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How did a meeting intended to revise the Articles of Confederation lead to the new Constitution for the United States? Discover how a handful of men--sitting in sweltering heat and shrouded by secrecy--changed the course of history for America in 1787.

How did a meeting intended to revise the Articles of Confederation lead to the new Constitution for the United States? Discover how a handful of men--sitting in sweltering heat and shrouded by secrecy--changed the course of history for America in 1787.

Constitution Day lesson plans for K-12 teachers from the Center for Civic Education. These lessons are available for free and many are downloadable as pdfs.

Lesson Plans and Resources for teaching the constitution

Lincoln- The Constitution and the Civil War (Teacher's Guide) This resource includes student activities based on the 13th Ammendment.

In the fall of 1865, Sidney Andrews, a northern-Illinois-based journalist, set out to take stock of the post-war South, traveling extensively in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia-attending state constitutional conventions and speaking with people from a variety of backgrounds. His scathing assessment gave ammunition to those advocating a more aggressive Northern hand in Reconstruction: he wrote disparagingly of a widespread lack of education and culture, an undemocratic caste system, festering racial tensions, and entrenched anti-Union sentiment.  His reports were published in The Atlantic and elsewhere, and the topic proved to be of such interest to Northern readers that some of his writings were gathered in an 1866 book, The South Since the War.  In the congressional elections that year, advocates of much harsher policies toward the South swept to power, and for the following decade-known as the years of "Radical Reconstruction"-the South would be subjected to firm rules imposed by Congress.

We need to develop more learning opportunities where students constitute the actual evaluators for the work itself. Imagine if students, teachers and others evaluate and provide feedback to determine the effectiveness of a student's creation: Develop an 60-second speech to be shared with the student council and three advertising posters to be copied and placed around school to decrease bullying. Your work will be evaluated according to our rubric by the students in our class, outside professionals and me - as the teacher. These are the experiences that push learning beyond a one-way conversation between student and teacher. They demystify the assessment process and allow each student to be a creator and simultaneous evaluator, providing multiple experiences for students to recognize and apply the criteria for quality"