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.
How Do Others Define Your Identity?
Students draw on a contemporary parable to explore how identity is formed by our own perception as well as other people's perception of us.
![Students at desks with laptops having a discussion.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/facing-history-sf-drew-bird-a-111_for_Web_or_Office_Use.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=locch3qM)
What is Community?
Students answer the question, "What is a community?" by writing their own definition of the word and identifying what characteristics make their classroom a community.
![Students move around the classroom in conversation with each other. One student looks directly into the camera with a smile on their face.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/LA_ClassroomImage_2018_FH287148.jpg?h=a141e9ea&itok=lbbZPe6H)
Universe of Obligation and Human Rights
Students learn about universe of obligation, how individuals and nations define their responsibilities toward other people.
![A group of students sitting in chairs in circle](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/5-1-17FacH07940.jpg?h=a141e9ea&itok=Jiyv1hro)
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)
Citizen Power Makes Democracy Work
Students explore citizenship, power, and responsibility using the work of civic entrepreneur Eric Liu.
![Student speaking](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/SL_190522_0675.jpg?h=0f4230fa&itok=3-vI66f_)
Defining Democracy
Students brainstorm different definitions of democracy and consider democracy's relationship to their own communities and cultures.
![Student writing and discussing](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/SL_190522_0668.jpg?h=0f4230fa&itok=7bJ88-IJ)
Free Press Makes Democracy Work
Students explore the importance of a free press to democracy through recorded conversations with journalists from the United States and South Africa.
![Student speaking](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/SL_190522_0675.jpg?h=0f4230fa&itok=3-vI66f_)
Insights on Democracy from South Africa
Students consider how South Africa's particular history and culture influence the ways its citizens understand and practice democracy.
![A bird’s eye view of students sitting at tables in a library.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/5-1-17FacH07756.jpg?h=a141e9ea&itok=9Ud2teJv)
Literature and Imagination Make Democracy Work
Students explore the connection between literature, imagination, and democracy by engaging with the work of acclaimed author Azar Nafisi.
![A sitting teacher speaks to three students while holding a book.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/_DSF7297-15.jpg?h=c3635fa2&itok=PjXiF622)
Reflection and Action for Civic Participation
Students consider the importance of young people in democracy and analyze stories of civic participation using a ten-question framework.
![Students listening to the teacher](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/SL_190523_0856.jpg?h=c11c9c1d&itok=uHWNF4Ss)
Responding to Difference in Democracy
Students explore the varied ways people respond to differences by reading and reflecting on a poem.
![Two students reading at a table.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/SL_190523_0561.jpg?h=0f4230fa&itok=piiAD0Rl)
Jewish Theological Dilemmas After the Holocaust
Students enter the conversation about the concept of “theodicy" through activities that allow them to explore the themes of faith and doubt after the Holocaust.
![Students sit in a classroom.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-01/San_Francisco_Classroom_2017_FH152836_0.jpeg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=WDArBFmq)
After Charlottesville: Contested History and the Fight against Bigotry
Students consider the power of historical symbols as they investigate the 2015 controversy over the Confederate flag in South Carolina and then draw connections to the violence in Charlottesville.
![Students learning in class.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/2017_5-1-17FacH08748_FH256889.png?h=a141e9ea&itok=JIucYZJy)
LGBTQIA+ History and Why It Matters
Students learn about two millennia of LGBTQIA+ history and reflect on how that history is represented in their textbooks and curricula.
![Pride Day Parade in Calgary, Alberta Canada](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/2018_PrideDayParadeinCalgaryAlbertaCanada_FH2166958.jpg?h=54d1c1f1&itok=f7Rx8u3q)
The Costs and Benefits of Belonging
Students learn about group membership and explore the range of responses available to us when we encounter exclusion, discrimination, and injustice.
![Hands raised in the air by group of people](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_GroupBelonging_FH229369.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=O6H7UmzG)
Defining Human Rights
Students create a definition for a "right" in order to explore the challenges faced by the UN Commission on Human Rights to create an international framework of rights for all human beings.
![A black and white photo of Eleanor Roosevelt holding a large copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Spanish.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/19_ER_with_UDHR.jpg?h=765edc00&itok=7RVP-8e7)
Taking Ownership of the Law
Students learn about Mum Bett and Quock Walker, who successfully sued for their freedom, and reflect on what their stories illuminate about democracy today.
