Help students deconstruct, explain, and summarize primary sources
Did you know that September 17 is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day? A day established as a reminder of the moment in 1787 when the U.S. Constitution was signed. At the heart of that vision is the preamble—a short but powerful statement of the nation’s goals.
Teaching students to analyze and unpack the preamble is more than an exercise in reading history; it’s about connecting with the promises of justice, liberty, and common good that still shape the nation today. And because interpreting the preamble is a common expectation on standardized assessments, it is both a civic and academic priority. More importantly, when students learn to decipher this primary source, they gain the ability to question, reflect, and recognize their own role in carrying forward the ideals of citizenship.
That’s where Britannica Expedition: Learn! comes in; explore how our experts use our Primary Source Text Analysis graphic organizer to analyze primary sources like the U.S. Constitution!
Check out how our experts use The Preamble of the U.S. Constitution lesson to help students deconstruct, explain, and summarize complex primary source texts.
Primary Source Text Analysis with Expedition: Learn!
The graphic organizer, included in the download, can be used with the featured Expedition: Learn! lesson—or you can try it out with an excerpt from your favorite Constitution Day and Citizenship Day primary sources!
Here are some suggestions you can try in your classroom:
- The Preamble to the Declaration of Independence (1776)
- The Fourteenth Amendment (1868)
- The Atlanta Compromise speech by Booker T. Washington (1895)
- The Suppressed Speech by Wamsutta (Frank James) (1970)
- Then Came the War speech by Yuri Kochiyama (1991)
Expedition: Learn! is grounded in decades of research and evidence-based practice. Lessons can be used for whole-class instruction, small-group reteaching, or independent practice. Expedition: Learn! helps students develop meaningful skills that they can use in and out of the classroom, all year long! Book a demo of Expedition: Learn!
Expedition: Learn! in the Classroom
Check out how to use The Preamble of the U.S. Constitution lesson, which features engaging activities, thoughtful discussion questions, graphic organizers, and more!
