Building a Self-Governing People

After many years of waiting – we finally have a curricular resource written exclusively for Middle School U.S. History and Civics students! The first three units of our new resource , Building a Self-Governing People: Civics & U.S. History for Middle School!

This resource is designed to be flexible, teacher-friendly, and embedded with rich educator support. Each lesson is classroom-ready and includes guidance for differentiation and adaptation from the Colonial World to Reconstruction.

Our goal is to begin preparing students to understand more complex concepts. This ensures the resource can be utilized by grades 6-8 or even 9-10 to reinforce or gauge your students' previous knowledge. As you continue to explore this resource, you will find a mini lesson that explores one component of a scaffolded DBQ to gradually build toward a summative DBQ in each unit with structured skill development.

Units 1-6 are available now!

The Bill of Rights Institute is excited to share exclusive new updates about our 2025 Constitution Day Live: Democracy in Your Backyard programming! Here's what you can expect:

Civics on the Street with Matt Green premieres 9/2
Constitutional Amendments Primary Source Essentials premieres on 9/4

Constitution Day Live Exclusive!

Federalism and the Constitution with Anastasis Boden BRI Scholar Talks premieres 9/17

Each video will have supplementary viewing guides ahead of Constitution Day. Subscribe to the Bill of Rights Institute YouTube channel or join our communication list to receive updates for additional videos.

250 years ago, the Declaration of Independence sparked energized the colonies to form a new nation. Now it's your turn to ignite that spark in your students, join Civic Star Challenge today!

To participate, instruct a lesson about a core Civic Star Challenge theme and submit your classroom activities. Find inspiration from our suggested materials to get started. You have the opportunity to win from a $200,000 prize pool for you and your school with every submission. The first submission deadline is October 31, 2025.

Log Your Activities

Free BRI September Remote Trainings!

Teach Controversy, Build Civility Remote Training

Our upcoming remote training is designed to help you develop best practices for teaching your students to engage in respectful, evidence-based discussions around complex historical and civic issues.

Using BRI Resources to Teach About the Constitution

During this training, you will receive staff picks of various Constitution Day resources you can utilize for all grade types! Plus, learn how you incorporate primary sources, lesson plans, videos, and more in your classroom.

From Subjects to Citizens Remote Training

This remote training is designed from our new middle school resource, to highlight key events, people, and ideas of the American Revolution to help students build DBQ skills, like thesis writing and primary sources.

BOE: Bottom of Email

Hi John,

The Bill of Rights Institute has over 6,000 resources including lesson plans, activities, essays, videos, tabtletop games, and educational interactives. Get the most out of our extensive resource catalog and subscribe to our newsletters for featured and specified content suggestions.

Subscribe to any or all of our additional newsletters! They range from U.S. History, Government and Civics, Middle School, Elementary, and America 250.

In addition to hundreds of lessons and classroom-ready activities, we also maintain a Current Events page . Our team searches for recent news articles that explore relevant themes and connect those articles to our resources.

Warmly,

Laura Vlk
Director, Educator Engagement
Bill of Rights Institute

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