![Many students sitting around a table looking at the teacher.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Facing-History_SJLA_239.jpg?h=a141e9ea&itok=kNny4dqm)
The Rule of Law and Why It Matters
Students explore what it means to respect the rule of law and consider its importance in a democracy.
![A wide angle of a male student writing.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/facing-history-sf-drew-bird-a-056.jpg?h=f2fcf546&itok=cW2M4Jti)
What Does It Mean to Belong?
Students identify the range of actions they can take when confronted with exclusion. The term upstander is introduced, as well as key terms such as bystander, perpetrator, and victim.
![A teacher talking with three high school students in a classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Chicago_Classroom_2019_FH2101444.jpg?h=0f4230fa&itok=smqV7nDh)
What Makes Memphis a Community?
Students connect what they have learned about communities to their knowledge of Memphis,TN, by analyzing images of historical and local importance to the city.
![A sitting teacher speaks to three students while holding a book.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/_DSF7297-15.jpg?h=c3635fa2&itok=PjXiF622)
What Shapes Your Identity?
Through a poem-writing activity, students broaden and deepen their understanding of identity.
![Student writing notes.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/2012_118_BullySummit2012LA113_FH116207.jpg?h=265e640d&itok=fgSLzYPv)
Who Am I?
By asking the question "Who am I?" students explore the role that identity plays in forming their values, ideas, and actions.
![A female student engages in discussion.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Bully%20Summit%202012%20LA.jpg?h=4ee54301&itok=ZP2THyfm)
Who Are We?
Through a gallery walk activity, students learn that communities consist of a collection of people with unique identities.
![Two female students work at their desks.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/Classroom_TwoFemales_Uniform.jpeg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=aZOkw7ER)
Moral Growth: A Framework for Character Analysis
Students connect the moral development of To Kill a Mockingbird's central characters to the moments in their lives that have shaped their sense of right and wrong.
![A man named Floyd Burroughs stands with four children on a wooden house porch.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/2014_FloydBurroughsWithChildren2_FH131398.jpg?h=76e782aa&itok=X94ixWj8)
The Importance of a Free Press
Students review the First Amendment, understand the importance of a free press, and consider how that freedom can conflict with other societal needs through journalists’ experiences in Ferguson.
![Newspaper front page featuring story about protests and police in Ferguson.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/2014_TheSeattleTimesAugust15_2014_FH224146.jpg?h=0d0c848a&itok=p9HpylXM)
Citizen Watchdogs and the News
Students identify the responsibilities of citizen watchdogs, summarize strategies for combatting confirmation bias and responsibly consuming and sharing news and information, and complete a culminating essay.
![Reporters conducting an interview.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/iStock-1350663690.jpg?h=62bc044e&itok=TN8_VBij)
Confirmation and Other Biases
Students define explicit, implicit, and confirmation bias, and examine why people sometimes maintain their beliefs in the face of contradictory information.
![Students learning in class.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/2019_SL_190522_0466_FH2101333.jpg?h=0f4230fa&itok=sXctzD8c)
Stories of Identity and Belonging
Students read and discuss personal narrative essays and consider what factors can make it challenging for young people to be who they really want to be in the world.
Cultivating Identity Literacy
Students learn about a project, created by two young adults, that engaged people across the country in conversations about race, identity, and culture. Then they start to envision what sharing their own stories can look, sound, and feel like.
Hands Up, Don't Shoot!
Students review the US Department of Justice report, revisit how confirmation bias impacts our understanding of events, and consider how to bridge the gap in understanding that often surrounds events like Ferguson.
![Darnell Taylor marches with his daughter, Lauren, 4, on his shoulders down Market Street to Kiener Plaza as part of a march against police violence downtown St. Louis, Mo., on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014. (AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cristina Fletes-Boutte)](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/2014_PoliceShootingMissouriProtests_FH259331.jpg?h=40d6a7d7&itok=hl3b_gIx)
How Journalists Minimize Bias
Students experience the challenges to reporting objectively by writing a news piece and watching a video about how journalists counteract bias in the newsroom.
![Reporter with microphones.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/iStock-501259042.jpg?h=28d1688e&itok=2hbbI2Ox)
Analyzing and Creating Memorials
Students learn about several Holocaust memorials around the world in preparation to design their own memorial.
