Additional Resources
Annenberg Learner’s mission is to “Advance Excellent Teaching in American Schools” and provides teacher resources across various curriculum.
Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Live
The Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life exists to cultivate informed voters and active citizens. We do so through research, education, and outreach programs focused on three key pillars: civic discovery, young people, and civil dialogue.
How to Teach Civics in Action to K–12 Students, published by Baylor University's online Doctorate of Education program is a resource that includes statistical information about the number of students who volunteer, explains what action civics is, and details some challenges educators face when teaching civics. It also includes tips and ideas to help educators begin teaching civics in their own classrooms.
Center for Civic Education This site includes information on the We the People and Project Citizen programs, along with free lesson plans for use in the classroom. Subscribe to 60-Second Civics, a free daily podcast that provides a quick and convenient way for listeners to learn about American government, the Constitution, and U.S. history.
Center on Congress at Indiana University
The Center is a nonpartisan educational institution that offers multiple resources, programs, and projects that foster an informed electorate that understands our system of government and participates in civic life.
The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement conducts research on the civic and political engagement of young Americans. This site offers data and analysis on civic knowledge and participation, including youth voting data for the past 30 years.
The Constitutional Sources Project is a free online library of constitutional source documents. Included in their collection are the Federalist Papers, Anti-Federalist Papers, and James Madison’s Notes on the Constitutional Convention.
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Constitutional Rights Foundation is dedicated to educating America’s young people about the importance of civic participation in a democratic society. The website provides free lesson plans for teachers. Check out Bill of Rights in Action, a free resource that provides excellent readings that show how our rights have expanded over time.
Constituting America is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to inspiring America’s youth to be civically active at a young age age and teaching students about the relevancy of the U.S. Constitution. Constituting America is the only organization to utilize modern culture and technology to spread awareness of the Constitution, namely through public service announcements, short films, songs, and online quizzes created by students, for students. Through the George Washington Speaking Initiative, Constituting America has reached over 25,000 adults and students through interactive presentations to schools and educational events across America.
HippoCampus.org is a free, core academic web site that delivers rich multimedia content–videos, animations, and simulations–on general education subjects to middle-school and high-school teachers and college professors, and their students, free of charge. It is an excellent source for AP Government and AP U.S. History courses.
Founded and led by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, iCivics is a non-profit organization dedicated to reinvigorating civic learning through interactive and engaging learning resources. Free resources include print-and-go lesson plans, award-winning games, and digital interactives that empower teachers and prepare the next generation of students to become knowledgeable and engaged citizens.
NCSL America’s Legislators Back to School
An annual nation-wide event that “kicks off” the third week of September and runs through the school year. NCSL makes available, free of charge, publication and video resource materials for high school, middle/junior high school and elementary school students to be used by state legislators visiting classrooms in conjunction with the program.
Developed by teachers for teachers, this free platform gives access to high-quality teaching resources and provides an online community where teachers can collaborate with, encourage and inspire each other. This site allows you to search through lesson plans based on content area and grade level.
Witcombe’s Art History Resources
This site is a comprehensive resource for teaching Art History and includes high resolution art images and videos.
This video series is appropriate for high school government classrooms. The site does require that you register but there is no fee.
The Bill of Rights Institute develops instructional material and educational programs on America’s founding documents and principles for high school American History and Civics teachers and students.
Center for the Study of the American Constitution
This non-profit, non-partisan center housed within the History Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a wealth of resources on the ratification process and the foundational documents of the American Constitutionalism.
Browse the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections. Their Congress.gov site provides information about legislation in Congress. Visit their Kids & Families page to find links for great resources like Today in History and Places in the News.
The National Archives website provides lesson plans for teaching with documents, including teachable primary sources. The site also offers information and resources for students to access directly. Our Documents contains 100 milestone documents in American history, including treaties and court cases. Each milestone document contains a brief synopsis, links to the document and other sources, and some contain suggested lesson ideas.
A non-profit, non-partisan museum in Philadelphia, the NCC provides professional development for teachers along with online materials. Explore the Educational Resources page online activities and lesson plans. This site is a great resource for Constitution Day.
From PBS NewsHour, Extra for Students is the place to visit for outstanding news features that take a deeper look at current events – including biological weapons and terrorism. To learn how other kids are reacting to the news, visit the Student Voices section. Contributors are welcomed.
