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General
Center for Civic Education We the People Page
Mock Congressional Hearing Questions
Stanford History Education Group
Hip Hughes See Teacher Talk & US Constitution for instructional ideas and short videos
Four B’s Videos by Constitutional Scholars focused on WTP Questions
Constitution Explained Video Series – iCivics
Power to the People: Seven Weekly Webinars
Colorado-Created We the People Materials
CO We the People Summer Institute Resources 2022
CO We the People Institute Resources 2010
First Amendment
11 Resources for Teaching Social Movements Past and Present Interesting collection of teaching materials teachers can use to explore how social movements used the First Amendment in 20th-century history.
The First Amendment in Public Schools The Anti-Defamation League presents a four-lesson unit on First Amendment rights in school.
Mighty Times: The Children’s March A free video teaching kit from Teaching Tolerance.
The Power to Change the World: A Teaching Unit on Student Activism in History and Today Teaching materials developed in the current climate of student protest.
Student Clothing and the First Amendment This lesson plan considers limitations on students’ right to express themselves through their clothing in light of school safety concerns.
Ways to Share Your Students’ Solutions to Gun Violence A look at varied ways to express views on a controversial issue.
K-12 Public School Student Expression Overview
“First Amendment 101,” Upfront (January 8, 2018), Good overview for students.
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education: Free Speech, also see FIRE’s page on college speech codes
National Constitution Center: Interactive Constitution, First Amendment,
Supreme Court Center at FindLaw
Legislative Branch
Congress.gov Extensive site with information on current legislation, leadership and committee structures of the House and Senate, and more.
Congressional Chronicle C-SPAN, A comprehensive resource on what is happening in Congress right now.
Center on Representative Government Indiana University. Lee Hamilton, Hamilton writes extensively about Congress. Many lessons and games.
National Conference of State Legislatures If you want to investigate state legislative issues, NCSL’s website is a good place to start.
Congress WeekThis informative site about Congress includes a useful list of links for classroom resources on the legislative branch.
ICivics, iCivics presents an array of teaching materials on Congress and the work of legislating.
Teaching with Primary Sources The Center on Congress at Indiana University, Many teaching ideas for using primary sources to teach about Congress.
60-Second Civics, Episodes Center for Civic Education, Really short podcasts from CCE, focused on the legislative branch.
What Congress Does and Why It Matters Lesson Plans, National Archives,. Collection of lessons designed to help students understand the role of Congress and some of the issues with its performance.
State by State Redistricting Ballotpedia Informative article on the various state practices regarding drawing district lines.
Executive Branch/Bureaucracy Resources
Dickerson, John, “What if the Problem Isn’t the President, It’s the Presidency,” The Atlantic, May 2018,. The veteran newsman argues that the job of the presidency has become too complex for anyone to be successful and makes suggestions for fixing the problem.
The Executive Branch: Bureaucracy in a Democracy: Chapter Study Outline. Support material for Lowi/Ginsberg American Government text, W.W. Norton
USA.gov Centralized site for accessing government information.
Bureaucracy Basics, Crash Course Government and Politics #15, PBS, Very fast-talking presentation about bureaucracies with lots of information presented in about 6 minutes.
Bureaucracy: A Controversial Necessity, Annenberg Learner Video-based lesson exploring the growth of the federal bureaucracy, the source of its power, and its activities.
60-Second Civics Episodes 2701-2717, 3122, Center for Civic Education. Really short podcasts from CCE, focused on the bureaucracy.
Judicial Branch
Oyez Oyez presents synopses of historic and current cases, the decisions rendered, the breakdown of justices voting each way, and more. The site also features a 360-degree virtual tour of the Court and biographies of past and present justices.
SCOTUSblog This site provides all the Court news you can possibly imagine, plus links to briefs (including amicus briefs) and decisions, all accompanied with insightful commentary.
Hobbs, Gregory J., Jr., “Colorado Judicial Merit Selection—A Well-Deserved 40th Anniversary Celebration The Colorado Lawyer 13 (April 20016) An article supporting the merit selection process in Colorado, written by a former Colorado Supreme Court Justice.
How a Judge Becomes a Judge, Colorado Judicial Branch April 2001, A brochure with solid information on the current system of selecting judges in Colorado.
Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System University of Denver. The institute, started by former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Love Kourlis, offers many useful resources from its Quality Judges Initiative, including FACS: Judges in the United States
Judicial Selection in the States, National Center for State Courts A comprehensive source of information on how judges are selected in the 50 states.
A Defense of the Elected Judiciary, Legal Memorandum O’Malley, Deborah, Heritage Foundation, September 9, 2010. An article from a conservative think tank supporting judicial elections.
PBS for Educators: The Supreme Court This site to accompany a PBS program on the Court includes an interactive timeline and lesson plans.
Annenberg Institute for Civics Annenberg presents teaching materials on a variety of topics and includes many video clips designed for classroom use. For example, a lesson on “Students and the Supreme Court: A Lexicon of Laws”
Supreme Court Historical Society The Society provides detailed and useful information about Court history and how the Court functions.
Selection of Federal Judges If you want to have students compare selection of state judges with selection of federal judges, Street Law provides several free lessons. Accessing free materials requires creating a login.
Foreign Policy
Bill of Rights in Action This quarterly publication from the Constitutional Rights Foundation has featured many articles on the foreign policy.
The Choices Program This program at Brown University provides teaching materials on numerous foreign policy issues.
Council on Foreign Relations In-depth background on many foreign policy issues.
The Cuban Missile Crisis A lesson plan rich with primary sources.
Foreign Policy Association FPA provides lots of background and sponsors the venerable Great Decisions program.
Foreign Policy Research Institute Analysis of international issues, plus lesson plans.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History The Gilder Lehrman Institute provides many lessons and readings on historical foreign policy issues, such as this lesson on the Olympic Boycott:
U.S. Department of State: Policy Issues This page is a good starting point for exploring the many resources available from the State Department.
See National Civic Education Sites & Research Sources for Civic Education