CURRICULAR RESOURCES
Innovative lesson plans, activities, resources, and online exhibits feature archival materials to fit your classroom needs.
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- Estimated Time Required: 1-2 hours
- Topic: Persuasive Writing and Speaking
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Students consider the rhetorical devices in the inaugural address. They analyze suggestions made by advisors and compare them to the delivered version of the speech.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students consider the impact of poll taxes as a barrier to voting by examining four primary sources.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students learn about gender discrimination in space exploration by analyzing a letter to President Kennedy from a female aviator training to be an astronaut.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 0-1 hour, 1-2 hours
Adapted from the longer lesson plan, "What if Laws are Unjust?", this activity asks students to consider young people’s rationales for participating in civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, and the risks and rewards of their inclusion.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 7, 8, 9, 10
Time: 1-2 hours
In this role-play lesson, students consider some strategies proposed in 1963 for achieving the goal of equal voting rights for African Americans in Mississippi.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students consider what makes a non-violent protest march successful and by analyzing primary sources, they then evaluate the success of the 1963 March on Washington.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students examine the persuasive techniques in President Kennedy's "June 11, 1963 Radio and Television Report to the American People on Civil Rights" and evaluate the effectiveness of the speech.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 4, 5, 6
Time: 1-2 hours
Using primary source materials, students investigate the use of metaphor in presidential oratory and apply it to a piece of persuasive writing on a current national or global issue.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts
Grade: 7, 8
Time: 1-2 hours
Students analyze excerpts from the first Kennedy-Nixon debate (September 26, 1960) and a memo assessing the debate from one of Kennedy's advisers. They then use the memo as a model as they watch a current political debate to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate they support.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students consider what "ingredients" might go into the speech that will launch a President's term in office as they examine some of the most memorable inaugural addresses of the past.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History, World History
Grade: 6, 7, 8
Time: 1-2 hours
Students act as members of President Kennedy's Press Office with an assignment to brief him for a news conference. They research issues and events of the early 1960s by exploring the Kennedy Library's website. The lesson culminates with a simulated press conference.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: US History, World History
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Using primary source materials, students investigate the motivation for President Kennedy's ambitious space program.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, Economics, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 6, 7, 8, 9
Time: 1-2 hours
Students can watch a 15-minute video about the importance of letter writing which provides examples of letters to President Kennedy from young people, and guides students to write their own letter to the president. Includes letter writing templates.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 1-2 hours