Anti-Defamation League
We Were Strangers Too: Learning About Refugees Through Art
Did you know that "in the largest refugee crisis since World War II, more the 64 million people have been forced from their homes"? The Anti-Defamation League presents an activity that asks class members to examine a series of artworks...
DocsTeach
Compare and Contrast: School Photographs
Separate and very unequal! An interactive presents learners with two images: a photograph of a boys' bathroom at a school in Gloucester County, Virginia, and a second of a girls' bathroom at a different school in the same county. The...
Anti-Defamation League
Hair Discrimination and the CROWN Act
The CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) is the subject of the activity that asks groups to research the stories of five different women and share their insights in a jigsaw activity. Participants then craft...
Anti-Defamation League
Addressing Hate Online: Countering Cyberhate with Counterspeech
Cyberbullying is the focus of much discussion. Here's a activity that offers suggestions for addressing cyberhate. After groups examine different examples of cyberhate, the class adds their suggestions to a list of ideas for how to...
DocsTeach
School Desegregation Court Cases: Mendez v. Westminster and Brown v. Board
Separate is not equal! Young historians analyze the petition from the U.S. Supreme Court case Mendez v. Westminster filed in 1945 and examine background material about the case. They then compare it to the more famous Brown v. Board of...
Anti-Defamation League
Understanding and Analyzing “The U.S. of Us” by Richard Blanco
Current immigration issues and the rhetoric surrounding the controversies come into focus with a lesson that uses Richard Blanco's anthem, "The U.S. of Us," written after the August 2019 attack in El Paso, Texas, to open a discussion of...
Anti-Defamation League
“They Don’t Know Me”: Exposing the Myths and Establishing the Facts about Immigration
Middle schoolers engage in a lesson that teaches them to distinguish myths from facts about United States immigration. Class members take an immigration quiz, watch a "What Would You do" video, and discuss how they could be an ally to...
Anti-Defamation League
Building Alliances
Bystander or up-stander? The final lesson in the "Looking Back Reaching Forward" unit asks participants to consider how they can become involved in encouraging change in their school and community.
Anti-Defamation League
Sixty Years Later
Has any progress been made in desegregating schools since 1954's Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education? To find out, class members examine charts and graphs representing U.S. schools' racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic...
Anti-Defamation League
With All Deliberate Speed
Has the integration of U.S. schools proceeded "with all deliberate speed?" Has progress been made? Those are the questions young historians must consider as they examine the barriers to and opportunities revealed in a study of timelines...
Anti-Defamation League
The Road to Brown
As part of the study of segregation in U.S. schools, scholars research and create a timeline of events that led to the historic Supreme Court case, Brown V. Board of Education. Groups research a topic or event that led to the decision,...
Anti-Defamation League
The Problem We Still Live With?
Norman Rockwell's painting "The Problem We Still Live With" launches a unit study of racism in the United States and segregation in U.S. schools. In the first lesson, scholars discuss the painting, review key elements of the Supreme...
Anti-Defamation League
Stereotypes of Girls and Women in the Media
A two-part lesson has scholars researching the stereotypes in portraying women and girls in the media and the impact of these representations. To conclude the lesson, participants write a letter of praise to sources that present positive...
Alaska Department of Education
Gender Equity Activities
A male nurse? A female welder? Unequal pay? The "Glass Ceiling?" A 22-page Gender Equity Activity Book asks participants to examine the effects of gender role stereotyping on career choices. Class members also update job titles...
Penguin Books
Teacher's Guide: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
It's the American Dream! A house of your own, a better life, freedom to be who you want. But what happens when the dream withers? Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning drama, A Raisin in the Sun, offers some powerful answers to these...
Penguin Books
A Teacher's Guide to the Signet and Plume Editions of the Screenplay Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun
Although they may be based on a novel, a screenplay is not a novel and is read differently. This teacher's guide to Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun teaches readers how to read a screenplay, analyze camera instructions, and...
Carolina K-12
African American Troops in the Civil War
Middle schoolers explore the history of the African-American troops that served during the American Civil War. After reading primary source documents that detail the controversies about permitting freemen and former slaves to serve,...
Penguin Books
Teacher's Guide: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelous
Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is controversial. Like many other Angelou books, it is frequently challenged or banned from schools. In fact, Angelou is one of the most frequently banned authors in the United States. An...
Penguin Books
A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
It's a wise teacher who knows their pupils well enough to tackle using The Merchant of Venice as a whole-class reading. This 40-page teaching guide may not glitter but is filled with nuggets that will prove invaluable to those new to...
Anti-Defamation League
Sexism and the Presidential Election
Young historians investigate how sexism impacted the 2020 United States presidential election. They examine media coverage of the six women candidates, engage in a four-corners debate reacting to statements about gender and the...
Anti-Defamation League
Soccer, Salaries and Sexism
Call it soccer, call it football, but call it unfair! the US women's soccer team has called out the US Soccer Federation for unfair treatment in terms of salaries, support, and working conditions in a lawsuit filed in 2019. Young...
Anti-Defamation League
Shirley Chisholm: Unbought, Unbossed and Unforgotten
A 13-page packet introduces high schoolers to a lady of amazing firsts. Shirley Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress, the first Black woman to run for President of the United States, and a leader of the Women's Rights...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "A Place in the Country" by Toi Derricotte
Build young scholars' confidence in analyzing art and poetry with a lesson that first asks pupils to list details they notice in Edouard Vuillard's painting "Garden at Vaucresson" and then to describe how the painting makes them feel....
Academy of American Poets
The African American Experience
Disrespect can be as subtle as a frown or a turn of a head. To prepare for a study of Toi Derricote's poem "The Weakness" class members create wordless skits that demonstrate subtle or not so subtle signs of disrespect. After a...