old guys become real people.

Plus students see the handwriting of Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin and suddenly these old guys become real people. The students develop historic connections outside of the overt goals of the lesson, which I believe is the key to growing lifelong learners.

The interactive allows a range of lesson aims, a variety of historic analyses and skill levels, and a relevant and effective background for reading and writing support. The literacy skills and the focus are up to you but Jefferson is setting the example!

The interactive supports a range of lesson aims and a variety of historic analyses and skill levels, and makes a relevant and effective background for reading and writing extension activities. The literacy skills and the focus are up to you, but Jefferson is setting the example!

How Can I Use It in the Classroom?


My actual lesson included a three-page packet with very specific steps for the students. Below is a sampling of some activities that I used.

Primary Source Observations
The "Overview" page explains what the source is. Once students read this, you can ask a variety of questions about the document. You can use your typical observation format, but due to the large amount of information, I recommend that you select a more narrow focus.

For our initial observations, I asked the students to specifically pay attention to the edits made on page one. The students described what they thought the document was and then were asked about the type of edits.

Ex.: Which of the following did Thomas Jefferson do? (Check all that apply)

◯ Changed words
◯ Added words
◯ Deleted words
◯ Borrowed from other documents
◯ Got peer edits. If so, from whom?

Identifying the Philosophy of Government
The next step was to discover the big ideas Thomas Jefferson communicates in the Declaration. This focused on the tabs labeled "Pursuit of Happiness," "Consent of the Governed," and "All Men are Created Equal," which highlight specific sentences from the document. The students filled in the sections with missing words or translated challenge vocabulary (CH). Note that the gray words are not included.

Ex.: "Consent of the Governed" section

Instituted = Made
Deriving = Getting
Consent = Permission

"that to secure these rights, ___________ [governments] are (CH) ___________ [instituted] among men, (CH) ___________ [deriving] their just powers from the (CH) ___________ [consent] of the governed."

Reading Support
These "Philosophy of Government" sections are ideal for supporting the reading area that your students are working on without confusing them by breaking the flow of your lesson. In my class, the students had to identify either the main idea of each section or Jefferson's purpose in including the sentence. They were therefore practicing testing skills in a way that was relevant and useful to our class. These sections can be applied to just about any reading skill "flavor-of-the-week."

Ex.: "Consent of the Governed" section

Who do you think "the governed" are?

What is Thomas Jefferson's purpose in using this sentence?

a. To inform the readers of how the king rules
b. To describe the Roman government
c. To explain how government should be
d. To support a monarchy government

Reviewing Content
In the next section, I instructed the students to view King George's offenses against the colonies by skimming pages two and three in the "Overview" section. The students' goal was to recognize the significant acts and events that we had discussed. They then recorded the section's specific passages mentioning taxation without representation, the Quartering Act, and the Boston Massacre Trials.

Advanced Source Comparisons
The Library of Congress selected specific reading and research material on Thomas Jefferson and paired it with the sections in the interactive Declaration of Independence. The reading was dense for the majority of my students, but I did ask, in the "All Men Are Created Equal" section, which of the documents they thought fit most closely with Jefferson's words.

The Other Side

On the top of page three, they were shocked to discover "merciless" and "savage."

Once the students are all settled on and happy that Jefferson believes "All Men Are Created Equal," we went backwards and looked a little closer. First, they were instructed to find the words Jefferson used about the American Indians in the text. On the top of page three, they were shocked to discover "merciless" and "savage."

Then we looked closer at the "Slavery" tab which describes the original words about slavery included in the draft of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the fact that they were all deleted. The students answered questions about which states were especially against including slavery and then they made connections. I closed with the questions, "Do you agree with the philosophy of government written in the Declaration of Independence?" and "Do you think the Continental Congress truly agreed with this philosophy of government?"

More Ideas?

If you develop new ways to use this interactive or have success with the Constitution version, please share your experience! I would love to hear some new ideas for this resource.

