Curated OER
Controversial Issues
Hot topics are often engaging and can get heated. High School students engage in an academic discussion were they must learn to engage with a person holding a different view than their own. They practice discussing different opinions...
US Institute of Peace
Responding to Conflict: Nonverbal Communication
What does your posture say about you? How can it affect the outcome of conflict resolution or negotiation? Show scholars the importance of nonverbal communication during the sixth in a series of 15 peacebuilding lessons. Learners work...
Curated OER
Expressing Your Views to the Letter
Analyze the motivation, purpose, and value of letters to the editor by examining letters written in response to the violence at Columbine High School. For homework, middle and high schoolers write their own letters to the editor about an...
Facing History and Ourselves
Eyes on the Prize Lesson 1: The Philosophy of Nonviolence
Young scholars explore the concept of nonviolent demonstration. In this Civil Rights Movement activity, students investigate examples of injustice and discuss the philosophy of nonviolence fueled by leaders of the movement. Young...
Curated OER
Dorothy Day and Mohandas K. Gandhi: Catalysts of Social Change
Students explore how Dorothy Day and Mohandas Gandhi were leaders for social change. For this history lesson, students analyze the impact of these two leaders through several activities and group assignments.
Citizens Crime Commission of New York City
A Student’s Guide to Using Social Media Safely
While the kids in your class tap quickly on their electronic devices to stay in touch with their peers, they may not know the consequences of online social lives. Take them through a discussion about potential downfalls of a social media...
Center for Civic Education
The Power of Nonviolence: The Children's March
What was the Children's Crusade and how did it impact the civil rights movement in the United States? Your young learners will learn about this incredible event through a variety of instructional activities, from reading a poem and...
Curated OER
Kaffir Boy
Students explore the concepts of intolerance and racism in the autobiography Kaffir Boy written by Mark Mathabane. The instructional activity reveals the story's depiction of the terrible toll of apartheid on the lives of individuals.
Curated OER
A Look at the History of Book Banning in America
Why do books end up on the banned book list? How do these banned books contribute to the literary canon? Start by showing the photo slide show, and discussing notably banned books. Then focus on some of the most popular objections:...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Dealing with Peer Influence: What Are Bullying and Harassment?
Scholars examine examples of peer pressure and discuss how specific actions negatively affect one's well-being. Learners gather in small groups to write two scenarios in which peer pressure is used. They reference the STAR method in how...
Deliberating in a Democracy
Freedom of Expression
Should democracies include hate speech as a protected right? Scholars analyze the rights found under the First Amendment to the Constitution through researching evidence. Freedom of expression becomes the focal point of the...
Curated OER
36 Public Policy Questions to Energize Your Government/History Classroom Debates
Need topics that are sure to engage your debaters? This list of public policy questions includes such topics as school mascots, regulation of major league baseball, physician-assisted suicide, and violence in video games. A great...
Curated OER
Exploring the Nature of Conflict
Learners define conflict and violence, and determine the difference between the two. They find positive aspects of conflict while analyzing a conflict which they experienced. They organize their thoughts using a webbing activity.
Curated OER
Effects of 11 September
Students discuss the 9/11 tragedy and the concept of misplaced blame and violence.
Curated OER
What About Fighting?
What are the positive and negative consequences of violence? Elementary and middle schoolers discuss how some see violence as the answer to resolving conflicts. They identify the positive and negative aspects to using violence, and ask...
Curated OER
Children's March Teacher's Guide, Activity 6
Students explore the role of gender in the Civil Rights Movement. In this Children's March instructional activity, students watch "Mighty Time: The Children's March" and respond to the provided discussion questions that accompany it....
Overcoming Obstacles
Managing Anger in Conflict Situations
The third lesson in the "Conflict Resolution Module" teaches participants strategies to reduce or control their anger. Class members first list situations that make them angry and then brainstorm a list of techniques that can lessen or...
American Battlefield Trust
John Brown
How did the raid on Harper's Ferry contribute to the start of the Civil War? Curated for high school historians, the activity explains John Brown's contribution to the start of the Civil War by using violence to demand an end to slavery....
Curated OER
Conflict Resolution
Students examine ways to resolve conflicts. In this conflict resolution instructional activity, students define conflict resolution and write down situations where leaders deal with conflicts. Students work in groups to create a...
Curated OER
Take a Walk in Their Shoes: Great Leaders of Our Time
Research the characteristics of leaders who have used nonviolence to change society. The class then applies this information to their own community to find leaders with these same characteristics, creating a wall collage of pictures and...
Curated OER
Choices Have Consequences
Second graders handle grievances without getting angry or using violence.
Curated OER
Fifty Years: From the Little Rock Nine to the Jena Six
Students discuss how the issues surrounding school integration have changed since the Little Rock Nine entered Central High School. They discuss the recent events in Jena, Louisiana. Students write a letter to a school administrator...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Twinning At-Risk Students
Students at-risk in high school and primary grades pair up to read and write together. They create books modeled after authors and illustrators. They hold a parents' day to display their completed books.
Curated OER
NOT WASTING
Students brainstorm and analyze creative ways to not waste materials and recycle more as an individual. The theory and importance of conservation is also stressed within this lesson. In addition, silent sitting is exercised, story...