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.
![A group of high school students sit at desks in conversation.](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_480/public/2023-10/AdobeStock_254378868.jpg?itok=f6YAphey)
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.
Reflecting on Our Obligation to Others
Students explore the concept of “universe of obligation” within the contexts of a work of literature and their own lives.
![Students sit in a classroom.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-10/Chicago_Classroom_2019_%20FH2101668.jpg?h=2e5cdddf&itok=mjN1rMeK)
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.
![Photo of student listening to student-led teaching session](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/SL_190522_0700%20%281%29.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=glf-JB3p)
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?"
![United States Declaration of Independence](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/master-rbc-rbc0001-2004-2004pe76546-001%20%281%29.jpg?h=4ec2df74&itok=6j3UL0rd)
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?"
![Photo shows a group of African American slaves posed around a horse-drawn cart, with a building in the background, at the Cassina Point plantation of James Hopkinson on Edisto Island, South Carolina.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/service-pnp-ppmsca-39500-39590v.jpg?h=fd5c1401&itok=K1ckwjtu)
The Sharps’ Dilemmas
Students are introduced to upstanders Waitstill and Martha Sharp, an American minister and his wife who undertook a rescue mission to help save Jews and refugees fleeing Nazi occupation.
![Martha and Waitstill Sharp wave to a crowd before leaving New York City for Europe. Martha wears a corsage of flowers on her coat and holds a bouquet of flowers in her left hand. Stamped in ink on verso: "Photo by William T. Hoff, New York Municipal Airport"](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Martha_and_Waitstill_Sharp_waving_for_Web_or_Office_Use.jpg?h=a9a611f7&itok=ld5w1FcD)
Analyzing Assumptions
Using visual imagery, students identify assumptions in a text and in the real world, consider the consequences of those assumptions, and build awareness of their impact on individuals and the community.
![Students with Ken Garcia-Gonzalez.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Chicago_Ken_Garcia_Gonzalez_and_Students_2019_FH2101467.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=M-Z4dibP)
Anatomy of an Upstander
Students critically analyze the choices, risks, and rewards that are involved when they are called upon to be upstanders.
![Students sit in a classroom.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-10/Chicago_Classroom_Volta_Elementary_2019_FH2101703%20.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=Wg29rCsD)
Creating Student Projects
Help students develop a larger understanding and appreciation of the Jewish resistance movement during the Holocaust.
![Black and white photograph of six Jewish partisans standing in a forest clearing](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-12/4f728076-da8b-4921-a9c2-26834c0b5d06jpgpagespeedcejNOI-oC_Xq.jpg?h=fff89ad5&itok=PdRWicBS)
Sonia Orbuch: Becoming a Partisan
Explore the choices of Jewish partisan Sonia Orban, and gain a deeper understanding of the complexities that young people faced during the German occupation of Poland.
![Sonia Orbuch, a Jewish partisan in Poland during the Holocaust, and her husband on their wedding day in 1945.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_PartisanSoniaOrbuchafterWorldWarII_FH227675.jpg?h=01b11b5d&itok=fXjQZD3M)
Vitka Kempner: Identity and Resistance
Explore the choices of Vitka Kempner, a Jewish partisan who chose to resist the Nazis.
![Picture of Vitka Kempner](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-12/Vitka_Kempner.jpeg?h=8276ab78&itok=5w9R8E7w)
What Is “Normal”?
Through quote and poetry analysis, students will consider the ways in which our desire to fit in can impact our identities and the choices we make.
![A student writes on a piece of paper in a classroom.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Chicago_PhotoShoot_2019_FH2101686.jpg?h=c11c9c1d&itok=Uq9yiZlO)