Learning for Justice
Change Agents in Our Own Lives
Everyone has the power to change their own lives. Young historians learn how they can become agents for change in their own lives and the community. The lesson plan focuses on positive role models and what motivates individuals to...
Curated OER
Project Based Learing: Social Responsibility
Learners explore social responsibility. In this service learning lesson, students participate in 4 weekly activities that require them to research "communitarians", write poems about their contributions, and create works of art that...
Curated OER
The Color of Justice
High schoolers analyze racism and justice. In this legal system discrimination lesson, students listen to their instructor lecture on disparities in the legal system. High schoolers respond to discussion questions following the lecture...
Curated OER
What is Justice?
Eighth graders discuss justice and fairness. In this equitable treatment of others lesson, 8th graders say the Pledge of Allegiance and read a passage from a blog. Students discuss the terms: fair, just, and equitable.
Deliberating in a Democracy
Juvenile Justice
Pupils compare and contrast the legal system as it pertains to juvenile and adult crime and punishment. Incorporating primary documents, legal decisions, and video evidence, individuals form an argument debating the treatment of...
Curated OER
Literature Study Guide: To Kill a Mockingbird
Teaching tools designed to support student-centered literature study. Geared toward homeschoolers reading Harper Lee's book To Kill a Mockingbird, I would use these in my classroom. The materials are applicable to any text: graphic...
Stanford University
Letter from Birmingham Jail: The Power of Nonviolent Direct Action
What strategies are most effective in changing an unjust law? Class members examine the tactics used in the Birmingham Campaign of 1963 (Project C) to achieve social justice and social transformation. After examining documents that...
Curated OER
Increase Kindness, Defeat Bullying: Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation
High-interest content captures your most reluctant readers and class participants. Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation, in collaboration with Harvard University, seeks to nurture a culture of kindness and reduce bullying. Excerpts from...
Media Smarts
Challenging Hate Online
Looking at the different ways organizations disseminate their messages using digital media leads to developing a digital anti-hate media campaign. Although some of the resources reflect the Canadian developer, the links provide...
Media Smarts
Fact versus Opinion
Part of a series aimed at breaking down cultural bias from the Canadian Media Awareness Network, this activity identifies where opinions do and don't belong in a newspaper. Pupils review handouts about the purpose of editorial comments...
Street Law
The Challenge of Selecting an Ideal Supreme Court Nominee
Nearly every president has had the opportunity to name a nominee to the United States Supreme Court. But what makes someone an ideal candidate to become a Supreme Court justice? High schoolers test their prior knowledge about the Supreme...
Curated OER
Conflict Resolution Lesson Plan
Fourth graders investigate conflict and social justice. In this conflict resolution lesson, 4th graders consider conflicts they have experienced and think about how they could have applied conflict resolution strategies to change the...
Curated OER
Food Makes the World Go Round
Fifth graders investigate the origins of foods they eat while they consider social justice issues. For this food sources lesson, 5th graders play a game and then research food distribution, food security, and hunger in the world today....
Curated OER
Confronting the -Isms
Students keep "Mindwatch" diaries to chart their own prejudices and stereotypes. In this social justice lesson, students monitor their own reactions to people who are different from themselves. Students identify and discuss patterns of...
Curated OER
Bringing Justice Home ~First Steps toward Community Action
Students explore activities that might some day bring "justice for all" to their communities. They assess how justice is a day-to-day, life or death matter that faces their communities. Interviews are conducted to explain how justice is...
Curated OER
Martin Luther King and Writing as a Tool for Social Change
Students explore writing as an agent for social change. In this Social Studies lesson, students examine the power of writing using Dr. King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Students will practice the technique of persuasive writing by...
Curated OER
Them and Us
Young scholars consider social class issues in Great Britain. In this current events lesson, students visit selected websites and participate in a classroom discussion regarding social justice issues and segregation of social classes in...
Curated OER
Who’s Got Rights? An Introduction to Human Rights and Human Rights Defenders
Pupils explore human rights issues. In this social justice lesson, students examine human rights as they read segments of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights," discuss photographs with human rights implications, and play a human...
Curated OER
Injustice on Our Plates: Immigrant Women
Learners investigate the plight of undocumented workers. In this social justice activity, students research undocumented workers as well as consumer boycott movements and write about their impressions.
Just Health Action
Environmental Justice Matters: Mapping Cumulative Impacts (Part 2)
A case study enables class members to confirm whether different geographic parts of Seattle, Washington have disproportionate environmental burdens and benefits. Groups use the EPA's Cumulative Health Impact Analysis formula and...
Teaching Tolerance
Inventing a Better World
From play pumps that provide clean water to shoes made from trash, innovators change the world one invention at a time. After researching various inventions, young entrepreneurs develop their own. Extension opportunities include prompts...
K20 LEARN
Civil Rights for All: Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement was only the beginning. Using images and a series of queries, learners consider current fights for equality. After viewing video clips profiling the women's rights movement, the American Indian Movement, and...
Curated OER
Black Skin, White Justice: Race Matters in the Criminal Justice System
Students examine the effects of race in the criminal justice system. As a class, they brainstorm a list of instances when the offender has been an African American and he is not treated fairly in court based on his race. They analyze...
Curated OER
Adult Criminal Justice System
Twelfth graders examine the procedures and protections involved in processing an accused person through the criminal justice system. They view a Powerpoint presentation, conduct research, and write a paper describing a crime they have...