For Teachers

Classroom Activities

The 2009-2010 Contest submission period has ended, but classroom activities are always available for FREE download on this page. If you would like to receive email updates about the Contest, please follow us on Twitter @BeingAnAmerican. Building classroom activities around the Being an American essay topic will help your students to generate new ideas and consider multiple perspectives, any day of the year!

• A complete classroom activity, designed for a 45-minute class period, can be found here.
  
• A one page information sheet designed for students can be downloaded here.

• A set of inspirational quotations that can be used for pre-writing activities or as prompts for small or large group discussion can be found here.

• A handout containing essay writing tips can be found here.

• Essays from last year's Contest winners can be found here.

• An example judging rubric to help you better understand what we ask our judges to look for when evaluating essays can be found here.

Additional resources can be found in the "For Students" section of this website.