This section of the PBS website includes videos, timelines, and lesson plans. It even has bonus interviews with John Roberts and Sandra Day O’Connor.
Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution
Housed at James Madison’s Montpelier, the Center offers free online courses on the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Also be sure to check out Your Weekly Constitutional, a public radio program produced in partnership with James Madison’s Montpelier, which features interviews with the nation’s top voices on constitutional issues.
A nonprofit organization dedicated to providing practical, participatory education about law, democracy, and human rights. This site is an excellent resource for AP Government, Government, and Law and includes lessons about the history of the Supreme Court, current court, nominating federal judges, moot court lessons with current cases, and many links to other Supreme Court websites. Be sure to check out information on their U.S. Supreme Court Institute for Teachers.
This site is a great online resource for documents, lesson plans, and special online exhibits. Be sure to visit Gordon Lloyd’s The Constitutional Convention for comprehensive resources about the convention and delegates, including interactive maps. They also offer free professional development programming online.
Texas Young Lawyers Association
The TYLA has produced two excellent videos for classroom use. Vote America and They Had a Dream Too are both excellent for Government and U.S. History classes and can be streamed for free from this site.
A project of the Museum of the Moving Image, this site features campaign ads since 1954 that can be streamed for classroom use. Additional statistics about various presidential elections are also available, including maps depicting electoral votes.
Maintained by Northwestern University, this multimedia archive is organized to provide information on the Supreme Court – from the justices and cases, to an online tour of the Court. It also offers a series of discussion forums, articles about cases on the docket this term, and oral arguments for every case since the mid-1950’s.
Developed for the USC Annenberg Center for Communications, this web game allows students to engage in a redistricting simulation.
This site includes an interactive Electoral College map for 2012 and a history of Presidential elections in the United States.
This site provides timely information on current cases before the Supreme Court, including links to relevant editorial pieces and news on those cases. They also offer links to other Supreme Court sites and several news sites.
This site allows you to choose from a variety of researching sources. Users can search cases from the current docket by month or subject, read about the justices and landmark cases, and find case briefs and opinions. The Supreme Court Center also has the Court’s calendar and rules and includes articles and reviews commenting on decisions.
Supreme Court Historical Society
This site contains extensive information on the history of the Supreme Court and how it became the Court that it is today.
A project of the Miller Center of the University of Virginia, this site is a comprehensive collection of material about the Presidents of the United States and the history of the presidency. It features essays about the President’s life before, during, and after each presidential term. Additionally, it provides information about the First Lady and cabinet officials of each administration.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
This website provides electronic field trips, tools for teaching with primary sources and lessons with hands-on history kits. There are videos available for purchase and some videos are free. This is a great resource for colonial history.
This site includes timelines, videos, and interactive maps. It is a great resource for research in U.S. History courses. It also includes an online textbook.
Stanford HIstory Education Group
SHEG has expanded beyond U.S. to World history, ventured into the area of formative assessment, and begun to explore how a document-based curriculum can be taught to middle school students. SHEG launched beyondthebubble.stanford.edu, which provides teachers with a new generation of history assessments that incorporate documents from the vast digital archive of the Library of Congress.
The Price of Freedom: Americans at War
This website is great for U.S. History and offers a interactive timeline and links to information about all U.S. wars.
This is a free online textbook for U.S. History.
A non-profit organization chartered by the state, this online resource about Texas and its early history includes photographs, popular songs, and a searchable database.
This website has both educator and student resources, with excellent information on the Governors and First Ladies in the State of Texas.
Texas State Historical Association
This is a great encyclopedia of everything Texas and provides lesson plans in the education section.
This is a great resource for primary source materiel from or about Texas.
A project of Pearson Education, this is an excellent site for blank outline maps or various regions of the world.
This site has excellent resources and lesson plans for teachers. Note: The homepage discusses a membership fee but resources under the educator tab are free.
U.S. Department of State: Youth & Education
This site provides activities for the world’s future diplomats, offering links for current events and activities for educators and students.
This site includes link to World Atlases.
A publication of the CIA, this resource provides information on nine categories, including the history, people, government and geography of 266 world entities. You can find a wealth of maps and flags of the world and view photos of different landmarks from each country.
World History for Us All is a national collaboration of K-12 teachers, collegiate instructors, and educational technology specialists. It is a project of San Diego State University in cooperation with the National Center for History in the Schools at UCLA. World History for Us All is a continuing project. Elements under development will appear on the site in the coming months.