Master skills, explore new ideas, and build your teaching toolbox with free live, recorded, and on-demand training.
Learn about services designed to build educator capacity and cultivate dynamic educational experiences for students.
We’ve got answers. Visit our Support Desk to learn how to set-up and use your My iCivics Account.
Explore opportunities we’ve designed to create community and build your expertise.
Still stuck? Our Support team is standing by to help. Submit a request and we’ll be in touch.
From the basics about slavery to the attitudes that defended it and the efforts of those who wanted to see it abolished, in this lesson students learn about this dark part of…
Discover how William Blackstone and his Commentaries on the Laws of England influenced America’s founders, founding documents, and legal system.
Starting a brand new nation was a tough job for America’s first presidents—and it didn’t help that many Americans were wary of the new central government. In this lesson, students…
This skit-driven lesson explores the six factors that make up the rule of law and how they protect individual rights and freedoms in our day to day lives. Students then connect the…
Discover the debate that surrounded the Constitution before it became the law of the land. Excerpts from Federalist 84 and Anti-Federalist 46 offer insight into both sides of the…
What separates journalism from all the other kinds of information out there? Teach students to recognize reliable reporting as they explore the tenents of high-standards reporting…
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…
Students learn about midterm elections, their role as a referendum on the presidency, and how a shift in party control impacts the legislative and executive branches. Page two of…
How does the Massachusetts Constitution compare and contrast with the U.S. Constitution? Look no further for the answer! Guide your class through some basic similarities and…
Use primary documents and images to discover the ways state and local governments restricted the newly gained freedoms of African Americans after the Civil War. Compare, contrast,…
Look into the ideas and writings of the Italian thinker and politician, Niccoló Machiavelli (1429-1527).
The Enlightenment was a period of time, starting around 1715, when people developed new ideas about human existence, including people's basic rights and the purpose of government.…
Introduce students to the ideas and writings of John Locke that influenced the likes of Thomas Jefferson and other Founding Fathers.
Meet the Baron de Montesquieu, one of the great thinkers of the 18th century. He spent a lot of time thinking about how governments should be created and maintained. These ideas…
Explore the ideas of Enlightenment thinker, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His writings on natural and social freedom, the social contract, and democracy shaped the American system of…
"The First American", Benjamin Franklin, is the only Founding Father that signed all three major documents that founded the United States of America: the Declaration of…
Check out George Mason's role in the founding of the U.S. Even though he never served as a president and refused to sign the Constitution, Mason's work in Virginia and with the…
Review the variety of roles that George Washington played in America's early years. From commanding the Continental Army, to presiding over the Constitutional Convention, to…
Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States, but he played many political roles throughout our nation’s history. His political life influenced the country in many…
Lesson Plan