Education

Would You Have Joined The American Revolution?

It may seem obvious, but only 40-45% of colonists supported the cause. It’s not as simple as it may appear! Hear about the variety of possible perspectives of enslaved African Americans, Native Americans, women, white landowners and white laborers without property and how they might have looked upon the fight for independence from the British. From PBS Digital Studios: The Origin of Everything

The American Revolution Classroom Collection on PBS LearningMedia with Educator Guide

PBS aired The American Revolution, a six-part, 12-hour documentary series directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt about the people who waged and witnessed a war that changed the world. Weaving together a wide variety of perspectives from soldiers, civilians, and leaders — famous and forgotten, young and old, native and newcomer, enslaved and free, rich and poor, Loyalist and Patriot — The American Revolution tells how, against all odds, 13 British colonies on the Atlantic Coast united in rebellion, won their independence, and established a republic that still endures.

PBS LearningMedia’s The American Revolution Classroom Collection harnesses the power of visual storytelling to bring the film’s insights, perspectives, and understandings to teachers and students in grades 3-12. Part of the Ken Burns in the Classroom hub, this robust collection offers more than 35 free, media-rich, and curriculum-aligned resources, designed by teachers and subject matter experts.

The American Revolution PBS LearningMedia One Sheet provides an overview of what is included in the collection.

A detailed educator guide has been created to accompany the collection. The guide makes it easier to navigate this expansive collection and provides specific details about each resource so that educators can assess the best ones for implementation in their unique classroom settings.

Explore the Guide HERE

The Educator Guide includes:

An introduction to The American Revolution Classroom Collection, including how the collection was developed
List of the curriculum writers and expert advisers, most of whom also consulted on the film
A planning checklist providing guidance on how to bring the resources into your classroom, ensuring alignment to your curriculum
A quick guide to the full list of classroom resources, including links to all resources by topic coverage area with relevant grade bands and other details

Women of the American Revolution

Discover the contributions and experiences of women in the fight for American independence from Britain.

6 Founding Women of the American Revolution

1. Abigail Adams: The Shadow Diplomat

Abigail Adams wasn’t just the wife of John Adams. While her husband was off in Philadelphia or Europe, Abigail Adams was running a mini-empire. She managed the family farm, navigated complex wartime economics, and raised children, all while serving as John Adams’ most trusted political adviser. When she told him to “Remember the Ladies,” she wasn’t making a polite request — she was warning him that a government without the consent of the governed (including women) was inherently unstable.

Resources:

2. Mercy Otis Warren: The Pen as a Sword

I view Mercy Otis Warren as the “propagandist in chief.” In an era where a woman’s political opinion was seen as a social defect, she wrote scathing satirical plays that turned public opinion against the British. Because her gender would have caused men to stop reading, she often published under a pseudonym. She later wrote a massive, three-volume history of the American Revolution, only to have male historians dismiss it for decades.

Resources:

3. Phillis Wheatley: The Intellectual Revolutionary

Phillis Wheatley’s story is a master class in resilience. As an enslaved Black woman, she had to defend her own intelligence before a panel of distinguished men who didn’t believe she could possibly write such sophisticated poetry. She broke through the triple-barrier of race, gender, and status, using her work to point out the glaring hypocrisy of colonists crying for liberty while keeping people in chains.

Resource: The Poetry and Legacy of Phillis Wheatley – For Grades 9-12

4. Betsy Ambler: The History Keeper

Betsy Ambler stands as a testament to the countless women whose courage, compassion, and quiet leadership were just as essential to the American story as any battle won. Only 10 years old when the war started, Ambler documented her experiences through letters shared with her family and friends after the war that tell the tale of her coming of age during a pivotal moment in history. She went on to cofound the Female Humane Association of Richmond, one of the first women-led charitable organizations in Virginia.

Resource: The Experiences of a Young Girl During the American Revolution: Betsy Ambler – For Grades 3-8

5. Deborah Sampson: The Ultimate Disrupter

Deborah Sampson didn’t wait for permission to serve. She disguised herself as Robert Shurtliff and fought in the Continental Army for over a year. At one point, she was wounded and actually removed a musket ball from her own leg with a penknife to avoid a doctor discovering her secret. She eventually won a military pension, proving that a woman’s place was wherever the fight for freedom happened to be.

