For Teachers

Instructional Goal

Learners will analyze a series of primary sources to evaluate the actions taken by President Johnson and civil rights activists to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and will connect historical examples of disenfranchisement and injustice to their experiences and current events.

Learning Objectives

• The learner will be able to identify methods used to disenfranchise African Americans and other people of color.

• The learner will be able to describe the steps taken by civil rights activists to demonstrate against the discriminatory voting practices.

• The learner will be able to evaluate the ways in which government and civil rights leaders worked together to create and pass legislation that eliminated various discriminatory voting practices.

• The learner will be able to connect historical events discussed in the activity to their experiences and current events.

Activity Summary

The overarching instructional strategy for this activity is to use the framework of solving clues to unlock a secret code in order to pace the activity and maintain learner engagement. Each section of the module will build onto the story of the fight for voting rights, culminating in the signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Learners will follow this sequence in each section of the activity:

• Read the clue.

• Select the icon that matches the clue. The icon will be linked to the accompanying primary or secondary sources.

• Analyze the corresponding sources through guiding questions, which will unlock a number in the secret code.

• After all the clues have been solved, the learner will input a seven digit code that will give them access to a final challenge and reflection to connect historical events in the activity to their experiences.

Assessment

Each primary source will have accompanying guiding questions, which learners will answer through an embedded Google Form. After the learner submits their answers to the form, they will be given the next number in the secret code, but their answers will not be saved.

If you would like students to record their answers for an assessment or a class discussion, here are two options that have been created for you:

• Graphic Organizer In order for learners to use this Google Doc to take notes as they complete the activity, they will need to open the link and then go to File, Make a Copy.

• Google Form When you click on this link, you will need to make a copy of the Google Form, which contains all of the questions for the activity. You can then change the settings to collect the information that you want or link it to your Google Classroom. You will need to explain to students that they can record their answers in this form instead of on the website, and they will receive the secret code at the end after they have answered all of the questions.