Social Studies for Citizen Scholars

What a great, high-interest read for anyone (including middle and high school students studying the American Revolution) from the New York Times Magazine.

For teachers, I’m thinking about how to use this to identify common themes in the stories, and to flesh out important big events in the Revolution by including their stories.

This is a gift article so enjoy!🇺🇸

The American Revolution Through the Eyes of Seven Everyday Founders (Gift Article) For the 250th anniversary, the Times Magazine asked leading historians to profile founding-era Americans whose roles in the drama have been often overlooked.

Some ideas about bureaucracy for teachers and others…

Government Bureaucracy—we have a hate/love relationship with it. Hate it when it doesn’t seem to work for us (long lines, long holds), love it when it does (financial aid success, a quick turnaround on a passport). When DOGE was at work in what feels like was eons ago, a family member of mine was extremely concerned about basic services no longer being provided and the consequences. My response, being a student of history and government was “they will realize that oops, no, we actually need that and will try to re-establish the status quo.” It is happening with the National Weather Service, FEMA, and now with some people’s biggest bugaboo, the Department of Education (see the linked article below).

“Fixing” the bureaucracy is not a new policy—presidents from both parties have attempted it, all with varying degrees of failure. And there are lots of crazy examples of bureaucratic procedures. Two I gave in lessons included the last page of the Pell Grant letter back in the 1990s only stating that the letter was shorter due to a paperwork reduction act, and the way minority students were included in accountability for the No Child Left Behind Act—less than 8 Asian kids in your school? They aren’t part of your accountability calculation!

BUT…
ultimately there will be bureaucracy. When Congress makes law, they usually cannot anticipate all that needs to happen in order for that law to be carried out. That is why there are regulations and a bureaucracy.

This topic is really boring for students, but they do need to be exposed to the concepts because it is an important part of how government works.

For more in depth and readable information about the role of bureaucracy, check out Michael Lewis’ The Fifth Risk, Who is Government, and The Premonition.

Got ideas for teaching this topic? Share it with others in the comments.

The U.S. Education Department fired thousands of workers. Now, it's on a hiring spree The Federal Student Aid office lost half its staff last year as part of Trump administration downsizing. Now, it's hiring hundreds of new workers.

Political speech vs. threatening speech—which is it for former FBI director James Comey? The First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech doesn’t mean that a person can say or express ANYTHING, but what are the outer bounds of permitted expression? The Comey case, as it starts in the judicial system will ultimately be determined by what the INTENT of his instagram post was. What did he literally mean?

As a government teacher I believed the most important thing I could teach was how the First Amendment (also the Fourth Amendment) applied in students’ lives. They are at the heart of liberty in the U.S. At the TpT shop, the “First Amendment: Our Essential Liberties” bundle pack provides everything needed to do that. Give your students a deep understanding of this amendment and its impact on our lives. Check it out:

The First Amendment: Our Essential Liberties unit bundle pack-Civics/Government Ready-to-go direct instruction lessons introducing students to the concepts of freedom of religion, speech, the press, and assembly in the First Amendment. Each lesson includes whole class content review embedded in the lesson. Excellent for Civics, Government, or U.S. History classes.A complete uni...

Current events: important to do, hard to plan for. But Social Studies for Citizen Scholars is here to help!

The U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing arguments in the case Trump v. Barbara, a case involving the president's January 2025 executive order redefining birthright citizenship on Wednesday. (If you think this case has already been argued, that case was involving procedure, not the actual content of the order). There are some good resources out there about the case (check out Streetlaw's moot court simulation), but if you only have time for one activity, this might be the one!

The "Birthright Citizenship Reading Activity" on Teachers Pay Teachers AND Classful includes a condensed reading about the topic, a graphic organizer based on the reading passage that can be completed individually or in groups, and suggestions for wrap up activities on the topic.

Even better, it's just $1! The activity is found in Google Docs and PDF formats.

