Directions: Use the themes, questions and video clips below to teach and learn with portions of C-SPAN's American Writers program featuring Benjamin Franklin and his Autobiography. Link to the complete video clip list to identify clip descriptions and create your own lessons. Each theme contains questions and video clips appropriate for varying grade levels.
Lesson Credit: Curriculum Advisory Team member, Koleta Tilson.

1. Identify at least one of Benjamin Franklin's "discoveries" and explain how it benefited society.
2. What skills did he bring to his exploration of science? Illustrate your answer with an example.
3. How did his work as a scientist intertwine with his other skills and occupations?
4. To what degree did he "experiment" in his own personal life?
5. What motivated Benjamin Franklin to undertake science and develop inventions?

1. What topics were addressed in printed newspapers?
2. What value was placed on books?
3. How can a study of the printed word in Pennsylvania lead to an understanding of other conditions in the colony?
4. How was his experience as a printer reflected in other aspects of Benjamin Franklin's life?
5. Identify the impact the printed word had on both Pennsylvania and the emerging nation.

1. During Benjamin Franklin's lifetime, what groups or nations did the colonies, and then later the United States, work to achieve diplomatic relationships?
2. What skills did Benjamin Franklin have as a diplomat?
3. What steps did he take to amend relationships? What results was he trying to achieve?
4. What advantage can a diplomat gain? What concessions must he make?
5. Compare the type of diplomacy that Benjamin Franklin conducted to that of today? Consider goals, tactics and principles