In this activity students analyze a timeline and official and unofficial documents that reveal the events of the Iran-Contra Affair. This activity also models the types of questions that can help students analyze foreign policy documents from other events. The activity instructions include suggestions for how to differentiate the activity for students with different reading levels.

Take a close look at the structure of Athenian democracy and how it influenced the U.S. government. In this lesson, students explore the democratic ideals and practices of the ancient Greeks and search for evidence of them in the U.S. Constitution. LESSON OBJECTIVES: Identify political institutions and principles in ancient Athenian democracy *Explain the organization of Athenian democracy and the importance of citizenship *Analyze the purpose, strengths, and shortcomings in the rules and structure of Athenian democracy *Discover aspects of Athenian democracy found in the U.S. Constitution

The 11th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 11th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Students move from learning the class rituals and routines and genre features of argument writing in Unit 11.1 to learning about narrative and informational genres in Unit 11.2: The American Short Story. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

In this unit, students will take a look at the historical vision of the American Dream as put together by our Founding Fathers. They will be asked: How, if at all, has this dream changed? Is this dream your dream? First students will participate in an American Dream Convention, acting as a particular historical figure arguing for his or her vision of the American Dream, and then they will write an argument laying out and defending their personal view of what the American Dream should be.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read and annotate closely one of the documents that they feel expresses the American Dream.
Students participate in an American Dream Convention, acting as a particular historical figure arguing his or her vision of the American Dream.
Students write a paper, taking into consideration the different points of view in the documents read, answering the question “What is the American Dream now?”
Students write their own argument describing and defending their vision of what the American Dream should be.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.

What has been the historical vision of the American Dream?
What should the American Dream be? (What should we as individuals and as a nation aspire to?)
How would women, former slaves, and other disenfranchised groups living during the time these documents were written respond to them?

BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT: Cold Read

During this unit, on a day of your choosing, we recommend you administer a Cold Read to assess students’ reading comprehension. For this assessment, students read a text they have never seen before and then respond to multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. The assessment is not included in this course materials.

In this lesson, students will share their work with their classmates and celebrate their accomplishments.

In this lesson, students will meet with their writing group to edit their papers. They'll learn the protocols and routines for responding to classmates' writing, and they will make a plan for revising their paper.

In this lesson, students will take their group's feedback into account and revise their final paper.

In this lesson, students will hear the final presentations, evaluate the arguments, and vote on the most convincing visions presented.

In this lesson students read poems and letters that describe the work and lives of nineteenth-century Irish immigrants to the United States. As students read the documents, they choose words and phrases to create found poems that reflect their understandings of the Irish-American experience.

In this activity students learn about the goals of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the opportunities it provided for young men. Students create poster presentations about different aspects of the CCC by combining photographs and quotes from primary sources. Students will need poster-making supplies (including poster board or paper, markers, scissors, and glue/markers).

In this activity students consider different viewpoints on whether former slaves should be given land at the end of the Civil War. Students read one of five primary sources and summarize the author's viewpoint. This activity makes a good introduction to a unit on Reconstruction or to sum up a unit on the Civil War. This activity was designed to help students with language processing challenges synthesize historical documents.

What's the relationship between government and power? And how do the concepts of authority, legitimacy, and sovereignty influence that relationship? In this lesson, students are introduced to these key characteristics of government, consider how governments establish and maintain them, and analyze government forms to determine if and how each characteristic exists. LESSON OBJECTIVES: Explain how governments get their power, authority, legitimacy, and sovereignty *Analyze governments for key characteristics *Describe the relationships power, authority, legitimacy, and sovereignty share *Consider a government's legitimacy

In this activity students read letters from ordinary people to government leaders in the Roosevelt Administration. Then they interpret the range of attitudes about the changing role of the federal government during the New Deal. The letters for this activity all contain reading supports and teachers can differentiate this activity for different levels of learners by choosing which letters to use in the activity.

In this activity, students read two primary documents from the early 1800s: a journal entry from the Lewis and Clark expedition and a Lakota Indian "winter count" calendar. Using an analysis worksheet, students identify key ideas and details from the documents, while also examining the craft and structure of each document. They draw upon both the content and form of the documents to make inferences about the respective cultures of Euro-Americans and Native Americans in the early 1800s.

In this activity students read three letters written by African-American soldiers during the Civil War to determine why black soldiers felt compelled to join the Union Army.

Students compare the basic structure of several different international organizations before categorizing their work. Students also examine the local and global impact of international organizations. LESSON OBJECTIVES: Identify the purposes and functions of international organizations. *Describe the purposes and functions of the following international organizations: UN, EU, NATO, World Bank, Red Cross/Crescent, and World Health Organization. *Analyze the impact that international organizations can have on the lives of individuals.

This activity is an activity where students build a motor, learn motor operation and theory, interpret their understanding through troubleshooting, and develop a new, experimental question related to the motor. One follow-up activity would be coupling their motor to a fan blade or other axle to convert electrical energy to magnetic energy into mechanical motion for real world application.

In this activity, students read a series of primary source documents, including the 1872 print "American Progress," that depict the social, political and cultural conflicts between settlers and Native Americans during the 19th century. Then, working in small groups, students will consider the events from the perspective of Native Americans, and create an illustration to counter George A. Crofutt's famous print of "American Progress" moving across the Great Plains.

Students participate in a scripted fictional trial based on a real case in which the producers of James Bond films sued Honda for creating an ad that looked way too much like a James Bond movie. After the "trial," students examine evidence and play the role of jurors. Students apply real copyright law to simulate the process courts use in applying law to fact and arrive at a "verdict." This is a two-day mock trial lesson.
LESSON OBJECTIVES: Simulate participation in a trial by reading a script. *Identify the major components and players in a trial. *Simulate jury deliberation by applying real laws to the facts in the trial in order to reach a verdict. *Evaluate the arguments of both sides in a trial.