This detailed lesson plan (33 pages) allows students to critically examine how individuals shape history. They play a game, discuss, vote, interact, examine bias, and evaluate ideas of others.

Students investigate the question "what are American ideals" through a matching activity. Requires teacher prep to cut cards. Includes a full lesson, warm-up, game procedures, and assessment and reflection.

Chicana poet, publisher and educator Maria Miranda Maloney honors her ancestors through her poem “Blessed." This video is one of the 2021 Dead Poets Open Mic Series created by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino in collaboration with Mouthfeel Press.

This case study explores how indian boarding schools impacted thousands of Native youths and allows students to examine the effects of assimilation. Designed for High School, but easily adaptable for upper elementary or middle school. Full lesson plan included.

The National Museum of the American Latino has created this resource as a guide to learn more about the Day of the Dead. Use this Learning Lab as a starting off point to celebrate with your community, family, and/or students. Our on-line learning kit includes general information and the history of the tradition. Smithsonian collections, video resources, music, and hands-on activities for in-school or at-home learning are also included.

In celebration of Day of the Dead, listen to 2020 New Mexico Poet Laureate, Levi Romero, explore the meaning of remembrance in his poem “El día 29 de Agosto.” This video is one of the 2021 Dead Poets Open Mic Series created by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino in collaboration with Mouthfeel Press.

Also from a Smithsonian museum, this resource provides students with a primary resource (an excerpt written by an incarcerated Japanese American boy) and opportunities to analyze this resource as a means to understand the conditions of the Japanese American concentration camps in the U.S. during WW2. Standards based and includes questions, activities, videos, and more.

Smithsonian resource. This collection of 5 videos visually tells the story of 5 labor leaders and how they worked to ensure safer working conditions, better wages, and how they brought forth state and federal legislation with their work.

Smithsonian. Students watch a brief video on the March on Washington, and then analzye a photograph and three articles from the March. They then work to answer the question "What problems did the participants on the March on Washington aim to solve?"

Smithsonian resource. Multiple short videos show how American scientists and innovators were prominent in the 1800s and their contributions to society.

This activity “Becoming aware of the Japanese American Internment Camp Experience” is intended to help students become aware of, and sensitive to, the Japanese American interment camp experience. They will develop a sense of empathy by simulating the situations which Japanese American children faced.

Learn about the incredible community-based "Healing Uvalde Mural Project" and how brightly colored murals have transformed downtown Uvalde, Texas, after an unbelievable tragedy.

Smithsonian. This resource includes a 26 minute video interview with the photographer, and a collection of photographs of the Civil Rights Movement. Students are encouraged to analyze primary sources and discuss the impact of the photographs on the Civil Rights Movement.

This lesson plan and case study can be used to follow the previous one, or can stand alone. They allow students to explore the effects of the Boston busing crisis that occurred during the Civil Rights Movement. Full lesson plan with primary resources included. Encourages critical thinking.

This lesson plan and case study allow students to analyze the fight to desegregate schools. Full lesson plans can be modified for elementary school and include reading, discussion, a project and exit ticket.

Smithsonian collection. This collection of photographs and primary resources allows students to explore how sports played a key role in the Civil Rights Movement. They learn about famous African-American athletes and their historical contributions. At the end of the collection, there is a timeline that students can fill in. Excellent introduction to the Civil Rights Movement.

Smithsonian resource. Students learn about the experiences of incarcerated Japanese Americans during WW2 through reading a series of comics developed for this purpose. Can be used as an introduction to this topic. Blank comic template is also included for assessment opportunities.

Afro Boricua poet, publisher and professor Raina León recites “Testimonios” in honor of the dearly departed poet Kamilah Aisha Moon. This video is one of the 2021 Dead Poets Open Mic Series created by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino in collaboration with Mouthfeel Press.

AfroLatinx spoken word artist Lysz Flo explores imagined futures in their poem “This time”, and reflects on the legacy and love of living and ancestral grandmothers/abuelas through the poem “Wela.” This video is one of the 2021 Dead Poets Open Mic Series created by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino in collaboration with Mouthfeel Press.

Smithsonian resource. During Covid-19, racism towards Asian Americans increased in many parts of the United States. This collection of videos shows conversations with community leaders combating racism. Can be used to facilitate discussion and discourse in the classroom.