[Note: If you would like to respond to Liz Schaefer, comment to this entry, or email info@teachinghistory.org. We'll make sure she receives your feedback!]

For more information

HBO's miniseries John Adams includes a scene where Benjamin Franklin and John Adams edit Thomas Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration, making some of the changes evident in the original draft. Remember to remind students that this scene was created based on the draft. We have no way of knowing exactly when or how the Founding Fathers discussed these changes.

Explore the Declaration on other websites with the National Archives and Records Administration's Our Documents or Charters of Freedom exhibits.

Scholars in Action: Analyzing an 1804 Inventory

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Note: Unpublished because content moved to Examples of Historical Thinking.

Scholars in Action presents case studies that demonstrate how scholars interpret different kinds of historical evidence. This 1804 inventory lists the possessions of Thomas Springer of New Castle County, DE. Legal documents, such as tax records or probate inventories, often provide our only information about the lifestyles of ordinary people during the colonial and early national periods.

Such listings of household possessions, from a time when household goods were not widely mass produced, can illuminate a fair amount about a family's routines, rituals, and social relations, as well as about a region's economy and its connections to larger markets. This inventory also contains items that suggest attitudes and policies toward slavery in the Mid-Atlantic states.

Website
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/sia/inventory.htm

Scholars in Action: Analyzing a Colonial Newspaper

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Note: Unpublished because content moved to Examples of Historical Thinking section.

Scholars in Action presents case studies that demonstrate how scholars interpret different kinds of historical evidence. This newspaper article was published in the Patriot press in 1775 and describes a political demonstration in Providence, RI, where protesters burned tea and loyalist newspapers.

As opposition to British rule grew in the years leading up to the American Revolution, many people in the colonies were forced to take sides. Popular movements such as the "Sons of Liberty" attracted artisans and laborers who sought broad social and political change. Street actions against the British and their economic interests brought ordinary citizens, including women and youth, into the political arena and often spurred greater militancy and radicalism. By 1775, a number of major political protests and clashes with the British had occurred, including the Stamp Act riots, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party.

Website
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/sia/newspaper.htm

An Ear for the Past: The National Jukebox

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Poster, New Victor records of popular patriotic selections, 1917, LoC
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You don't have to look far to see how important music is to modern American life. Young people (as well as adults) talk about music, listen to music, download music, remix music, share music, and define themselves by music. In classrooms across the country, MP3 players and pop-tune ringtones give students' musical tastes away (and get them in trouble). But has music always been this personal, portable, and repeatable?

Ask your students to think back. Do they remember a time when music wasn't something you could own? When they, someone in their family, or someone they knew didn't have an MP3 player—or a CD, tape, or record player?

Before the birth of the recording industry, you could buy sheet music and learn how to perform musical pieces for yourself—but that was it. An individual performance was ephemeral, literally once in a lifetime.

When the recording industry took off, music became an object. Now you could buy and trade moments in musical time, preserved forever. You could listen to artists who lived far away from you, whom you might never see live. You could listen to your favorite performances again and again. You could even sell music, without having to worry about arranging performances. One song sung once by one artist could earn money for months or years to come. Sound become solid, something that could be passed from hand to hand—and preserved.

Exploring the Jukebox
Sound become solid, something that could be passed from hand to hand—and preserved.

On May 10, 2011, the Library of Congress launched its National Jukebox, an online archive of more than 10,000 recordings from 1901–1925. According to the website, Library of Congress staff worked throughout 2010 to digitize this massive collection of Victor Talking Machine Company recordings (Victor, now RCA, is one of the oldest record companies in existence, according to the Library of Congress's blog entry announcing the launch of the Jukebox).

You can browse the recordings by vocal artist, composer, lyricist, language, place or date of recording, target audience, label, category, or genre. And if you find some music you'd like to remember? Add it to your playlist in the site's pop-up player. Now you can listen to it while you browse other sites, email it to yourself to listen to later, or share it with others on social media sites or by embedding it in a blog or website.

