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Facing History and Ourselves

Teaching Strategy: Contracting

For Teachers 6th - 12th
The final lesson in the First Days of School series focuses on how to build a classroom community where all class members can feel safe, heard, and valued. The resource includes step-by-step directions for engaging pupils in developing...
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Facing History and Ourselves

Envisioning Our Classroom Space

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Wouldn't it be lovely if we all had a space where we were seen, heard, and valued? As part of creating a safe, respectful classroom community, participants envision such a space and then generate a classroom contract that will establish...
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Facing History and Ourselves

Making Meaning of Community

For Teachers 6th - 12th
In the post-pandemic classroom, it's more important than ever to begin the school year by building a strong sense of trust and community. Using the Make Meaning and Big Paper teaching techniques, groups develop a definition of community...
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Facing History and Ourselves

Becoming Ourselves

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Here's a great way to build community during the first days of the new school year. Participants read personal narratives, then craft and share their stories with others.
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Facing History and Ourselves

Frame a Special Item

For Teachers 6th - 12th
If you could frame something important to you, what would it be, where would you hang it, and why would you choose this particular thing to frame? These questions launch a lesson designed to help class members get to know each other....
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Facing History and Ourselves

Our Names and Our Place in the World

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Names come with all sorts of nuances and can influence how we see ourselves and how others see us. To gain insight into the power of names, class members journal about their names and then read a short essay about a girl and her feelings...
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Facing History and Ourselves

Dual Identities

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Many of us have multiple identities. There's who we are at home, school, friends, and strangers. And often these identities come with different names. The third activity in the First Days of School series examines how names reflect...
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Facing History and Ourselves

What's In a Name?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Rumpelstiltskin understood the power of names. The second lesson in the First Days of School series focuses on building community by recognizing the importance of the relationships among names, identities, and cultures. Learners engage...
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Facing History and Ourselves

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Masks, a pandemic, remote learning, and isolation; scholars reflect on the past school year and consider what positive things they would like to see continued in the current school year and what negative things they would like to...
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Overcoming Obstacles

Managing Your Time

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Identify tasks, prioritize these tasks, and schedule a time for the tasks. As part of the Managing Personal Resources Module, middle schoolers practice these three good time management steps by engaging in a series of activities. They...
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Overcoming Obstacles

Handling Stress

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers learn how to "put stress to rest" by identifying their stress factors and the physical and emotional signs they exhibit when stressed. After the class brainstorms ways to handle these stressors, individuals commit to...
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Overcoming Obstacles

Perservering

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Hang in there! To conclude the Goal Setting module, class members reflect on the importance of perseverance by engaging in an activity that asks them to revise a plan when faced with obstacles. They then review their stepping stone goals...
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Overcoming Obstacles

Taking Action

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Don't put off this lesson! Using a self-survey, middle schoolers take a close look at why they procrastinate and identify some of the things they do to put off actions they know they should take. They then reflect on the consequences and...
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Overcoming Obstacles

Stepping Stone Goals

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Often the most challenging part of any journey is the first step, the getting started and figuring out where to start. Middle schoolers engage in a series of games and activities to learn the importance of setting short-term goals,...
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Overcoming Obstacles

Defining Goals

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Having goals is important. The opening, two-day lesson in the Goal Setting module teaches middle schoolers the importance of setting meaningful, realistic goals. Through a series of activities, participants practice setting personal...
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Overcoming Obstacles

Making a Choice

For Teachers 6th - 8th
The big idea in the last lesson in the Decision-Making module is that responsible decision-making is a process rather than a knee-jerk reaction. Participants practice the five steps in the decision-making process they have learned in the...
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Overcoming Obstacles

Weighing Options and Consequences

For Teachers 6th - 8th
When making decisions, it might be wise to revise Newton's Third Law of Motion to read, "For every decision, there are options and consequences." Although in decision-making, not all these forces may be equal. The third lesson plan in...
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Overcoming Obstacles

Identifying Options

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Making a decision can be more like a multiple-choice question than a yes/no one. Through a series of activities, middle schoolers learn how to consider and identify options, choices, and alternatives when faced with an important decision.
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Overcoming Obstacles

Making Decisions Big and Small

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Making responsible decisions can be hard, especially in difficult situations when the consequences can be difficult as well. Through a series of activities and games, middle schoolers learn that when making decisions, they must consider...
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Overcoming Obstacles

Expressing Opinions Constructively

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Everyone has opinions. The trick is to learn how to disagree in a way that doesn't cause problems. The activities in the final instructional activity in the Communication Module focuses on learning how to express opinions constructively....
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Overcoming Obstacles

Being Assertive

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Passive! Aggressive! Assertive!. The activities in the fourth lesson in the Communication module teach middle schoolers the difference among these behaviors and how to develop assertive communication skills. After defining and offering...
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Facing History and Ourselves

Exit Cards

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Everyone wants to feel heard and valued. Provide learners with an opportunity to share their thoughts and have them heard with this closing routine. Participants use an exit card to share their response to prompts that ask them to share...
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Facing History and Ourselves

Closing Challenge

For Teachers 6th - 12th
The future can be yours to see with a bit of planning. That's the takeaway from a routine that asks participants to first brainstorm a list of personal and academic goals. Individuals then select one to focus on for the week, identify...
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Facing History and Ourselves

Appreciate, Apology, Aha

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Build a strong classroom community with a closing routine that asks each participant to share something they appreciate about their classmate(s), issue an apology if they may have hurt someone's feelings or an "aha" moment when they...