How can social media help or hinder civil dialogue? How can information shared on social media be verified? As the investigation of media reports of the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown continues, class members read...

Sexual harassment and sexual violence are by no means new issues. What has changed is the role of social media in these issues. This powerful and troubling lesson plan uses a specific rape case to launch research into a discussion of the...

Show what you know about social media! The 16th and final lesson in The Social Media Toolbox gives pupils the opportunity to share their social media experiences with their school communities. Groups identify the most important messages,...

Survey says ... social media is here to stay! How do the pupils in your school use social media? Using lesson four from a 16-part series, The Social Media Toolbox, learners study surveys and create their own. The resource includes...

Should school news publications use social media if their district is against the use of social media in school? Pupils ponder the policy, then examine their publication's plan in parts seven and eight of a 16-part Social Media Toolbox...

Examine the role of social media in social and political uprisings. Pupils listen to NPR audio clips about social media and the Arab Spring and read an article that proposes the idea that revolution will not happen through social media....

What is the difference between a bystander and an upstander? A collaborative project created through digital media helps the class understand that they can participate in an online community respectfully and responsibly. They consider...

Following a site's community guidelines is just one step toward being an excellent digital citizen. After a brief introductory video, small groups come up with their own community guidelines and present their ideas to come up with a...

What better way is there to teach about human rights than by seeing them firsthand? Introduce your class or club to the spirit of service through a myriad of service project ideas. First in a series of human rights instructional...

Combat cyberbullying with information. During this plan, learners watch a couple of videos, consider online behavior scenarios, brainstorm long- and short-term consequences, and discuss how to react to bullying in order to build up to...

It's gameplan time! Journalism scholars create a social media plan based upon work completed in previous lessons. The activity, fifth in a 16-part Social Media Toolbox series, focuses on using data and consensus to create an effective...

Get the word out about friendship, support, and a safe school community with a media literacy lesson about bullying. Young journalists investigate instances of bullying and take descriptive pictures as they compile a magazine to fight...

Interviewing skills are important, even outside of a news reporter's desk or employer's office. Take your class through the process of interviewing people they don't know with a set of case studies featuring journalists and various...

If everyone is on Facebook, should the school's news publication be as well? Scholars study a social media giant in the 11th lesson plan from The Social Media Toolbox's 16-part series. The activity combines individual study and...

Why is it so difficult to develop a clear understanding of the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer? To answer this question class members listen to a NPR discussion of the findings of...

"Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;. . ." Why is this guarantee of free speech and a free press the First Amendment to the US Constitution? Why are these rights so essential to a...

Introduce scholars to Service Learning with a lesson that distinguishes between Service Learning and Community Service. After reading about others involved in Service Learning, class members generate a list of issues in their communities...

Students investigate the importance of community service by creating their own project ideas.  In this volunteering lesson, students research stories of Peace Corps Volunteers and how they were able to have a positive effect in...

While it may feel like you can post just about anything on YouTube, that's not the case. Teach your class about flagging inappropriate content. Learners watch a demonstration, practice flagging, and answer questions about online content.

After comparing and contrasting non-violent and violent social movements, your young historians will take a closer look at the work and influence of John Lewis on the civil rights movement. They will then choose a current social...

First graders design a Powerpoint presentation to reflect information about their community.  In this community lesson, 1st graders create slides to explain the weather, geography and other information about the city.

What can we do to make our school community more aware of cyberbullying? From The Social Media Toolbox, lesson 10 of 16 takes on the tough topic of bullying. Learners research cyberbullying through online research, then create an...

Class members are challenged to write a neutral news story about the events they observe in a short video. After sharing their stories in groups and discussing the different perceptions, the class concludes with a video of...

Pitch your best news story to your news team, or the peers in your journalism class, with a lesson about finding, reporting, and presenting a story. After watching clips of different examples, as well as strategies for finding...