Students and the Jukebox

While exploring the Jukebox is entertaining in its own right—I just spent two minutes listening to humorous singer Burt Shepard trying to lure a lost cat home—it also makes invaluable primary sources easily accessible.

Teaching about the rise of ragtime and jazz? Make a playlist of famous (and less famous) songs and artists and share it with your students.

How about the invention of the airplane? The Haydn Quartet's "Up in My Aeroplane" can give students an idea of the romance and novelty of flight six years after the Wright Brothers' first successful test run.

World War I? "Hooray, the war is over!" sings Harry Lauder in 1918; months earlier, baritone Reinald Werrenrath remembered the U.S.'s debt to Lafayette and to embattled France.

Pick a time period, a genre, an artist, a word—and go looking! There's something in this storehouse to accompany almost any topic from 1901–1925, if you look hard enough. Use the recordings to grab your students' attention—or ask them to analyze or compare music and lyrics. What do the words (if you choose a vocal piece) say? What emotions does the piece seem to seek to evoke? When was it recorded? Where? Who audience did the composer, artist, or publisher have in mind?

Finding music by topic can be difficult, as none of the pieces have transcriptions, but a little creative searching should leave you with at least a handful of catchy new sources to play with. Watch for more to come—the Library of Congress adds new content monthly, and it hopes to provide content from other Sony labels, such as Columbia and Okeh, in the future.

For more information

Looking for guidelines for music analysis? Professors Ronald J. Walters and John Spitzer introduce you to using popular song as a source in Using Primary Sources, and scholar Lawrence Levine demonstrates historical analysis of two blues songs.

Professor of social studies/history education Anthony Pellegrino's blog entries have ideas for exploring music in the classroom, too.

Deciphering Primary Source Documents

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Digital image, 2010, War Department Correspondence, CHNM
Question

I'm trying to teach my secondary students how to read documents from the 18th century (such as letters) and notice how bogged down they get because of the complexity and length of the sentences. What tools or advice could I give that would help them develop this skill?

Answer

Ah yes…your question captures a problem many history teachers face. First, let us congratulate you on engaging your students in the raw materials of the discipline and persisting even when the going proves difficult. Syntax can be a major stumbling block for students when reading older texts: we recommend scaffolding and careful preparation of the documents to help your students meet the challenge.

Careful Preparation of Documents
See our guide on adapting and modifying documents for ways to make difficult documents more accessible for students. Keeping those documents short, defining difficult vocabulary, and even simplifying syntax (while letting students know that you’ve done so) can help. See the Reading Like a Historian curriculum from the Stanford History Education Group for examples of carefully prepared 18th century documents. The Hamilton vs. Jefferson plan includes two 18th century letters that have been modified. Find our entry about this curriculum here.

One thing to remember is that students need to experience some success with reading difficult documents to want to persevere with them. Carefully prepared documents, especially at the beginning of the school year, can be critical to this.

Scaffolding
There are many ways to support students’ reading of difficult documents. Here are a few strategies.

Background knowledge about what students are reading can help them make sense of the text. Consider what they need to know about the times and the event before they read and then use a short lecture, a headnote, a textbook excerpt, or another method to help them gain that background knowledge. Going a step further, for a very difficult document you may want to give them a short summary (1-3 sentences) of what the author is talking about.

Modeling how you read the document can be helpful too. This allows students to see how you also struggle with the language and the strategies you use to make sense of it, like rereading, monitoring your understanding, and asking questions. See this entry for an introduction to Reading Apprenticeship, an approach that focuses on reading and thinking aloud together to help students become better readers. Also see historicalthinkingmatters.org for examples of “think-alouds” where students and historians are shown making sense of historical documents using specific historical reading strategies. (find one example here.)

Use difficult syntax from our own times (a song or poem) to help students recognize their task and specific strategies for pushing through to understanding.