![The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, or Holocaust Memorial, is a memorial in Berlin, Germany to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/HHB_Chapter_11_Medium_res.jpg?h=7fb2964e&itok=i4K2A5Oo)
Standing Up to Hatred on Cable Street
Students study the Battle of Cable Street in London by examining testimonies of individuals who demonstrated against fascist leader Oswald Mosley.
![Woman struggling with police as she is arrested for being an anti-fascist](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Arrested%20Anti-Fascist%20Demonstrator.jpg?h=5265ff56&itok=lPmk0zI3)
Transcending Single Stories
Students reflect on how stereotypes and "single stories" influence our identities, how we view others, and the choices we make.
![Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie poses for a portrait in a red shirt.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/2017_ChimamandaNgoziAdichie_FH2173820.jpg?h=48bd8eff&itok=5aHBnh0R)
Analyzing Nazi Propaganda
Students define propaganda and practice an image-analysis activity on a piece of propaganda from Nazi Germany.
![A crowd salutes Nazi Leader Adolf Hitler outside the Reich Chancellery in Berlin after a plebiscite, which gave Hitler absolute power as German Fuhrer. August 19, 1934.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_1934_SalutingHitler_FH229692.jpg?h=33252b2e&itok=wqtpArcL)
Understanding Identity
Students consider the question "Who am I?" and identify social and cultural factors that shape identity by reading a short story and creating personal identity charts.
![An illustration from Fred Tashlin's The Bear That Wasn't.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Bear_04_Medium_res.jpg?h=e234a08a&itok=1oJczY0C)
When Differences Matter
Students consider what happens when one aspect of our identity is privileged above others by society.
![A Black student looks up while speaking into a microphone wearing a shirt that reads, "Black History: Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/2020_studentevent_FH2123247.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=hOJqWk6N)
Why Little Things Are Big
Students reflect on the power of being labelled and use Jesús Colón’s essay to reflect on their own experiences of being misjudged.
![Jesus Colon looks off into the distance.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/JesusColon_FH17434.jpg?h=a4aeced4&itok=7TUUVXmK)
Stereotypes and “Single Stories”
Students create working definitions of stereotype as they examine the human behavior of applying categories to people and things.
![Photograph by James Luna.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/HHB_Chapter_2_Medium_res.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=OtysDNT5)
Race and Space
Students examine the Nazi ideology of “race and space” and the role it played in Germany’s aggression toward other nations, groups, and individuals.
![Hitler Youth and League of German Girls in Tianjin, China](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Bundesarchiv_Bild_137-040965%2C_China%2C_Tientsin%2C_HJ_und_BDM_Vereidigung_Medium_res.jpg?h=7fb2964e&itok=f7n1FWQ6)
Children’s Emigration Project
Students discover the complexities of Martha Sharp's rescue project by analyzing historical correspondences.
![Children stand in front of a sign reading Maison d' Enfants USA](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/image_2_360x260.jpeg?h=f1cce077&itok=THWs_fo8)
Responses to the 1930s Refugee Crisis
Students activate their thinking around being an upstander and their responsibility toward others in light of the Sharps' mission work in Czechoslovakia.
![Picture of Jewish Refugees during World War II](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/07_Jewish_refugees_WWII_for_Web_or_Office_Use.jpg?h=8fa07595&itok=jaVdV65R)
Responding to the Stories of Holocaust Survivors
Students create a "found poem" drawing on words from the testimony of a survivor of the Holocaust.
![A memorial at Auschwitz of shoes taken from prisoners of the camp.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_AuschwitzShoeMemorial_%20FH229698.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=yasBC2Fw)
Identifying Raphael Lemkin's Outrage
Students examine how Lemkin’s outrage over the crimes committed by the Ottoman Empire during World War I inspired him to take action.
![1950 --- International lawyer Raphael Lemkin helped draft the Genocide Convention, which maps out prevention and punishment for the crime of genocide](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/U1133580INP_Medium_res.jpg?h=478e0a8d&itok=MAYHZy-W)
Exploring Raphael Lemkin's Actions: The Invention of the Word "Genocide"
Students learn about the challenges Lemkin faced from the international legal community, including its lack of sufficient language to talk about crimes against humanity and civilization.
![A photograph of several delegates who signed the UN Genocide Convention Credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of United Nations](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Lemkin_Ratification_Of_Genocide_Convention_FH131485.jpg?h=6db1c67f&itok=hEICVT3F)