Browse lesson plans

Discussion guide: Religion in early America

In Educator's Guides: North Carolina Digital History, page 3.4

This discussion guide will help students understand the larger context of religion in colonial America as they read about topics such as Quaker emigration and the Great Awakening.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Exploring the church in the southern black community

Students explore the Documenting the American South Collection titled, the “Church in the Southern Black Community.” Beginning with a historian's interpretation of the primary sources that make up the collection, students search the collection for evidence to describe the experiences of African Americans living in the south during the Antebellum through the Reconstruction Period centering on their community churches. The activity culminates in student presentations of a digital scrap book.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 10–12 Social Studies)

By Meghan Mcglinn.

Graphic organizer: Nathan Cole and the First Great Awakening

This graphic organizer will aid students' comprehension as they read a diary excerpt that describes a revival in the 1760s.

Format: chart/lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Graphic organizer: The well-ordered family

This activity provides a way for students to further their comprehension as they read an excerpt from a book by an eighteenth-century Puritan minister about children's duties toward their parents. Students will complete a graphic organizer and answer questions about the reading passage.

Format: chart/lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Interracial "harmony" and the Great Awakening

The students will be introduced to two episodes in 19th-century American history, around the time of the Great Awakening, that show glimpses of some positive and negative consequences of interracial interaction in a religious context. The students will examine primary sources from the Documenting the American South collection to then be able to write a "sermon" from the perspective of a southern itinerant preacher during the Great Awakening arguing for or against religion as a cure for the social ill of racism and slavery.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Jamie Lathan.

Martin Luther's Reformation in Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The setting of Victor Hugo's novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the fifteenth century, the transitional period between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance/Reformation era. This era ushers in the period known as the modern age and historical events are chronicled through Hugo's novel. Hugo sets The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the decline of feudalism and the infancy of absolutism through Louis XI (Spider King), the rise of a urban middle class and the beginnings of commerce as it is known today. Primarily this novel satirizes the Catholic Church's absolute power -- its abuses, and its excesses. Students will discover how Hugo's satire operates to show the Catholic Church's abuse of power during the late Middle Ages and the early Reformation in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–10 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Nancy Webber.

Reading guide: The religious world of the Cherokee

In Two worlds: Educator's guide, page 2.6

These questions will help to guide students' reading of "Maintaining Balance: The Religious World of the Cherokee" and encourage them to think critically about the text. The questions ask the students to consider Cherokee religious beliefs and how they may have affected interactions with the Europeans who arrived in the early 1700s.

Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Understanding Cary's Rebellion

This lesson plan will aid students' comprehension as they read an article about Cary's Rebellion in the North Carolina digital history textbook.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

By Pauline S. Johnson.

Resources on the web

Trekking to Timbuktu—student version

In the eight lessons of this EDSITEment curriculum unit, students will learn about the geography of Mali and the cultures and economies along the Niger River, find out about the three kingdoms that evolved in ancient and medieval West Africa, discover how... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 7 Social Studies)

Provided by: EDSITEment