In this lesson, from the World Affairs Council of Seattle - Global Classroom Program, students learn about United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #1: No Poverty. They will watch a series of short videos that will provide an introduction to the SDGs and the no poverty goal. This specific lesson has students explore the connection between environmental issues (one of the themes of this module series) and poverty.Students will engage in small and large group activities that require them to analyze secondary sources and participate in collaborative discussions about the impact of environmental challenges, such as climate change, on poverty levels in different contexts. These learning activities include completing a graphic organizer, reflecting on the conclusions of their peers in a gallery walk, and researching efforts to alleviate poverty in a specific local, national, or global community. Finally, students will evaluate what is being done to address poverty and how they could take action individually and collectively to address the issue.

In this lesson from the World Affairs Council of Seattle - Global Classroom Program, students learn about United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. Students will engage in a series of individual and collaborative learning activities that prompt them to reflect on the concepts, peace, and justice, and how they are important to creating stable and inclusive societies. Students will work in small groups to assess how societies can enhance civic engagement, representative decision-making, and protect individual and collective freedoms. Students will discuss how to leverage partnerships and cultivate relationships that result in community building. In addition, students will identify and describe the characteristics associated with the rule of law and examine specific case studies that highlight the progress and challenges nations face on this issue. Finally, students will evaluate the role of citizens and government leaders in effectively addressing social and political issues, including action steps that can be taken to support peaceful and inclusive communities.

In this lesson from the World Affairs Council of Seattle - Global Classroom Program,  students explore United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #4: Quality Education. Students will learn about why access to quality education is an essential human right that promotes life-long learning opportunities. They will identify and discuss some of the barriers (economic, political, and social/cultural) faced by youth in different contexts through video clips, reading personal stories, and engaging in additional research activities. Students will examine Article #26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and discuss whether they would change any part of the statement (and why). Then, students will work collaboratively to develop a proposal for achieving greater access to quality education in specific local or global communities. In this activity, students will consider what they have learned about the impact of education on people’s lives and describe how their proposal would advance efforts to reach the targets of SDG #4.

In this lesson from the World Affairs Council of Seattle - Global Classroom Program, students learn about United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #10: Reduced Inequalities. Students will engage in learning activities that include reflecting on short videos, small group discussions, and problem-solving activities. As millions of people have been displaced around the world, this lesson focuses on nations, individual communities, and international organizations that can develop collaborative solutions to address the inequalities that refugees encounter locally and globally. According to the United Nations (2022), “roughly one in five people have experienced discrimination on at least one of the grounds prohibited under international human rights law, such as ethnicity, age, sex, disability, religion, and sexual orientation.” Students will investigate how displaced populations are affected by these elements of discrimination, identify how discrimination and inequality are connected, and work together to design practical action steps to address the issue in different contexts. Overall, this lesson encourages students to think critically and creatively to reduce inequalities and provides an opportunity to bring culturally responsive teaching strategies into their pedagogy. 

In this lesson from the World Affairs Council of Seattle - Global Classroom Program, students learn about UN Sustainable Development Goal #2: Zero Hunger. They examine the causes and consequences of food insecurity and explore solutions. Activities include KWL or Jamboard exercises, UN videos and infographics, discussions, research, and advocacy projects. These experiences help students deepen their understanding of food insecurity and its global impact, develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills, and connect with local organizations addressing the issue. Enrichment projects and advocacy efforts further enhance their learning and solution-generating abilities.

These are Economics lessons and units from Teaching California, targeted for grade 12.

Educators need civics curriculum that informs and engages students. Teaching Elections in Washington State is written in partnership with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Washington teachers to do just that.
For more resources visit:
Civics Education | Washington Office of Secretary of State - https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/civics/
Elections and Voting Teaching Resources Toolkit | Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

This unit is focused on the examination of a single topic, in this case, the Native Americans of the inland Northwest and conflict that arose when other non-native people started to settle in the northwest, and to specifically address the native populations that lived in the inland northwest. The materials were created to be one coherent arc of instruction focused on one topic. The module was designed to include teaching notes that signal the kind of planning and thinking such instruction requires: close reading with complex text, and specific instructional strategies or protocols are described that support students’ reading and writing with evidence are described in enough detail to make it very clear what is required of students and how to support students in doing this rigorous work. Materials include summative assessment of content and process, central texts, key resources, and protocols that support and facilitate student learning.

Students will consider the arguments made by members of the Continental Congress regarding whether or not to sign the Declaration of Independence. They will also have the opportunity to analyze each section of the Declaration to understand its meaning and consider the consequences of signing the document.

