Honoring Juneteenth
Juneteenth — June 19th — also known as Emancipation Day — is one of the commemorations of Black people seizing their freedom in the United States. Below is a list of resources […]
Social Justice
Don’t Despair About the Supreme Court
The courts have never been on the side of justice, only moving a few degrees one way or the other, unless pushed by the people. Those words engraved in the marble of the Supreme Court, “Equal Justice Before the Law,” have always been a sham.
Expanding Intersectional Queer History in the Elementary Grades
A 5th- and 6th-grade teacher asks her students to wrestle with what “identity” and “intersectionality” mean.
ZINN AT 100: Empire or Humanity?
Have we reached a point in history where we are ready to embrace a new way of living in the world, expanding not our military power, but our humanity?
Action Research for Environmental Justice in the Kindergarten Classroom
A kindergarten teacher helps students investigate issues of environmental justice — like access to green space — in their communities.
Choreographing for Justice
An elementary teacher helps her students express themselves about social justice issues like the murder of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter through movement and dance, and helps them see how dance can celebrate diversity.
“Instead of Going to School or University, Ukrainian Children and Young People Are Hiding in Shelters, Trembling, and Shuddering from Every Noise”
How can children feel after they have been forced to flee from their homes, live in basements or metro stations? They lost their usual lifestyle, friends, some of them lost their parents.
Reparations Can Be Won — and Must Be Taught
The story of how activists, teachers, and, organizers won mandatory curriculum in the Chicago Public Schools for 8th and 10th grades about one the darkest chapters in the city’s history — the widespread torture of Black men under Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge.
Who’s to Blame?
A middle school teacher organizes a tribunal for her students on responsibility for the COVID-19 crisis in the United States. Among those on trial are Mother Nature, Gen Z/Millennials, the Healthcare Industry, Racism and White Supremacy, the Chinese Government, the U.S. Government, and the Capitalist System.
Teaching Voting Rights in the Time of Coronavirus
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 15th Amendment, which promised “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or […]
Communities Struggle to Make Small Serve All
For the adjacent Chicago neighborhoods of Little Village and North Lawndale, two working-class, low-income communities (the former predominantly Latino/a and the latter African-American) on the southwest side of the city, […]
Reviews 21.4
Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and RhymesWritten and Directed by Byron HurtMedia Education Foundation, 200660 mins, DVD The Hip-Hop Education Guidebook Volume 1: A Sourcebook of Inspiration and Practical ApplicationEdited by Marcella […]
An Unnatural Disaster
During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, grassroots activists in New York City galvanized to try to meet the needs of those affected as well as to respond politically to issues […]
Dirty Oil and Shovel-Ready Jobs
High school students learn about the conflict over the pipeline by participating in a role play.
Sin Fronteras Boy
Fourth-grade English language learners use wikis to study border issues and gain literacy skills.
Heroes or Cultural Icons? Of Thee I Sing : A Letter to My Daughters
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My DaughtersBy Barack Obama Illustrated by Loren Long(Knopf, 2010) On the title page of President Barack Obama’s picture book, Of Thee I Sing: A […]
Plotting Inequalities, Building Resistance
Media depictions of San Francisco show idyllic images of fog pouring under the Golden Gate Bridge or happy tourists riding cable cars, but rarely the mostly nonwhite neighborhoods of the […]
Teaching the Prison Industrial Complex
“Harm comes from prior harm.” As Deandra says this, I am sitting in the back of my classroom, taking notes. My students are sitting in a circle in the middle […]
Science for the People
Ninth graders develop science literacy as they become neighborhood environmental experts and activists.
Pump Up the Blowouts
This year is the 40th anniversary of the Chicana/o School Blowouts
Putting a Human Face on the Immigration Debate
For those of us working with immigrant populations, we have in our students living examples that we can use to bring the immigration issue to the forefront and teach all of our students.
Empire or Humanity?
The American Empire has always been a bipartisan project—Democrats and Republicans have taken turns extending it
Childhood Is Dying
Iraq’s children have been more gravely affected by the U.S. occupation than any other segment of the population.”
Rethinking MySpace
As an educator constantly searching for ways to use popular culture in my classroom
Beyond Anthologies
A veteran teacher laments the trend toward mandated curriculum and argues that teachers should choose materials that address students’ lives and social issues.