U.S. law (signed by Pres LBJ and then expanded by Reagan) designates September 15 to October 15 of each year as National Hispanic Heritage Month. See the excellent hispanicheritagemonth.gov -- with its vast collection of resources -- which is a collaboration of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. There are teaching resources in this collection that will be useful in almost any unit of study in U.S.…

Hear how a controversial issue continues to define America. The question of who serves in America's military has shaped battle strategy and foreign policy and stranded Americans in uniform on distant battlefields for years. Background at http://www.pbs.org/video/stories-service-draft-introduction/.

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history. the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides—Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of…

Now is the time for all fourth graders and their families to claim their free Every Kid in a Park pass which allows free entry into all federal parks, forests, and recreation areas for a full year. Starting September 1, 2017, fourth graders can print out a paper voucher for free entry into all federal lands by visiting the Every Kid in a Park website at www.everykidinapark.gov. Students and their families can also redeem their paper voucher for a plastic pass at any Forest Service office. For office locations, visit www.fs.usda.gov/r6/. The voucher and passes are valid for the entire school…

A high school unit of study from iCivics, "News Literacy," has five lessons to help students develop the skills they need to recognize bias, misinformation, opinion, satire, and more. "It's a media jungle out there, so let iCivics help you help your students navigate it." Visit https://www.icivics.org/b2s/upyourgame.html iCivics "Teach Local" resources allow students to explore the day-to-day impact of local government on their lives. Check out our Teach Local games, new lessons and units, at https://www.icivics.org/static/TeachLocal.html. At the iCivics website, students can also explore…

On September 8, 2017, XQ Institute -- in partnership with the Entertainment Industry Foundation – is producing "EIF Presents: XQ Super School Live, a special one-hour telecast event that will invite the public to help rethink the future of American high schools. The XQ Institute is eager for social studies teachers to join the conversation.The program will air live on all four major U.S. networks – ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC – on Friday, 9/8/2017, from 8:00-9:00 PM ET, and will feature celebrities, such as Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hanks, Mahershala Ali, Tony Hale, Bill Hader, Christian Slater,…

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail is a documentary about the little-known story of the only U.S. bank prosecuted after the financial crisis. Director Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters) chronicles the Chinese immigrant Sung family’s fight to clear their names. Check local listings for time of broadcast, and read more at ww.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/abacus

In this free online lesson, "History in Dispute: Charlottesville and Confederate Monuments," students will: * Understand the idea of historical memory, * Contextualize recent events in Charlottesville within a larger historical controversy, * Apply the concept of historical memory to the controversy over Confederate monuments, and * Appraise media sources that express a range of views on Confederate monuments. To find this free teaching resource at the Choices webpage for teachers, choices.edu/teachers-corner enter this phrase in quotes: "History in Dispute: Charlottesville and Confederate…

It’s like solving a puzzle!” was the consensus of students fascinated by transcribing letters of a Civil War soldier. They were using a curriculum developed for middle- and high-school classroom through a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, a division of the National Archives. The curriculum has been tested in classrooms and a summer camp. It is available on the website of the Historical Society of Cheshire County, who with Keene State College and Keene High School, comprised the grant team. The URL is: http://hsccnh.org/education/making-history-now/…

“The House on Elm Street” is an exercise developed by Professor George J. Siedel with support from the University of Michigan.  It involves a transaction that students can easily relate to:  the sale of a house.  The twist in the exercise is that, unknown to the seller, the buyer is a secret agent representing a large company.  Each student receives a short (two-page) role as either the buyer or seller, and they negotiate for 30 minutes, followed by a debriefing.  The exercise is designed to achieve several learning goals.  For example, students will learn how to: 1.       understand…