What’s In a Name?
Students explore the relationship between our names, identities, and the societies in which we live.
Frame a Special Item
Students identify an object that holds special meaning and learn about each other by sharing the stories of these special items.
Envisioning Our Classroom Space
Students analyze a poem in order to determine the qualities of a classroom community where members are seen, valued, and heard.
More Than Monsters: The Deeper Significance of Wendigo Stories
The wendigo stories of Algonquian peoples offer a window into the endurance of cultural resources used to transmit significant moral values, and underscore the power of Native people using these stories to engage in social critique.
The Union As It Was
Students examine documents that shed light on life in the South under the policies of Presidential Reconstruction in 1865 and 1866.
Radical Reconstruction and the Birth of Civil Rights
Students learn about the responses to Johnson’s policies by Republicans in Congress and examine the fourteenth amendment that overturned Presidential Reconstruction.
What is Power?
Students define power and then analyze five perspectives about power in order to understand its many sources and the different ways it can be experienced.
Expanding Democracy
Students reflect on the revolutionary changes that occurred because of the landmark legislation and amendments passed during the Reconstruction era.
Introducing Agency
Students explore the concept of agency, both in literature and in life, and examine the societal forces that play a role in an individual’s agency.
Agency, Choice, and Action
Students apply their thinking about power and agency to an analysis of four personal narrative essays written by young people.
The Power of Belonging
Students discuss the first half of Bethany Morrow’s short story “As You Were” and create character maps as a way of exploring the character of Ebony’s identity and sense of belonging in her school community.