GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening Columbus Day Controversy
Columbus Day is a federal holiday that commemorates Christopher Columbus’ landing in the Americas (the “New World”) on October 12, 1492. It became an official holiday in 1937. For many, the holiday honors Columbus’ achievements, celebrates Italian-American culture and heritage and pays tribute to patriotism. According to a 2017 poll, 58% of Americans…
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Engage students in reflecting on artworks that critique injustice and exploring other ways art can be used to inspire and communicate social justice.
GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Speaking and Listening, Language How Often Do You See or Experience Bias?
It seems like we are seeing more and more news and social media stories about people experiencing bias as they go about their daily lives—riding the subway, shopping in a store, dining in a restaurant and hanging out with friends. Indeed, the surge of such stories makes it seem like racism, sexism and other forms of bias and discrimination are becoming…
Teach students about the importance of diverse literature and engage them in a study on the diversity of books in their classroom or school library.
GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School, Middle School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language Race and racism are topics that regularly come up in the news and populate our social media feeds. Whether we are discussing the lack of representation of people of color in media, immigration policies, the racial disproportionality in the criminal justice system or the events in Charlottesville, race is part of our public conversation. Race is an integral part of our…
Teach students about DREAMers/DACA and have them reflect on what it means to be “American,” culminating in them writing a persuasive letter to their representative in Congress.
GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Speaking and Listening, Language The noose, also known as the “hangman’s noose,” has been in the news lately because there have been several noose-related incidents. Recent examples include nooses being found in K-12 public schools and colleges, the U.S. Mint, a construction site and ironically, an exhibit on segregation at the National Museum for African American History. The hangman's noose has come to…
GRADE LEVEL: Middle School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening In May 2017, it was reported that a charter school in Massachusetts was disciplining several Black girls, including sisters Deanna and Mya Cook, for wearing their hair in braids with extensions. The students had been given detentions and were prohibited from participating in after-school activities, including sports, for violating the school’s Hair/Make-Up policy, a policy that many, including…
Teach students about why slurs are and why they are harmful, helping them explore possible responses to slurs when they hear them.
GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening Two studies published by the American Psychological Association (APA) about perceptions and race led to these headlines: “We Think Black Men are Bigger than White Men (Even When they're Not)” and “Black Boys Are Perceived as Older and Less Innocent than Their White Peers.” These studies, one in 2014 and the other in 2017, found that people’s perceptions of African-American…
GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language In light of the 2007 Supreme Court decision in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, ADL offers a four-part lesson that examines the debate over school integration within the broader context of the Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 and the desegregation of Central High School in Little…
GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School, Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Language, Speaking and Listening Commemorating National Hispanic Heritage Month
In commemoration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we present this resource to help teachers engage students in thinking broadly and critically about the Hispanic American experience in all of its complexity. In highlighting the significant events as well as people that have made a substantial contribution…
Teach students about cyberhate using two recent news stories and have them reflect upon the best way to confront cyberhate.
Teach students about changes in U.S. currency and the role of symbols and their impact.
Teach students about the School-to-Prison Pipeline and begin to plan some activities to teach others about it and take action.
GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language Teaching Opportunity: Exploring the Electoral Process
Political debates can provide important learning opportunities. When election time comes around—whether it be a presidential election or a local contest for mayor, city council member, governor or member of Congress—these debates give teachers an opening to explore candidates, issues and the electoral process with…
GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening Racial Discrimination and Safeguarding the Right to Vote
In August 2015, we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act which was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. The Voting Rights Act is landmark federal legislation that was enacted during the Civil Rights Movement and was intended to prevent racial discrimination in voting. Prior to that, even though Black…
Teach students the 2015 case of Freddie Gray’s death and protests that took place, reading and analyzing several op-eds about it.
GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening In March 2015, we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March for Voting Rights, which led to the passing of the Voting Rights Act later that year. The anniversary provides a good opportunity to teach about activism and voting rights then and now. After the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which largely addressed racial discrimination and segregation, voting rights…
GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language, Mathematics “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
These celebrated words from the Brown v. Board of Education Majority Opinion ushered in an unprecedented era of civil rights and school restructuring in the United States. In 1954, when this…