Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States as his wife Jill Biden holds a bible on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
PBS NewsHour EXTRA has produced a number lessons and stories about Inauguration Day and the transition of power, which you can find below. These lessons and links will inform students about the transition and challenge them to think about both the present moment and the future.
You can also check out NewsHour's guide to Inauguration Day
here
for clips and stories about the inauguration. The full inaugural speech below is 22 minutes long.
Ask your students:
In what ways do you think Biden's speech signals change from the previous administration?
INAUGURATION DAY LESSONS
Today or over the next few days, you can use these lessons alone or together. The first lesson asks students to closely read inaugural poet Amanda Gorman's work and write a response poem. The next two provide a history of the inauguration, the traditions involved and ask students to write their own inaugural addresses. You can also use
this wonderful Pear Deck slide presentation
based on EXTRA inaugural lesson material.
Amanda Gorman '20, the first Youth Poet Laureate of the United States, is pictured in Harvard Yard at Harvard University. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer
You can watch Gorman deliver the inaugural poem here:
UNITED STATES - JANUARY 20: Singer Aretha Franklin performs during the inauguration ceremony for U.S. President Barack Obama at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. (Photo by Dennis Brack/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
President Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address, March 4, 1865, near the end of the Civil War. Lincoln invited Black Americans to participate in the 1865 inaugural parade for the first time, two years after he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. via Library of Congress
You can also use this classroom resource based on A Student Reporting Labs special that asked students what comes next after the inauguration, and what hopes they have for the future.
