Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Sneakers and Prejudice: Letters to Challenge Bias

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
After learning that NBA player Stephen Curry's shoes only come in boys' sizes, Riley wrote a letter sharing her concern, highlighting the gender bias and inviting Curry to take action. Scholars view a news clip, review the letters,...
Lesson Plan
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Learning for Justice

The Color of Law: Winners and Losers in the Job Market

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The second instructional activity in "The Color of Law" shows how government policies supported economic inequality. Scholars read additional excerpts and respond to text-dependent questions from "The Color of Law" text, examine primary...
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Of Mice and Men in the Great Depression: Background and Setting

For Teachers 9th Standards
What were living conditions like in the United States during The Great Depression, and how do those conditions compare with today? That's the question young scholars consider as they prepare to read John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men....
Lesson Plan
Learning for Justice

Cliques in Schools

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Band geeks, jocks, preppies; every school has its groups. Middle and high schoolers identify the various friendship groups and cliques in their school and consider these groups' positive and negative traits. After completing a Clique...
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

What Is Weight Bias?

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
After setting rules and expectations to create a safe place to share thoughts and feelings, scholars define the terms; stereotype, basis, and discrimination. Using a web brainstorm, learners list words associated with overweight and...
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Hair, Identity and Bias

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Middle schoolers weigh in on dress codes, specifically those that apply to hair and make-up, with a lesson that uses a 2017 case from a charter school in Massachusetts. Class members read about two girls suspended for violating the...
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Hair Discrimination and the CROWN Act

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
Learning for Justice

Standing Up Against Discrimination

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Expert groups investigate five teens who stood up against discrimination they faced and then report their findings in jigsaw groups. The class drafts proposals for actions the school could take to stop discrimination.
Lesson Plan
Learning for Justice

Recognizing Discrimination

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Empower scholars to take a peaceful stand against discrimination. The color of their clothes separates learners; then, only some are allowed to go to recess—this sparks a discussion about the concept of discrimination and how they felt...
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Addressing Hate Online: Countering Cyberhate with Counterspeech

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Understanding and Analyzing “The U.S. of Us” by Richard Blanco

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

“They Don’t Know Me”: Exposing the Myths and Establishing the Facts about Immigration

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
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Anti-Defamation League

Building Alliances

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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. 
Lesson Plan
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Anti-Defamation League

The Road to Brown

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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,...
Activity
Alaska Department of Education

Gender Equity Activities

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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...
Lesson Plan
Overcoming Obstacles

Problem Solving on the Job

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The truth is there are consequences for actions. The third lesson in the "Problem Solving Module" asks class members to brainstorm a list of problems, select one and invent a system, process, or object that might solve the problem. They...
Lesson Plan
Albert Shanker Institute

Strategizing for Freedom

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, and A. Philip Randolph developed different views on how to advance civil rights for African Americans. Class members research these famous figures and their strategies before developing...
Lesson Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Actions that Changed the Law

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The Fair Play Act of 2009 came about due to the actions of one woman. Young historians research Lilly Ledbetter and what she went through to get pay equal to that paid to men for the same work at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The...
Lesson Plan
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Learning for Justice

Marian Wright Edelman

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Marian Wright Edelman's 2014 Commencement Speech at Lewis and Clark College serves to inspire young scholars to investigate a problem in their community, to determine why the problem is important, and then to develop a plan for one thing...
Lesson Plan
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Learning for Justice

Mary McLeod Bethune

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young historians conduct a close reading of the text of an interview with Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of former slaves who taught herself to read, grew up to establish schools for other Black women, and went on to become an advisor...
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Sexism and the Presidential Election

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Soccer, Salaries and Sexism

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
American Institute of Physics

African American Physicists in the 1960s

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Physicists Herman Branson and Tannie Stovall provide young scholars with two very different perceptions of the status of African American physicists in the 1960s. After reading and comparing the bios of these two men, class members read...
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Shirley Chisholm: Unbought, Unbossed and Unforgotten

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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...