Overcoming Obstacles
Avoiding Stereotypes
The activities in a lesson about stereotypes teach middle schoolers about the dangers of one-perception fits-all thinking. Participants learn how to check their perceptions by identifying ways to avoid stereotyping, like getting to know...
Penguin Books
Teacher’s Guide: The Diary of a Young Girl The Definitive Edition By Anne Frank
A line from Anne Frank's diary reads, "What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again." Indeed, that is the hope for scholars who study her diary. The 19-page guide to the Definitive Edition of The Diary of a Young...
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...
Facing History and Ourselves
Identity Charts
Many factors shape the identity of persons, communities, and even nations. Tweens and teens have an opportunity to consider the many aspects of identity as they create a graphic that reflects who they are. Class members first brainstorm...
Facing History and Ourselves
Identity and Choices
Timshel! Thou mayest! is the big idea in a activity that reminds learners that they have choices about how they present themselves to others. To begin, individuals rate the degree to which the choices they make each morning are...
Facing History and Ourselves
Identity and Labels
Scholars look at the connections between identity and labels, assumptions, and stereotypes, in a lesson that examines identity in the United States. To set the stage for a discussion of these connections, class members analyze a cartoon,...
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Can Girls Do That?
Why be limited by stereotypes? Young scholars examine a series of works of art, list the different ways boys and girls are represented, and then discuss the common stereotypes found in the works. They then search for art that does not...
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
Student Dress Codes: What's Fair?
The controversy over school dress codes continues. The debate involves questions like, why is there a policy? Who sets the policy? Who enforces the policy? What is a fair policy? Tweens and teens have an opportunity to engage in the...
Anti-Defamation League
Is Olympic Coverage Sexist?
Women Olympians have come a long way since 1900 when 22 women competed for the first time. News coverage of the Olympics has also changed dramatically. What has been slow to change, however, is the language used in the coverage of female...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
What Does It Mean to Be an American?
A series of four activities focuses young scholars' attention on what it means to be an American. They identify key qualities, values, and virtues they consider shared by Americans. Participants then pretend they have been selected to...
Newseum
Stereotypes: Identifying One Form of Bias
Class members brainstorm a list of people in the news (immigrants, millennials, etc.). Teams then select one to research. Using the provided worksheet and guided by a list of questions, the teams examine the stereotypes in news reports...
Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Healthy Relationships
Teach tweens and teens how to prevent dating and domestic violence with a unit on healthy relationships. The unit begins with class members taking a relationships survey. As the unit progresses, class members engage in activities that...
Idaho Coalition
The Hunger Games: Gender Empowerment
The odds are in your favor that your pupils will love this lesson that uses The Hunger Games to launch a study of gender empowerment, as well as the influence of social constructs of gender. Groups discuss how Katniss Everdeen and Peeta...
Smithsonian Institution
Targeted at Home: Islamophobia
September 11th was a terrible tragedy with long-reaching consequences. Scholars learn about the Islamophobia that occurred to many Muslim Americans following the 9/11 attacks. The resource provides videos, articles, and interviews to...
Vaquera Films
Wonder Women - The Untold Story of American Superheroines: High School Curriculum Guide
A 41-page curriculum guide tells the story of the untold stories of American Superheroines! Divided into three modules, the guide is designed to be used before, during, and after viewing the 2012 documentary Wonder Women! The Untold...
Digital Public Library of America
African American Soldiers in World War I
Finding good primary source materials to support any study of history can be a challenge and time-consuming. A set of 11 primary source letters, images, and text excerpts provide young historians with an opportunity to sharpen their...
Teaching Tolerance
Parallels Between Mass Incarceration and Jim Crow
Is history repeating itself? A riveting lesson examines the parallels between mass incarceration in the U.S. and the Jim Crow Laws of the past. Academics review Jim Crow Laws and compare them to mass incarcerations of African Americans....
Teaching Tolerance
Understanding the Prison Label
Break the chain. An engaging lesson examines why it is so hard to break free of the prison system in the US. Academics participate in a reader's theater, read primary sources, and discuss their thoughts. The lesson explains the hardships...
Teaching Tolerance
Introducing 'The New Jim Crow'
When Jim Crow Laws ended, the intent behind them did not. Academics read "The New Jim Crow Laws" and an interview from the author to understand how racism has not ended, but rather changed over time. The lesson explains how prejudices in...
Teaching Tolerance
Talking About Race and Racism
Set the stage for discussion in a thought-provoking instructional activity on racism. An informative resource prepares scholars to discuss the history of race and racism with a quiz, vocabulary, and guidelines. Academics discuss topics...
Facing History and Ourselves
Standing Up to Hatred on Cable Street
The final lessons in this section of the Standing Up for Democracy unit ask class members to consider ways they can help create a "more humane, fair, and compassionate environment" in their communities. For context, learners study how...
Facing History and Ourselves
Blending In and Standing Out
An excerpt from Sarfraz Manzoor's memoir about how his experiences as a Pakistani growing up in England shaped the way he though about his identify provides a stimulus for a discussion of how experiences can shape our concept of identity...
Facing History and Ourselves
When Differences Matter
Jane Elliott's controversial blue eyes/brown eyes experiment detailed in the film A Class Divided leads to a discussion of privilege, social power, and opportunity. Viewers note how the children react to the experiment, share their...