Lesson of the day

Declaration of Independence

Listen and Do: You can hear the episode here (Apple podcasts) on YouTube, or on our website. While you listen, maybe take a walk! The Declaration is pretty “leet”, as it’s 1337 words. Anyone get that joke? Anyhow. If you took 1,337 steps, that averages to about 0.63 miles. Plot out that distance from your home, be safe, and take a stroll.

Do: Fresh Takes (Grade 7-12)

Today we build on the hard work of others. Danielle Allen, one of the scholars in this episode, heads the Declaration Resources Project at Harvard University. They sent the Dunlap Broadside, the first printing of the Declaration, to 24 scholars across the country. Each scholar provided a brief, fresh take on this revolutionary text, and each one has changed how we at Civics 101 think about this most foundational of documents.

So let’s take it out for a spin!

First: Spin the wheel below to randomly choose one of the 24 scholarly responses:

Second: Remember that name! Read that scholar’s fresh take in this pdf.

Third: Answer the following questions:

What part(s) of the Declaration did the scholar reference?
Summarize their main point. What was their takeaway from rereading this text they have possibly already read hundreds of times?
Also, do you have a fresh take on this document? Tweet it at us! @civics101pod and make sure to tag it #decfreshtakes so the fine folks at the Declaration Resources Project see it.

We’ll catch you on the other side of the course of human events we call a weekend, so have a GOOD ONE, ok?