Collection
Teaching Resources for US Elections
Use these resources on voting, media literacy, polarization, and bias to talk about US elections with your high school and middle school students.
Subject
- Civics & Citizenship
- History
- Social Studies
Grade
6–12Language
English — USPublished
About This Collection
Facing History’s US election resources were designed and curated to help students explore the role of elections, voting, and civic participation in creating and sustaining a just and healthy democracy.
Learning Goals
- Examine the historical struggle for voting rights and the importance of ensuring that today’s elections are free and fair.
- Consider the factors that shape our political decision making and the role of media literacy.
- Explore the many ways that young people can make their voices heard and choose to participate during elections.
Teaching Resources for US Collection
This collection is made up of the following mini-lessons, explainers, and guides organized by the themes of what makes democracy work, media literacy, fostering civil discourse, and teaching strategies that support social emotional learning.
Political Polarization Activities
This collection of 20-minute activities is designed to help students understand political polarization, reflect on its causes and consequences, and imagine potential solutions.
Political Polarization in the United States
This Explainer defines the term political polarization and provides information on how it impacts US politics and society.
Free and Fair Elections: Why Do They Matter?
This mini-lesson uses our Free and Fair Elections explainer to help students reflect on the importance of elections, define the phrase “free and fair elections,” and learn about electoral systems in their region.
Free and Fair Elections
This Explainer describes the standards that governments need to meet before, during, and after an election to ensure that the election is "free and fair."
Assessing the Strength of Democracy
This mini-lesson provides students with an opportunity to deepen their understanding of democracy and a framework for making meaning of news stories about the tensions and conflicts in democracies today.
What Makes Democracy Work?
Explore this collection of lesson plans that cover a wide range of themes related to democracy, including citizen power and civic participation, the rule of law, the role of a free press, and more.
Reflecting on Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb"
Use these activities to help students reflect on the themes in Amanda Gorman’s Inauguration Day poem and consider how their unique experiences and voices can help America “forge a union with purpose.”
Voting Rights in the United States
In this mini-lesson, students learn about the history of voting rights in the United States and consider how current voting laws in different states impact voters today.
A New Generation of Young Voters Emerges
Explore why young people tend to vote at lower rates and how they can get more involved in elections.
Educating for Youth Voting & Civic Participation with CIRCLE
On-Demand
Virtual
This webinar dispels common misconceptions about youth civic engagement and discusses how to educate for informed and equitable voting amid rising polarization.
Where Do We Get Our News and Why Does It Matter?
Explore media bias using recent news coverage of controversial events and help students think about what healthy news habits they want to adopt.
News Article Analysis
Help students identify and analyze the key characteristics of the three most common types of news articles.
What Does It Mean to Live with Social Media?
In this mini-lesson, students sharpen their media literacy skills as they evaluate the impact of social media on their lives and question how we can manage social media’s harmful effects.
How to Read the News Like a Fact Checker
Reading “laterally” is a key media literacy strategy that helps students determine the quality of online sources. This mini-lesson trains students to use this technique to evaluate the credibility of the news they encounter on social media feeds or elsewhere online.
Fostering Civil Discourse: Difficult Classroom Conversations in a Diverse Democracy
The tools and strategies in this guide will help you prepare students to engage in difficult conversations on topics that matter to them, to their communities, and to our world.
Activities for the First Days of School
These first-week-of-school activities create welcoming learning environments that prioritize care, relationships, and community.
Head, Heart, Conscience
This strategy uses reflection prompts to help students consider a complex or emotional topic through the lenses of head, heart, and ethics.
Toolbox for Care
This teaching strategy invites students to think about the “tools” they have access to that can help them take care of themselves and their community in the wake of traumatic news.
Journals in the Classroom
Create a practice of student journaling to help your students critically examine their surroundings and make informed judgments.
Color, Symbol, Image
Invite students to nonverbally communicate something they have read or watched, using a color, a symbol, and an image.
Graffiti Boards
Help students process their thoughts and emotions on a topic by engaging them in a written conversation with their classmates.
S-I-T: Surprising, Interesting, Troubling
Use this quick way for students to demonstrate their engagement with a text, image, or video by having them identify what they find surprising, interesting, and troubling.
Resources from Other Organizations
- Teaching about Elections & Voting Self-Assessment Matrix and ChecklistMatrix and Checklist (Teaching for Democracy Alliance)
- Election Headquarters (iCivics)
- 2024 Election Teaching Resources (Share My Lesson)
- Voting & Elections Resources for a Civil Classrooms (Learning for Justice)
- Election Central (PBS Learning Media)
- Educator Resources (Educating for American Democracy)
- Youth Media Challenges (KQED)
- The Learning Network (New York Times)
- Resource Library (News Literacy Project)
- Media Literacy Questions & Resources (Project Look Sharp)
- Media Bias Chart (AllSides)
