Quantcast

Teaching Resources for High School Government

In This Guide

Most Popular

  1. On This Day: The Great Anticipation Becomes the Great Disappointment

  2. Becoming Maurice Sendak: A Children’s Author Grows Up

  3. Harnessing Open Source Intelligence: Social Media and the CIA

  4. On This Day: White Boston Man Kills Pregnant Wife, Blames Imaginary Black Man

  5. Study Highlights the High Costs of the Death Penalty

  6. On This Day: Terry Fox’s “Marathon of Hope” Comes to an End

  7. Is Marathon Running Dangerous?

  8. Many US Schools Consider Four-Day School Week

  9. 5 Animals We Need to Survive

  10. On This Day: Witold Pilecki Allows Himself to Be Captured by the Nazis

null

High School U.S. Government

America’s federal, state and local governments affect nearly every aspect of our lives, and understanding how they work is important not just to students’ academic success but to their current and future success as productive members of society as well. Engaging government resources of all kinds can be found on the Web, and this Web guide takes you straight to the best ones for students, teachers and parents.

Educators: Click here to get our education newsletter.

Student Resources for High School Government

Investigate your local and national government, find original documents written by historical ... read more »

Teaching Resources for High School Government

There are so many fantastic social studies resources online that, as a teacher, your biggest problem may be choosing which to use in your classroom. Whether you’re teaching the three branches of government or following the election process, you’ll find great government resources using the sites listed below.

Dulcinea's Insight

  • Don’t get fooled into paying for resources. Although some pay sites offer dependable content, you’re just as likely to find great stuff somewhere else for free. Museums, government entities and universities all offer excellent resources at no charge, and are often more engaging than pay-site material.
  • Many popular news publications and networks, such as Time and CNN.com, offer online content designed for students. Their Web sites provide lesson plans, activities and worksheets for teachers based on current articles. Some sites even describe alignment with content standards.
  • There are many great resources throughout findingDulcinea.com that can greatly enrich the social studies experience in your classroom. The Beyond the Headlines section puts the day’s political news in a broader context, while the Politics Web Guide highlights the best Web sites for political news, history and activism, and houses individual Web guides to each branch of government and to the 2008 presidential election, among others.
  • Help your students understand how to use the Internet as a valuable research tool. The links in this guide can help you lead them to trusted resources. Check out the “Student Resources for High School Government” section of this Web guide to point your students in the right direction for research projects.

Dulcinea's Picks

For lesson plans …
PBS maintains a top-notch site for educators. Although this site can be intimidating at first glance, it is very functional and easy to use. Choose the grade level and subject matter from the dropdown menus near the top of the page; “Civics” or “Debate” are good choices for government resources.
go to site »
EDSITEment is hosted by the National Endowment for the Humanities and offers interesting lessons to supplement your curriculum. If you’re the kind of teacher who prefers to go deep on certain issues, this site provides great lessons. It’s easy to use, too, and searchable by grade level and subject if you’re looking for other resources.
go to site »
The Library of Congress “Teachers” section covers a range of government topics. Make use of wonderful primary sources such as pictures, artwork and original documents that will get your students thinking like historians. First-time users might want to visit “The Learning Page” to learn how to use the vast resources; veteran users can skip right to the content.
go to site »
SCORE (Schools of California Online Resources for Education) provides both unit and lesson plans for American Government categorized by California Content Standard. Don’t worry if you don’t teach in California; the links are topical for anyone teaching government.
go to site »
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration provides an excellent unit on the U.S. Constitution that includes 18 original documents and audio recordings.
go to site »
For enrichment activities and curricula …
Justice Learning , a collaboration between National Public Radio’s “Justice Talking” and The New York Times Learning Network, is aimed at providing the best resources to government and civics teachers. There are several categories to choose from, all of which focus on creating important discussions and critical thinking in your classroom.
go to site »
The Constitutional Rights Foundation offers a wide array of resources, including lesson plans and enrichment texts, on constitutional issues designed to help your students discuss the importance of good citizenship. The “Bill of Rights in Action” archive provides free access to printable readings that you can implement directly into your curriculum.
go to site »
Our Documents contains the top 100 milestone documents in U.S. History. The “tools for educators” section contains a printable guide to using the documents along with other valuable resources.
go to site »
Back to Top

Parent Resources for High School Government

In high school, students broaden their ideas about citizenship as they learn the workings of their ... read more »

Community Links in High School U.S. Government

Most Recent Guides

The 1960s United States
1950s United States and the Cold War
The Great Depression and the New Deal