History · Grade 12
Government SEL activities
18 ready to use activities that teach Government content and build one Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skill, about 20 minutes each.
Self-awareness · 3 Self-management · 3 Social awareness · 4 Relationship skills · 4 Responsible decision-making · 4
Matched to textbook chapters: Government Alive! Power, Politics, and You, United States Government and Civics, Magruder's American Government.
Foundations, Rights, and Citizenship
- Who Is a Citizen Here? Self-awareness · Week 1Students map the communities they already belong to and name the civic identity they bring into Principles of American Democracy.
- Ideas the Founders Borrowed Social awareness · Week 2Tracing how Greek, Roman, English, and Enlightenment thinkers shaped the Constitution, then noticing which voices have shaped students' own beliefs.
- Ambition Checks Ambition Self-management · Week 3Reading Federalist No. 51 on checks and balances and building personal checks that slow a reaction before it becomes a regret.
- Rights That Belong to Everyone Relationship skills · Week 4Examining the freedoms in the Bill of Rights and practicing how to speak up for a right while listening closely to someone who interprets it differently.
- My Rights, Your Rights Responsible decision-making · Week 5Exploring why enjoying one's own rights requires respecting the rights of others, then deciding how to act fairly when two people's freedoms collide.
- Duties of a Citizen Self-management · Week 6Weighing legal duties like jury service and paying taxes alongside chosen duties like volunteering, and committing to one small act of service.
Institutions, Courts, and Federalism
- How a Bill Really Becomes Law Relationship skills · Week 7Following a bill through committee, compromise, and vote, and practicing the give and take that turns a group idea into a shared plan.
- Power in the Executive Self-awareness · Week 8Examining how President Kennedy and his advisers weighed options during the Cuban Missile Crisis and noticing how fear and pressure shape students' own choices.
- Judges, Evidence, and Restraint Self-management · Week 9Comparing judicial activism and judicial restraint as two serious philosophies held by thoughtful people and practicing calm judgment before taking a side.
- Landmark Cases, Changing Minds Social awareness · Week 10Tracing the shift from Plessy v. Ferguson to Brown v. Board of Education and reflecting on what helps a person or a nation change its mind.
- When Levels of Government Disagree Responsible decision-making · Week 11Analyzing how conflicts between state and federal authority are resolved through courts and negotiation and practicing fair steps for resolving a conflict between classmates.
- Government Close to Home Social awareness · Week 12Mapping who provides water, schools, roads, and tribal services in the Coachella Valley, including the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, and noticing the unseen people who keep a community running.
Participation, Media, and Comparative Government
- Many Ways to Be Heard Responsible decision-making · Week 13Exploring voting, petitioning, lobbying, and peaceful assembly as lawful paths to influence and choosing a respectful way to raise one's own voice.
- Direct Democracy in California Responsible decision-making · Week 14Reading the official arguments for and against a past California ballot measure in a structured academic controversy, then practicing decisions that weigh evidence over first reactions.
- Parties, Polls, and Persuasion Self-awareness · Week 15Examining how campaigns from every party use polls and advertising to stir emotion and practicing how to notice when a message is pulling on one's feelings.
- A Free and Responsible Press Social awareness · Week 16Discussing why a free press matters and comparing how two outlets cover the same event, practicing curiosity about why others trust different sources.
- Democracy Compared Relationship skills · Week 17Comparing how civil society works under constitutional democracies and authoritarian regimes, and practicing the respectful disagreement that free societies depend on.
- Gratitude for a Shared Republic Relationship skills · Week 18Students write thank you notes to a classmate who disagreed with them respectfully and to a person who serves the community.
RoseThread Connect activities are drafted with the help of AI and shaped by educators. Students never have to share anything personal. Our five SEL skills are informed by CASEL's SEL Framework; RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.