Teaching with the News: Free lessons connect your classroom to headlines in the news.
“This Is Not Who We Are.” Or Is It? Historians Contextualize the Capitol Riot
In this lesson, students will work together to explore six different excerpted articles from historians and scholars who, in the days after the Capitol riot, sought to provide historical context for the events of January 6.
From Washington to Biden: Comparing Inaugural Addresses
Students read or view past presidential inaugural addresses, analyze their messages, and discuss their visions for the country. Students will then view and analyze Biden’s address, discuss their findings, express their own views, and reflect on the purpose and meaning of presidential inaugural addresses.
Voting in 2020: Values and Policies during a Pandemic
Students assess the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the 2020 election; identify and prioritize the values that shape their personally held beliefs; explore the presidential candidates’ positions on key policy issues; and gather evidence to analyze an issue and its role in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
When the Games Stop: Athletes Unite in Historic Sports Shutdown
Students explore the perspectives, motivations, and goals of athletes protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake, analyze polling data, examine primary sources, and consider the achievements and limitations of collective action by athletes.
Oral History and September 11
In this lesson, students explore the human dimension of the September 11 attacks by conducting an interview and considering the benefits and limitations of using oral history to learn about the past.
Black Lives Matter, the Killing of George Floyd, and the Long Fight for Racial Justice
Students review a timeline of Black activism, identify patterns and themes, consider accomplishments of civil rights activists and the enduring obstacles to racial equality, and evaluate platforms for activism and the role of social media in protests.
Taking It to the Streets: A Year of Global Protests
Students examine photographs of protests from around the world, analyze the origins and causes of protest movements, and identify similarities, differences, and patterns.
The State of the Union Address
Students review the origins of the State of the Union in the Constitution and then watch significant moments in selected historical addresses and identify important themes, continuities, and discontinuities.
The United States-Iran Crisis
Students review the history and consider the current status of U.S.-Iran relations as they develop media source analysis skills and analyze different perspectives on the current situation.
Refugee Stories: Mapping a Crisis
New update: December 2019.
Students gain an understanding of the current refugee crisis by mapping data and exploring personal accounts of refugees.
The Impeachment Process and President Trump
This lesson helps students understand the Constitutional basis and historical precedents for impeachment.
Teaching About Controversial Issues: A Resource Guide
This resource guide provides teachers with resources and pedagogical tools to feel more prepared to address controversial issues in the classroom.
Seeking Asylum in the United States
Students review a timeline of major laws and policies related to asylum in the U.S.
On the Brink of Nuclear War: Leadership and the Cuban Missile Crisis
Re-release: May 2019.
In this lesson, students will understand the significance of the Cuban Missile Crisis and consider lessons from the missile crisis for today.
U.S.-China Trade Tensions
In this lesson students examine primary sources from U.S. officials, scholars, journalists, and business leaders supporting and opposing Trump administration trade policies with China.
Resource Guide: Transgender Identities and Rights
A collection of resources that may prove useful to educators looking to learn more about transgender identity, discuss transgender identity in the classroom, and to support transgender students.
#WontBeErased: Source Analysis
Students read a general overview text about transgender identity in the United States and analyze social media posts as sources about transgender identity today.
Gerrymandering: One Person, One Vote?
In this lesson students understand the reasons for and process of redistricting after a census.
An Interactive Timeline: U.S. Immigration Policy, Past and Present
Students review a timeline of U.S. immigration policy and laws from European colonization to today, collaboratively synthesize their findings, and present them to the class.
South China Sea: Maritime Conflicts
In this lesson students explore, discuss, and evaluate multiple perspectives on maritime disputes in the South China Sea.
Syrian Refugees: Understanding Stories with Comics
In this lesson, students will read stories of Syrian refugees to learn more about the ongoing civil war and refugee crisis in Syria.
Myanmar and the Rohingya
In this free Teaching with the News lesson, students learn more about the Rohingya people of Myanmar and the current conflict.
History in Dispute: Charlottesville and Confederate Monuments
In this lesson students will understand the idea of historical memory and contextualize the August 2017 events in Charlottesville within a larger historical controversy.
Values and Public Policy
Students identifying values as a way to understand the views of others, find common ground where it exists, and work together to find ways to form policy.
Famine Today: The Greatest Humanitarian Crisis Since World War II
In this lesson students learn about two historical famines and the current food crises in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.
The Costs of War
In this online lesson students explore the human, economic, social, and political costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.