Teaching some explicit strategies can also help. This guide has ideas for teaching students to annotate documents, something that can help them learn to monitor their own understanding and seek out help when needed. Also see work done at the Oakland Unified School District in California for examples of guiding students to figure out what an excerpt says before any analysis. See an example here: scroll down to the question, “Was the creation of the U.S. Constitution good for the people of the United States?” Then look at the assessment and support materials for that question and you will find, on page 4, one example of how they do this.

A short introductory activity where you focus on the difficulties of making sense of unfamiliar syntax can be helpful. Use difficult syntax from our own times (a song or poem) to help students recognize their task and specific strategies for pushing through to understanding.

More Resources
In our lesson plan reviews, find plans that can inspire ways to work with text that is difficult for students. See this one on the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution or this one on the Declaration of Independence. Both of these are for younger students, but both show the necessities of slowing down to read the documents and focusing on short pieces of text.

You may want to also check out this response that reiterates some of what I've said here.

And remember, it’s the beginning of the year. You will, hopefully, have these students for many lessons and helping them learn to slow down, monitor their reading, and strategize when they are stuck will happen with multiple and varied chances to practice these skills.

Reframing English Language Development

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Grant at the capture of the city of Mexico

We history teachers who teach English language learners face a dilemma: how can we teach our students a rigorous history curriculum rich with opportunities to develop historical thinking, while making sure the language, and hence, concepts, are understandable?

Also, since most of us have a mix of different levels of language learners in our classrooms, along with students who speak and write non-academic English, how can we scaffold the language learning so that all students benefit, without dumbing-down the instruction?

Constitution Day 2010

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Photo, recommended reading, March 18, 2008, neon.mamacita, Flickr
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Every September 17, Constitution Day calls on teachers to memorialize—and critically engage with—Constitutional history in the classroom. But what approach to the Constitution should you take? What quality teaching resources are available? How can you interest your students in a document that is more than 200 years old?

In 2008, Teachinghistory.org published a roundup of Constitution Day resources. Many of those resources remain available, but online Constitution Day content continues to grow. Check out the sites below for materials that recount the Constitutional Convention of 1787, compare the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution, explore U.S. Supreme Court cases that have interpreted the Constitution, and apply the Constitution to contemporary debates.

Online Resources

The Library of Congress's Constitution Day page collects the full text of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Amendments, as well as the Federalist Papers and the Articles of Confederation. Lesson plans for grades 6–12 accompany the documents. The page also includes short suggested reading lists for elementary, middle, and high school, and links to relevant Library of Congress American Memory collections, such as Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention and the papers of James Madison, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. Also check out the Library's collection of primary sources "Creating the United States."

You can find an elegant, simple presentation of the Constitution on the National Archives' Constitution Day page. Check out their high-resolution PDF of the original document, part of NARA's 100 Milestone Documents exhibit.

If the Constitution is proving a difficult read for your students, try the National Constitution Center's Interactive Constitution. Search the text by keyword or topic, and click on passages that are unclear to find explanatory notes from Linda R. Monk's The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution. The Constitution Center also offers its own Constitution Day page, with a short video on the creation of the Constitution, interactive activities, and quizzes.

If you're not already familiar with EDSITEment, created by the National Endowment for the Humanities, take a look through their extensive collection of lesson plans. A quick search reveals more than 90 lessons related to the Constitution.

Interested in bringing home to students the Constitution's importance today? The New York Times' Constitution Day page links current events to the Constitution in more than 40 lesson plans. The Times also invites students to submit answers to questions such as "Should School Newspapers Be Subject to Prior Review?" and "What Cause Would You Rally Others to Support?"

Can't find anything here that sparks your interest or suits your classroom? Many more organizations and websites offer Constitution Day resources, including the Bill of Rights Institute, the American Historical Association, Annenberg Media, and Consource. (Check out our Lesson Plan Reviews for a review of a lesson plan from Consource on the Preamble to the Constitution.)

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