Welcome to the White House 360 Virtual Tour! This immersive experience will bring you inside the halls of the White House and provide access to all the public rooms on the Ground and State Floors. It will also allow you to examine the rooms and objects even closer than you would in person.

This feature was made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

This footage shows the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence as they are loaded into an armored truck at the Library of Congress, taken to the National Archives Building in a procession down Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, and carried up the building's steps. President Harry S. Truman and Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson speak in a ceremony at the National Archives Rotunda on the historic importance of the documents.

Developed by the World Affairs Council of Seattle, this teaching and learning module provides a series of lessons that engage students in exploring the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. With 17 goals in total, this ambitious framework targets local and global issues ranging from ensuring quality education for all to mitigating climate change.You will find the student-specific instructions provide appropriate translations to assist teachers and students of heritage languages. Overall, these lessons will support students in developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that will prepare them for college, career, and civic life. 

The so-called "Fifth Page" of the US Constitution -- also known as the Transmittal Page -- has never been publicly displayed. On the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the US Constitution the Fifth Page was displayed at the National Archives in Washington, DC. The Fifth Page has received the same care as the more famous documents in the Charters of Freedom and is encased in the same type of state-of-the-art oxygen-free encasement as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution pages one to four, and the Bill of Rights.

In this Inside the Vaults video short, Chief of Reference at the National Archives Trevor Plante literally takes viewers inside the Archives vaults to see some of his favorite rarely-displayed documents. They include:
• The original text of the "Virginia Plan," Edmund Randolph's proposal for a national government that included three co-equal branches: "supreme legislative, judiciary and executive";
• A printed copy of the Constitution with George Washington's handwritten annotations;
• The final printed copy of the Constitution, which was delivered to the Constitutional Convention September 13, 1787, approved by vote on September 15, and then signed on September 17; and
• The state of Pennsylvania's ratification copy of the Constitution — unlike the four-page version of the Constitution on display at the National Archives in Washington, DC, the entire text is on one enormous sheet of parchment so it could be more easily transported.

Inside the Vaults includes highlights from the National Archives in the Washington, DC, area and from the Presidential libraries and regional archives nationwide. These shorts present behind-the-scenes exclusives and offer surprising stories about the National Archives treasures.

Come see the U.S. Constitution on permanent display at the National Archives in Washington, DC. September 17 is designated as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787.

Expand students’ understanding of U.S. History with culturally inclusive resources that bring the major people, events, and trends in history alive, while integrating often untold stories into the curriculum. Curated clips of trusted PBS programs and a diverse array of other media and interactive resources develop students’ historical thinking skills while broadening their appreciation of history’s multiple perspectives and complexity.

This IDM inquiry leads students through an investigation of the decision by the United States to use atomic weapons on Japan at the end of World War II.

The compelling question “Was the Dropping of Atomic Weapons on Japan an Appropriate Use of Force?” asks students to identify and weigh evidence from multiple primary and secondary sources supplied as well as others found by the student.

This unit of study consisits of 5 activities to investigate the effects of Native American Boarding Schools on the individual, the family, and the community. Students will analyze before and after pictures of indigenous students, primary source comments given by boarding school survivors, and historic newspapers to asertain attitudes towards Native Americans during this time period. Middle school students will conclude with a short writing assignment. Secondary students will prepare an essay that relates the attitudes of the time to the practices in Native American Boarding Schools. This is an emotionally difficult subject and special care should be taken if you have Native students in your classrooms, as this topic is traumatic for families who have survived this experience. See Multicultural Considerations before beginning.

Educational videos, documentaries, book club sessions, conversations, and a podcast produced by the Minidoka Pilgrimage that cover a variety of topics on the Japanese American WWII incarceration. Image of Minidoka Internment Camp by Dave Horalek, courtesy of Pixabay

This unit begins by asking students to consider life in Africa before colonization and the forced enslavement of Africans. Students read Omar ibn Said’s autobiography to understand the Islamic scholar’s experiences before he was captured in West Africa and after he was enslaved in America. Excerpts from Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography provide a detailed glimpse of his childhood in Africa before he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Students examine these two stories and others for evidence of resistance, liberation, connection to culture, and shared humanity as they develop a response to the question: How can we better understand America’s past and present by listening to often omitted and unheard voices from the slave trade? Working in teams, students create a podcast about an unheard story in order to start a conversation about the lasting effects of the Transatlantic slave trade and the importance of Black history in America.