What Does It Mean To Be An American - Website Guidance
Overview
Developed by the Mineta Legacy Project in partnership with SPICE (Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education), this free educational curriculum offers six lessons for educators, high school students, and college students to examine what it means to be American - Immigration, Civil Liberties & Equity, Civic Engagement, Justice & Reconciliation, Leadership, and U.S.-Japan Relations. Each of the six thematic modules blends readings, primary source material, images, videos, activities, and assignments.
Purpose of Website
These lessons foster critical thinking through discussions, close readings, and interactive activities, enhanced by videos, imagery, and engagement components. The six thematic modules can be easily shared via an LMS, Google Classroom, or as PDFs.
The six standards-aligned lessons provide for powerful learning that connects to students’ lives and showcase a diverse range of American voices—from young adults to former U.S. Presidents.
Site Navigation Strategy
Visit the Getting Started section to see video tutorials for each lesson that provide tips to get the most out of the materials.
On the Overview page of each lesson, you will find
- Lesson Introduction - lesson, related objectives, and organizing questions.
- Connections to Standards - history, social studies, civics and government, and Common Core
- Materials and Teacher Preparation - equipment, materials, and instructions you’ll need for the different components of that lesson. Also note that you can use this page to print handouts as either a PDF or Google Doc
- Snapshot - scope and sequence of the activities in the lesson
Tips for Effective Implementation or Differentiation
Each of the lessons are stand-alone so that teachers may choose to use as many or few as they like.
The lessons can be easily shared to an LMS, Google Classroom, or downloaded as PDF.
Comments
Each lesson has separate Teacher and Student versions. The Teacher version, which includes additional notes and instructions, can only be accessed with a login. Students do not need to log in to access the Student version. The materials are free to use but do not carry an open license.
Attribution and License
Attribution
- Cover Image and "six lessons" screenshot copyright Media Bridges, Inc. & SPICE | used pursuant to fair use
License
Except where otherwise noted, this website guidance document by Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All logos and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
This resource contain links to websites operated by third parties. These links are provided for your convenience only and do not constitute or imply any endorsement or monitoring by OSPI. Please confirm the license status of any third-party resources and understand their terms before use.