Check it out!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Birthright-Citizenship-Reading-Activity-12893931

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Birthright-Citizenship-Reading-Activity-15941821

https://classful.com/product/birthright-citizenship-reading-activity/

Birthright Citizenship Reading Activity President Trump issued an executive order whose intent is to deny automatic birthright citizenship, which has been interpreted to be guaranteed by the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment. This reading activity provides two articles from The New York Times as background reading for the teacher or for...

I ❤️ mock trials and moot courts! Students do too!

They are active learning opportunities that involve critical thinking, planning, collaboration, and communication skills. I had the luxury of teaching a Law and Justice class built around the these simulations, so I could scaffold the development of these skills, but I also used them in the government and history classes I taught over the years. The challenge was being able to “do them correctly” but also make them meaningful, and it led me to really think how to make them effective. The result was the development of scripts that students can use so that they can focus on the content and deep thinking and not worry so much about the process.

There are several products in the store that focus on civil mock trials, criminal mock trials, jury service, and moot courts (appeals/Supreme Court). You can purchase individually or in a bundle pack ( 👍 ), in PDF form, or Google Docs format which allows students to collaborate easily. All a teacher has to add is the mock trial itself, which are readily available for free or low cost.

Check these out, and let me know if you have other successful strategies you’d like to share for the greater good.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mock-Trials-and-Moot-Courts-Bundle-Pack-digital-12641826

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Civil-Case-Mock-Trial-Script-digital-12641364

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Criminal-Case-Mock-Trial-Script-digital-12641624

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Criminal-Case-Mock-Trial-Script-12641753

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Supreme-CourtMoot-Court-arguments-templates-digital-12641670

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Juror-Form-for-Mock-Trials-digital-12641703

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mock-Trials-and-Moot-Courts-Bundle-Pack-12641857

This year I am going to hop on from time to time and talk about a resource in the store—why it was created and suggestions for how to use it.

The first is a primary source reading of “A Time for Choosing,” a speech given by Ronald Reagan in 1964. It’s considered a seminal speech laying out modern conservative thought in American politics. I created this resource to help out Kentucky high school teachers. The “Teaching American Principles Act,” passed in 2022 requires 24 specific documents be taught. This was one of them and there are really no lesson activities out there for it.

“A Time for Choosing” was taught as it relates to political ideology and participation in my classes (Gov. teacher here), but it could also be used in U.S. History classes as it relates to the Cold War era.

The resource includes relevant excerpts from the speech and two reading activities, one with open ended questions that are related to sourcing, contextualization, and close reading, and a short multiple choice quiz. If a teacher wants to work on close reading and communicating ideas with students, just do the open ended questions. If time is an issue, or if the teacher wants to work on reading test skills, just the multiple choice quiz.
I’m sure there are other ideas out there, so I would love to hear how the resource was used in your classes.

The resource can be found at this link:

A Time for Choosing Speech-Reading Skills activity for U.S. History This reading activity provides excerpts from the 1964 speech "A Time for Choosing" by Ronald Reagan, along with open-ended and multiple choice questions geared towards social studies reading skills-sourcing, contextualization, close reading. Two activities in one!Product includesOpen-ended questions...

Here’s 2025! Looking forward to sharing new resources in 2026

"Be curious, not judgmental."

Curious about the origins of conservative thought? Try "A Time for Choosing" https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Time-for-Choosing-Speech-Reading-Skills-activity-for-US-History-12448048

Curious about travel in the mid-20th century? Try "Exploring the Green Book..." https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Exploring-the-Green-Book-Over-the-Years-Web-Quest-for-US-History-and-Geography-12488295

Curious about personality disorders? Try "Personality Orders Direction Instruction" https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Personality-Disorders-direct-instruction-lesson-for-high-school-psychology-12487160

These and more are at the Teachers Pay Teachers store🤩

Current events are raising issues of what free speech means in the United States. Check out this bundle pack that includes direct instruction slides, guided notes, activities, and more about the freedoms of the First Amendment. Great for Civics and Government classes.

The First Amendment: Our Essential Liberties unit bundle pack-Civics/Government A bundle pack that includes four direct instruction slideshows (with teacher notes), guided notes outlines, and related review and application activities to provide the framework for or supplement teaching about the First Amendment and the Constitution.