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The United States has 3,069 county governments acting as a bridge between state governments and the people. This lesson covers the diversity in county government structure, duties,…
What's the closest form of government to the American people? Why municipal government, of course! In this lesson, students will explore the varied functions and structures of…
Kick off this project-based unit by asking students to examine what it means to make change in the world. Students think about why people are motivated to advocate for change, what…
Do your students breeze through internet search results, easily weeding out irrelevant results and finding exactly what they need? No? This step offers a detailed look at how to…
In this step, students read and annotate the sources they identified in Step 2. The lesson discusses investigative reading and offers strategies for staying organized when faced…
No issue exists in a vacuum, so in this step, students examine the factors that contribute to the circumstances surrounding their issue to gain a deeper understanding of the issue…
In this step, students figure out who’s got a stake in their issue. They learn what stakeholders are and how to identify them, as well as why the power of numbers is important and…
Armed with information and a deep understanding of their issue, students shift into action mode in this step by writing an action plan for “moving the needle” on their issue.
Students take a “step” back in Step 7 and identify gaps in their information: What pieces of the puzzle are still missing? What information is important to have before going on? To…
To get support for an issue, you have to be able to talk about it—and in this step, students learn how to do that effectively. By developing and practicing both an elevator speech…
In this step, students get creative by developing “swag” to promote their cause. They learn principles of effective attention-grabbing that they apply to their own swag designs,…
In the culminating lesson, students learn how to design and deliver an effective slide presentation to gather support for their issue, create a 5-minute presentation targeted to a…
Strip the fear out of bias by showing students how to notice the word choices and framing that show up when bias is present in a news story. Students learn about methods…
Satirical news stories, like political cartoons, are meant to poke fun—not trick people. Help your students learn to spot satire and understand both the joke and the purpose of…
This mini-lesson highlights some of the most critical additions to our Constitution and how those additions guarantee students' rights.
Does every country have Republicans and Democrats? (Spoiler alert: No.) Use this mini-lesson to show your students that there are lots of different political party systems around…
How does Washington’s state constitution compare and contrast with the U.S. Constitution? Look no further for the answer! Guide your class through some basic similarities and…
Local government has lots of layers, and Washington's is no different. In this lesson, students learn the structure and function of local government in Washington and how they can…
Washington’s initiative and referendum powers let regular people participate directly in lawmaking! This lesson presents the initiative and referendum powers as tools and shows…
Water rights are a big deal for many reasons. In this lesson, students learn where water comes from, what water rights are, and how a variety of competing interests factor into…
Lesson Plan
