Cluster 1: Key Ideas and DetailsArchived

In this activity, students examine examples of newspaper editorials arguing both sides of this debate along with documents describing Floridian attitudes toward black soldiers. Using this evidence, students will explore ideas about the meaning of black participation in the Spanish-American War

Type: Lesson Plan

The Battle of Natural Bridge, the last major skirmish of the American Civil War in Florida, was fought near present-day Woodville, Florida, on March 6, 1865. The Confederate force was made up of trained troops, elderly men, and young volunteers from the nearby Florida Military and Collegiate Institute. The Union troops consisted mostly of African-American soldiers and disaffected Floridians who had cast their lot with the U.S. rather than remain with the Confederacy. The Confederates were ultimately victorious. By driving their Union opponents back to the Gulf of Mexico, they prevented the U.S. from controlling the St. Marks River and Tallahassee. In this lesson students will synthesize information from multiple primary sources to form a more complete perspective of this historical event.

Type: Lesson Plan

This web resource from the Library of Congress supports student use of primary sources to understand the Japanese American experience of internment during World War II. The resource includes graphic organizers for students to use online or through printed copies, and primary source photos and interviews along with procedures for teaching the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students use the collection's Timeline of African American History, 1852-1925 to identify problems and issues facing African Americans immediately after Reconstruction. Working in small groups on assigned issues, students search the collection for documents that describe the problem and consider opposing points of view, and suggest a remedy for the problem. Students then present the results of their research in a simulated African American Congress, modeled on a congress documented in the collection's special presentation, Progress of a People.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will expose students to a collection of primary and secondary sources from the French Revolution and as a culminating assignment, students will draft an expository essay linking the documents to the causes and events of the French Revolution.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn how speakers use rhetoric to achieve their purpose. In this interactive tutorial, you'll learn how speakers can achieve their purpose through the use of pathos, ethos, and logos. Using excerpts from President Wilson's "War Message to Congress," you'll analyze how speakers use rhetoric to make their case effectively.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In this tutorial, you'll practice identifying and analyzing how specific concepts are addressed in texts from two different time periods. The featured texts include the Bill of Rights and an excerpt from the "Four Freedoms" speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. You'll practice analyzing the similarities and differences in how the two texts address certain concepts.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

This is a 10 day overview from the Library of Congress on a Historical Perspective of the time period surrounding To Kill A Mockingbird. Includes a lot of primary resources and writing activities.

Type: Teaching Idea

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the Social Studies content area. It is most appropriate for 9th-10th grade students enrolled in a U.S. History class.

This article relates the infamous incident of UAW leaders beaten savagely by Ford "security" forces in 1937. Although Ford spokesmen tried to blame union members for the violence, photos taken at the scene proved otherwise, leading to Ford's eventual capitulation to the UAW.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the Social Studies content area. It is most appropriate for 9th-10th grade students enrolled in a U.S. History class.

This essay is a reevaluation of the life and reputation of Helen Keller, especially as it is commonly (mis)represented in textbooks and biographies for young readers. The author argues that Keller should be remembered for far more than being courageous, as she was also a "defiant rebel" and a radical.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the Social Studies content area. It is most appropriate for 9th-10th grade students enrolled in a U.S. History class.

The author explains the causes of, and the attempted solutions to, the 1930s-era environmental catastrophe known as the Dust Bowl.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the Social Studies content area. It is most appropriate for 9-0 grade students enrolled in a U.S. History class.

The author reports on the passage of a Senate resolution that apologizes for its failure to pass previous anti-lynching registration.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the academic content areas. It is most appropriate for 9th-10th grade students enrolled in an English or Social Studies class.

Type: Text Resource

This web resource provides a full teaching unit in PDF format designed to help students understand shifts in world politics during the second half of the twentieth century. Through an examination of primary and secondary source documents, students will work to gain awareness of the process that led to the creation of more than fifty independent sovereign states. Students will analyze the influence that the Soviet Union and the United States held over new states during the Cold War. The unit's summative assessment asks students to present research findings explaining the specific contexts of one newly-independent African state and one newly-independent Southeast Asian state.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

This unit exemplar from Student Achievement Partner web resources has been developed to guide students and instructors in a close reading of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The activities and actions follow a carefully developed set of steps that assist students in increasing their familiarity and understanding of Lincoln's speech through a series of text dependent tasks and questions that ultimately develop college and career ready skills identified in the Florida State Standards. This unit can be broken down into three sections of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their teachers, which is followed by additional activities, some designed for history/social studies and some for ELA classrooms.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

View a 10-part video on the Battle of Yorktown, the culminating battle of the Revolutionary War. With French aid, George Washington led American troops to a victory that ensured American independence.

In addition to the video, you will find primary source documents and a graphic organizer to help you analyze the Battle of Yorktown in greater detail.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation