Resource Library
Find compelling classroom resources, learn new teaching methods, meet standards, and make a difference in the lives of your students.
We are grateful to The Hammer Family Foundation for supporting the development of our on-demand learning and teaching resources.
Introducing Our US History Curriculum Collection
Draw from this flexible curriculum collection as you plan any middle or high school US history course. Featuring units, C3-style inquiries, and case studies, the collection will help you explore themes of democracy and freedom with your students throughout the year.
Transition to Democracy
Examine the continuing struggle for South Africa as it creates a representative democracy, attempts to heal from the legacy of apartheid, and searches for a new, inclusive identity.
The Individual and Society
How does our society shape the way we define ourselves and others? Explore some of the dilemmas people experience when others perceive them differently than they define themselves.
We and They
Discover how societies throughout history have defined membership based on ideas about human similarities and differences, such as race, religion, and nation.
Say Something
Encourage students to stop and engage with a text as they read with this comprehension strategy.
Supporting Question 4: Memory of the Founding
Students explore the supporting question "How should we remember the nation’s founding?"
Toolbox for Care
This teaching strategy invites students to think about the “tools” they have access to that can help them take care of themselves and their community in the wake of traumatic news.
Connecting the Past to the Present Using Oral History
This strategy helps students engage with oral histories in order to deepen their understanding of how past events impacted individuals and communities, and to gain new perspectives on the present.
Staging the Compelling Question
Students are introduced to the themes of the compelling question by responding to a quote from James Baldwin that sparks their thinking about the complexities and contradictions within US history.
Supporting Question 1: The Nation’s Founding Ideals
Students explore the supporting question "What does the Declaration of Independence state about the nation’s founding ideals?"
Supporting Question 2: Founding Ideals Versus Realities
Students explore the supporting question "What contradictions existed between the ideals and the reality of the founding of the United States?"
Think Aloud
Model for students how proficient readers make meaning of a text by verbalizing your thinking as you read.