7 Essentials for How to Write A Student Council Constitution
Drafting your constitution is one of the first must-do tasks of creating a student council. You absolutely need one. If your council already exists but doesn’t have one, or the…
Teaching Ideas for How A Bill Becomes a Law
There’s no teaching civics and government without a lesson on how a bill becomes a law, but it’s one that’s often left to verbalizing the steps and displaying a flowchart.…
5 Fun & Engaging Judicial Branch Lessons Ideas
The judicial branch has always been my favorite of the three branches to teach, perhaps because it’s the most skimmed-over and underappreciated. Even almost 250 years later, it still hasn’t fully shaken…
Teaching Landmark Supreme Court Cases Effectively
Your Civil Liberties or Judicial Branch unit isn’t complete without spending a few days teaching about landmark Supreme Court cases. However, many cases have this distinction, so deciding which ones to include can be…
My Favorite Activities to Teach the Expressed Powers of Congress
There are so many expressed powers of Congress listed in the Constitution it can be overwhelming to cover them all without feeling like you’re rattling off a never-ending list. And…
Fun Activities to Teach Different Types of Government
Teaching the different forms of government seems easy enough – go over some definitions and provide examples, then quiz your students. But that’s not creating any real meaning for them,…
5 Ways to Use Political Cartoons in Your Civics Class
Political cartoons are the perfect basis for so many civics activities and topics, regardless of ability level. I think it’s because they are inherently not boring—they’re visual (not reading!), cover content through…
Lesson Ideas for Using Political Cartoons to Teach Civics
I can’t imagine teaching civics and government without political cartoons—they are essential to the subject. They make the best entry point for introducing concepts and diving deeper into diverse viewpoints on political…
Make the Citizenship Test the Best Part of Your Civics Class
Once something because a requirement, it often loses its joy. It seems like that’s precisely what’s happened now that the Citizenship Test is a high school graduation requirement in many…
5 Effective Ideas for Teaching the Principles of the Constitution
The main principles of the US Constitution can be tricky to teach for a few reasons. First, you’re introducing them at the beginning of your Civics class before diving into…