Resource: Women and the American Revolution | Interactive Lesson – For Grades 9-12

Watch a clip on PBS.org: Treasures of New Jersey Presents: Grit & Grace – Revolutionary Heroines

6. Sybil Ludington: The Teenage Hero

Everyone knows Paul Revere, but Sybil Ludington rode 40 miles, twice as far as Revere, through the rain and dark to alert the militia when she was just 16 years old. While Revere got a famous poem and a place in every textbook, Ludington’s ride was largely ignored for nearly 200 years.

Watch a clip on PBS.org: The Midnight Ride of Sybil Ludington

The American Revolution Classroom Collection (3-12)
Women’s Contributions to the American Revolution (6-12)
The Experiences of a Young Girl During the American Revolution: Betsy Ambler (3-8)
The Poetry and Legacy of Phillis Wheatley (9-12)
Analyzing Letters Between John and Abigail Adams (3-5)
Women and the American Revolution | Interactive Lesson (9-12)
Mercy Otis Warren | The Shot Heard ‘Round the World (9-12)

from Women of the American Revolution and the Timeless Fight for Recognition by Chayanee Brooks

ROC Jobs Explained with Danielle Fuller • TikTok & Instagram

This public media-powered career exploration project introduces Gen-Z to in-demand careers and career pathways to enter those fields. They hear from experts, apprentices, young people in training and newly employed people in fields where there are job opportunities. A ROC Jobs Explained Advisory Board includes WXXI station staff, BOCES, Workforce Development Programs, experts in environment, manufacturing, construction, apprenticeships, economics and policy to assist the project in making connections for local youth directly to education, training, and job opportunities in their communities. ROC Jobs Explained serves to both inspire and and showcase practical resources for exploring and achieving fulfilling careers.

The national Jobs Explained initiative has a goal to connect directly with teens and young adults to give information about in-demand careers and career pathways via social media videos. With support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The WNET Group, New York City’s public media station, Jobs Explained has selected ten public media stations from across the country, through a competitive grant process, to produce a critical mass of short-form vertical videos on popular social media platforms, spotlighting in-demand careers in over 10 sectors. WXXI Education has secured multi-year funding for career exploration initiatives since 2011 through American Graduate, which has now become Jobs Explained.

WXXI is proud to be one of the stations selected to participate in this 2-year initiative through 2027, with a focus on jobs in the green sector & sustainability, construction, and manufacturing. Danielle Fuller is WXXI’s Jobs Explained Video Specialist. An NYU film and TV grad, filmmaker, artists, writer, life long athlete, she is the talent behind all the videos for this project. Follow her @ROCjobs_explained on Instagram and TikTok.

@rocjobs_explained
Ever wonder how people actually get into jobs like construction, green energy, or manufacturing — and nobody gives you a straight answer? That’s about to change. I’m Danielle, partnering with WXXI Rochester + CPB on Jobs Explained: Rochester to help you figure out: 🔍 what these jobs really are 🛠️ what skills you need 💵 how to start making money Stay tuned – we’re asking the questions you actually want answered. JobsExplainedJobsExplainedRochesterConstructionJobs ManufacturingJobsGreenJobs @wxxieducation
♬ original sound – rocjobs_explained – rocjobs_explained

Job Explained is part of the American Graduate initiative. During the past 15 years, WXXI Education has secured 3 multi-year grants to focus on career exploration, working with regional partners to advance education and career readiness. By building awareness of career pathways to attain “good jobs.” WXXI has produced over 40 local content videos focused in-demand career sectors that require training beyond high school but less than a four-year degree to get started in the field. Many of these careers have alternative pathways including getting professional certificates in a job skill, apprenticeship, career and technical education while still in high school, community college and on-the-job training or additional training at local university paid for by the employer. The new ROC Jobs Explained are now reaching Gen-Z directly through social media with 150 new video shorts.