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.
Defining Universal Human Rights
Students consider what rights should belong to every human being on earth, create their own definition of a right, and learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
![President Harry S. Truman with Eleanor Roosevelt on July 1, 1948, in Washington, DC.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/photo_20_Medium_res.jpg?h=b391b280&itok=YeXFpGjJ)
Complicating the Universality of Human Rights
Students examine the tensions that emerged between nations with different cultures, values, and systems of beliefs when drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and will then consider the consequences of a world that cannot agree on universal rights for all people.
![Eleanor Roosevelt sitting with two other men at a United Nations meeting in New York City](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/67-314.jpg?h=3eea986c&itok=BLv1D5o4)
Making Rights Universal
Students read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and discuss whether these rights are universal and enjoyed by individuals and groups in the world today.
![Two students sitting at a table.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/SL_190523_0632.jpg?h=c11c9c1d&itok=qOwAMWt3)
Summative Assessment: My School’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights
In this summative assessment, students work in groups to come to consensus on five fundamental human rights that they believe every member of their school community is entitled to enjoy.
![Students in Lick-Wilmerding High School](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/facing-history-sf-drew-bird-a-131.jpg?h=f2fcf546&itok=A50FJVAT)
Teaching with Video Testimony
Students watch video testimony from a Holocaust survivor and engage in purposeful reflection about the survivor’s important story.
![Classroom sitting in a circle discussing](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/facing-history-sf-drew-bird-a-036.jpg?h=f2fcf546&itok=sUVWju0K)
Teaching in the Wake of Violence
This mini-lesson contains strategies and activities for supporting your students in the aftermath of violent events targeted at people because of their identities.
![Closeup of people holding candle vigil in darkness expressing and seeking hope](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/WakeofViolence_iStock-613779172_full-res.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=IwqBTY_v)
The Devastation of War
Students learn about the aftermath of the Civil War and examine primary source documents that provide insight into the difficult task of reuniting the nation.
![The ruins of Mills House and nearby buildings, Charleston, South Carolina, at end of American Civil War.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Civil_Rights_1865_MillsHouseCharleston_FH21291.jpg?h=dfc3751c&itok=xxOQb9az)
Healing and Justice
Students examine President Andrew Johnson's plan for Reconstruction and the debate it provoked with Congress while reflecting on deeper issues of healing and justice.
![Columbia with black union soldier with amputated leg in ornate Greco-Roman style building](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Civic_Engagement_1865_Pardon_Franchise_Columbia_FH21375.jpg?h=5bba1fc0&itok=DENbKk8S)
The Union As It Was
Students examine documents that shed light on life in the South under the policies of Presidential Reconstruction in 1865 and 1866.
![Photo shows a group of six African American men and women posed picking cotton in a field.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Civil_Rights_Picking_Cotton_Savannah_1867_FH2177912.jpg?h=2b78d577&itok=DpnqiD0k)
Radical Reconstruction and the Birth of Civil Rights
Students learn about the responses to Johnson’s policies by Republicans in Congress and examine the fourteenth amendment that overturned Presidential Reconstruction.
![Photo of page 1 of the 14th amendment of the US Constitution](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Civil_Rights_1868_14th_Amendment_of_the_United_States_Constitution_%20FH21203.jpg?h=4359e9ca&itok=4j99BHvV)
Expanding Democracy
Students reflect on the revolutionary changes that occurred because of the landmark legislation and amendments passed during the Reconstruction era.
![A studio portrait shows African American members of the General Assembly from 1887 to 1888](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Civil_Rights_1887_Members_of_the_Virginia_GA_FH21416.jpg?h=4b21dcd5&itok=ZtAL-w-Y)