Teacher Lesson Plans

Students will study the New Deal and The Great Depression.

Students will write a letter to an appropriate government official arguing for or against the use of the Special Minimum Wage Certificate.

Students will look at how the atomic bomb changed the world politically, socially, technologically and economically.

Analysis of Thomas Hart Benton mural

Students will examine "Independence and the Opening of the West" by Thomas Hart Benton. They will analyze its content, use visual thinking strategies and draw conclusions about the art work.

Students will conduct research and analyze primary sources to investigate why Indiana could be called the “mother of Vice Presidents”.

Students will be tasked with researching, analyzing, and creating a paper over the influence of a First Lady of the United States.

Students will advise Truman on the integration of the US military after WWII. They will play the role of individuals who advise the President based on primary sources.

Group discussion of Norman Rockwell’s painting from the October 30, 1948 cover of the Saturday Evening Post.

Students will work together to analyze primary sources on the inter-war period in both the Soviet Union and the United States and will work individually to draw conclusions about those sources by producing a Venn Diagram.

Students analyze primary source documents and then write letters for and against legislation related to migrant labor.

This lesson would be used as an introduction to John Brown and his role in Kansas History. The 7th grade state standards are listed below but John Brown is a pivotal character in Kansas. The state of Kansas wants us to explicitly teach about John Brown and the events leading up to him and what happened due to his actions in Kansas.

The students will read primary source documents related to the Iranian Hostage Crisis and, as advisors to President Carter, make recommendations about how he should respond.

Students will analyze how political boundaries change with major world events by examining primary documents in small groups.

Students will study how James Buchanan’s decisions regarding the Lecompton Constitution impacted Kansas Territory and the United States.

To assist students in developing analytical skills that will enable them to evaluate primary sources and images such as documents, photographs, political cartoons and posters related to the Japanese Internment Camps during World War II.

In this lesson students will work in teams to create a time line of raids during the Border War before watching the movie Ride with the Devil to learn information about the Missouri-Kansas Border War.

Have students recognize cause and effect by reflecting on how a person's history/culture impacts his/her development and the decisions they make.

Students will be required to put together a PowerPoint or poster board presentation on a theme from the Roaring Twenties. The presentation (PowerPoint slides or poster board) must include pictures, descriptions, and various other items.

Students will research and make group presentations about a Jazz band/performer and other topics related to Kansas in the 1930s.

Students will study Kansas City Jazz of the 1920s and 1930s.

Read book as a class and reflect over and discuss the book.

In this activity the student will use two primary sources of a famous painting and a picture that depict what was going on in Kansas and Missouri during the border wars

Students will utilize Google Earth to build a route map of a participant in the Border War between Missouri and Kansas, noting stops and events along their path in the war.

The lesson will be an individual assignment that will lead into group discussion. The lesson will be based on the reading of two primary sources (John Brown Speech to the Court and the Kansas Emigrant Song by J.G. Whittier) and completing a written document analysis worksheet on both. 

Individual lesson that begins with an introduction to the Korean War. Students then listen to audio clips of President Truman and answer questions to the clips while they are listening.

Students will read the primary source document and then engage in a discussion answering the following questions: What type of document is it? When was it written? What was its purpose?

Uses analysis of primary source documents and small group discussion to help students gain a better understanding of the Korean War through the viewpoints of many different people. Students will learn about propaganda methods and types of propaganda.

Using the Truman Library Korean War Document collection, the students will read primary documents, analyze and evaluate them, synthesize a summary and place them on a timeline. The timeline forms the basis for other activities.

Students are required to analyze the presidential diaries of Lyndon B. Johnson. Research is combined with analysis to identify people and groups mentioned in the diary.

Each student will complete concept maps on the sections on Vietnam, LBJ's Administration, and Civil Rights Movement.

Fishbowl/Open Debate over the question, The United States should have ratified the Treaty of Versailles and Joined the League of Nations.

The purpose of this activity is to better acquaint the student with the problems faced by Kansas settlers. Decisions made by our countries leaders have to be well thought out or they may come back to haunt us.

Students will analyze Thomas Nast's Sacred Elephant cartoon from 1884 and relate it to their knowledge of the Garfield/Arthur administration

Students will study and analyze letters written to Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depressions while he was implementing the New Deal programming. The students will reflect and compare the Great Depression to our current economic situation.

Students will be tasked with analyzing correspondence to President Hoover during the Great Depression.

This unit will engage the students in discussions, independent reflection with written summaries, research, and others to guide students to answer the question, was life during the fifties really nifty?

Students will analyze the boundaries of presidential power through primary sources and complete a performance task.

Students will be looking at the executive role of President Lincoln during his terms as President. They will be grouped in pairs working through an internet site and answering questions as they go. They will look at primary sources as well as reading a

I want students to understand that constitutional interpretation, particularly in matters concerning war powers, is an ambiguous process. Students will gain better understanding of what the Constitution has to say about war powers, as well as increasing their understanding of the Civil War.  They will also practice presenting their findings to others.

Be able to compare the difference of opinions depending on sides in the Civil War using primary sources.

Students will study a U.S. President removing a high-ranking military officer from command by comparing Truman's firing of MacArthur with Obama accepting McChrystal's offer to resign.

Students will research the Internet for information on machine politics in the 1920's and 30's making note of common characteristics. Students will read primary and secondary sources.

Students will create a Social Media Campaign for Richard Nixon in hopes of him winning the 1960 Election.

Using primary sources to analyze the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Through this lesson students will be able to make a more personal connection to history, they will come to understand the deep wounds that resulted from the conflict, and they will be able to discern the lasting effects of the conflict.

Students will create a timeline of the period 1950-1989. This will be used at the beginning of the unit on the latter part of the 20th century. It will be an ongoing project as we work through the unit.

Students will analyze oral histories related to the Marshall Plan.

Students will be placed in the role to produce support for the Marshall Plan from both the American public and Congress.