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Recent Newsletter Articles
Mock Hearing Before the Supreme Court
Part of a series of lesson plans from the ACLU of Maine, intended for high school students, about constitutional rights. After a teacher explains the 4th amendment (searches and seizures), students form a "Supreme Court" and debate an actual past SCOTUS case. The case deals with searching students' belongings, but could be used to explain protection against unlawful search more generally (i.e., stopped by officers on the street). Read More
Do You Know Your Bill of Rights?
Activity where students refer to "The Constitution and Rights" section of the Judicial Learning Center's website, which explains the amendments in the Bill of Rights, and fill in a handout with key vocabulary. A good intro to constitutional rights; could be used as a vocabulary activity for high-level ELL or GED students, or a digital literacy activity. Note: This website also has an Educator Center with a variety of additional podcast and video activities, online learning modules, lesson plans, and other resources. Read More
Literacy Now: Downloadable Material
This website includes books from Literacy NOW workshops, and testing materials developed for ESL Programs. These have been developed and curated by Tacoma Community House. You will find tools for the Language Experience Approach (LEA), A Speaking and Listening Handbook, and three different volunteer handbooks for those supporting Beginning ESL Literacy students. Read More
Cartoons for the Classroom
Students are often asked to analyze an editorial cartoon on the GED or other high school equivalency test. The free materials from Cartoons for the Classroom will help students with this challenging task. Cartoons for the Classroom provides a weekly lesson that includes editorial cartoons related to a current event and a number of guiding questions for discussion or writing. In other materials, students have to draw conclusions by writing their own caption for a cartoon; there is also a cartoon evaluation worksheet that can be used with cartoons found in other publications. In addition to current event cartoons, the site provides resources to help study editorial cartoons from different eras. Read More
National Council for Geographic Education
The National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) is a professional organization for geography teachers and provides free and classroom-ready materials for both members and non-members. By navigating to the NCGE resource library, users can type in geography-related search term such as maps, climate, migration and be provided with lessons and other resources. While some of the materials are aligned to AP geography, there are many others that can be used in the elementary and secondary grade level classrooms. Read More
NewseumED
NewseumED provides a wide range of resources related to the First Amendment and media/information literacy. Along with an extensive lesson plan library, the site has created "EDcollections," which brings together archival materials, primary sources, interactives, and standards-based lesson plans for all levels of students. Activities related to free speech, media literacy, women's suffrage, the First Amendment, the Civil Rights Movement, and decoding elections are found in these EDcollections. Other useful resources include an artifact library where users can download and view impactful images from history. In addition, the site also has a number of videos related to media literacy topics such as bias and objectivity, and each one is accompanied by a related lesson plan. Read More
Council for Economic Education
The CEE's mission is to provide students at all levels with the tools and knowledge of economics and personal finance in order to make better decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities. The CEE offers an extensive collection of free, leveled, and standards-aligned lessons, activities, and videos that cover a wide range of economics and personal finance topics. Teachers can also sign up to download free, ready-made K-12 economics and personal finance quizzes and tests. If you are new to teaching economics, or need additional teaching strategies and resources, CEE offers professional development sessions and webinars on a variety of economics related topics. Read More
Native Land Digital
The Native Land Digital interactive map shows which Indigenous lands you live on in the Americas and in other parts of the world. Users can click on labels or enter their city, state or zip code and see which Indigenous peoples lived in that specific area. Accompanying the interactive map is a useful teacher's guide that provide suggestions on how to use the map in the classroom and a number of lessons that utilize the map and cover other topics related to the Indigenous peoples. Read More
Minnesota Council on Economic Education
MCEE offers free economic and financial literacy resources at the K-5, 6-8, and 9-12 grade levels. All of the free lessons meet the Minnesota meet the Minnesota state academic standards in economics and many of their curriculum materials provide teachers with materials to incorporate economics into history, geography, and mathematics. In addition to their leveled lessons, MCEE provides resources for distance learning, for teaching multi-language students, and links to free online finance games. If you are new to teaching economics, or need additional teaching strategies and resources, MCEE offers professional development sessions on a variety of economics-related topics. Read More
National Geographic: Antibiotic Resistance is Beefing Up
This is a leveled reading for 3-12th grade and discusses the genetic resistance of bacteria and its impact on public health. The reading introduces the concept of genetic resistance, which is a common topic on the GED/HiSET exams. Read More