HERB: Resources for Teachers

A "Great Cause for Better Citizens"? Attitudes Towards the New Deal

In this activity students read letters from ordinary people to government leaders in the Roosevelt Administration. Then they interpret the range of attitudes about the changing role of the federal government during the New Deal. The letters for this activity all contain reading supports and teachers can differentiate this activity for different…

Tags: Constitution and Government, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, New Deal, Reading Supports, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2009

"Uncle Sam's Got Himself in a Terrible Jam": Protest Music and the Vietnam War

In this activity students analyze the lyrics to a popular Vietnam War protest song and discuss how music can be used to motivate people and for protest. Then students will create a new stanza for the protest song "I-Feel-Like-I'm Fixin'-To-Die Rag."

Tags: Social Movements, TAH, Vietnam War
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2009

"In Defense of My Race and Country": African-American Soldiers on Why They Are Fighting

In this activity students read three letters written by African-American soldiers during the Civil War to determine why black soldiers felt compelled to join the Union Army.

Tags: African-American Soldiers, Civil War, Making Connections
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2009

What This Cruel War Was Over: Slavery and the Civil War

In this activity students will examine how attitudes towards slavery and the Civil War changed between 1860 and 1865. What began in the minds of President Lincoln and most northerners as a war to preserve the union changed, over the course of the war, into a war to free the slaves. This transformation occurred in large part because of the actions…

Tags: Civil War, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2009

The Pay Envelope: A Role Play

In this activity students perform a role play of immigrant mothers and daughters arguing over who should get to keep the daughter's wages. This activity is used to teach with the film Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl, but can be completed without the film.

Tags: Common Core Reading, Immigration and Migration, Role Play, Work
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2009

Running for Freedom: The Fugitive Slave Law and the Coming of the Civil War

This activity compares a runaway slave ad and an abolitionist poster to explore the causes and effects of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. The law changed how many northerners viewed slavery and intensified conflicts that brought the nation closer to Civil War.

Tags: Civil War, Fugitive Slave Act, Slavery and Abolition, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2009

FDR's Tree Army: Personal Turning Points in the CCC

In this activity students learn about the goals of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the opportunities it provided for young men. Students create poster presentations about different aspects of the CCC by combining photographs and quotes from primary sources. Students will need poster-making supplies (including poster board or paper, markers,…

Tags: Civilian Conservation Corps, Great Depression, New Deal, TAH, Work, Young America
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2009

Differing Federal Responses to the Great Depression: Letter Analysis

In this activity students read two letters (one from Hoover, one from FDR) to determine different political beliefs that guided the presidents in their responses to the Great Depression.

Tags: Constitution and Government, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Great Depression, Herbert Hoover, New Deal, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2009

Social Movements and Constitutional Change: Women's Suffrage

In this activity, students analyze documents to arrange events on a timeline of women's suffrage. The timeline and documents will help students understand the intersection of social movements and constitutional change. This activity can be modified by reducing the number of documents. An optional Smartboard Notebook file is included to facilitate…

Tags: Gender and Sexuality, Reading Supports, Smartboard, Social Movements, TAH, Voting
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2010

Claiming We the People: Political Participation in Revolutionary America

In this activity students will learn about how groups without political power--African Americans, women, and working-class men--sought to expand their political power in the Revolutionary era. Students will analyze primary sources to determine the methods by which non-voting groups made their claims on being part of "We the People".

Tags: Constitution and Government, Reading Supports, TAH
Item Type: Teaching Activity
Date: 2010

Teaching Activities (79 total)