Teacher Workshops
Our office conducts teacher workshops across the state to provide professional development for teachers. Workshops provide teachers an overview of the resources that our office provides for teachers including lesson plans, Student Mock Election, annual civics essay contest, and more.
Currently, no workshops are scheduled. However, if you would like to be added to an email list to be notified when workshops become available, please email sos.civics@tn.gov or call 615-741-7956.
Blue Book Lesson Plans
The following lesson plans were created by Tennessee teachers from across the state utilizing the Tennessee Blue Book, a great resource for information about state government. These lesson plans link with the current Tennessee social studies curriculum standards using the information provided in the Blue Book to utilize in civics and government classes. Lesson plans can also be adapted to fit different grade levels and curriculum standards.
There are a limited number of hard copies of Blue Books available. To see about ordering a set for your classroom, please contact the Secretary of State’s office at (615) 741-2819 or one of your local legislators. The online version of the Blue Book is also available here. The pages of the Blue Book that are needed for each activity are included in each lesson plan as PDFs. Please note that these lesson plans below are for the 2017-2018 Tennessee Blue Book edition. For lesson plans that correlate with older editions, click here.
Elementary School:
- Branches of the State and National Government
- Principles of the U.S. Constitution
- Tennessee and American Symbols
- The Three Grand Divisions of Tennessee
High School:
- Interest Groups vs. State and Local Government
- Project: Tackling Issues in Your Community
- Tennessee City Government*
- Tennessee County Government*
- Tennessee General Assembly: Legislators and Legislation
- Tennessee State Constitution
- Tennessee’s Governor
- The Departments in Tennessee’s Executive Branch
- The Legal, Fiscal, and Operational Relationship Between State and Local Government
- The U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights vs. the Tennessee Constitution’s Declaration of Rights
- Your Representatives in Government & How You Can Be Involved
*Depending on where your school is located, choose one.
Tennessee State Library and Archives: Education Outreach
The Tennessee State Library and Archives is a great resource for teachers seeking primary sources for use in classroom instruction. Newspaper records, historic photographs, letters, diaries, maps, political cartoons, census records, Governor’s papers, and more that tell the store of Tennesseans and our role in the greater story of American history are all available as the Education Outreach website!
Other Helpful Links:
Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts
