We The People Pathway

This pathway is aligned to the “We The People” theme on the EAD Roadmap.

This theme explores the idea of “the people” as a political concept--not just a group of people who share a landscape but a group of people who share political ideals and institutions. The theme explores the history of how the contemporary American people has taken shape as a political body and builds civic understanding about how political institutions and shared ideals can work to connect a diverse population to shared processes of societal decision-making.

The theme also explores the challenge of e pluribus unum: forging one political people out of diverse experiences.

Member Resources

  • Committee of Seventy

    Democracy is too valuable to only begin learning its core skills as an adult.

    The Committee of Seventy has partnered with elementary and middle school educators to create programming that gives children basic civic skills, like respectful listening, creative inquiry and thinking, and community problem-solving. These programs illustrate many ways that young people can become engaged citizens in their community.

    Elementary and Middle School

  • The Jack Miller Center offers a variety of lesson plans that teach this important theme of “We The People” by exploring key civic debates throughout American history. Lesson plans are linked below:

  • The John S. Bradway High School Mock Trial Camp is organized in a joint effort by Temple-LEAP and the Young Lawyers Division of the Philadelphia Bar Association. It is an intensive all-day event that couples an instructive component with hands-on training in direct and cross-examination of parties and witnesses. Philadelphia public, private, and parochial school students participating in this event get a preview of this year’s case as they work alongside attorneys and law students to practice their trial skills. During the camp, students learn the skills necessary to successfully handle the basic components of a trial and get the opportunity to practice in front of Temple Law students and members of the Philadelphia legal community. PCSS is also a LEAP partner.

    High School

  • The Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Engagement

    Reading aloud helps students learn how to use language and retain key points of the story. It improves their information processing skills, vocabulary, and comprehension. As you read aloud, variations in your pitch, tone, pace, volume, pauses, and eye contact help produce a fluent and enjoyable delivery. The addition of questions and comments in your session, all provided in our downloadable lessons, helps create a more fulfilling experience for everybody!

    Choose from a variety of lessons.

    K-8

Other Helpful Resources

  • Educating for American Democracy

    The EAD Roadmap is accompanied by a curated resource library put together by EAD Content Curation Task Force. These lessons and resources align to the “We The People” pathway.

    K-12

  • Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission

    The historical marker search application allows you to search the PA-SHARE historical marker database by keyword, county/municipality, marker category, and marker missing. The keyword search feature searches by title, location and marker text. This is a great tool to find history in your own backyard!

    All grades