What Aspects of Our Identities Do We Show to Others?
Through a mask-making activity, students learn that they can conceal or reveal aspects of their identity.
How Do Communities Define We & They?
Students draw on a classic Dr. Seuss story to explore how communities make choices regarding membership.
How Do Rules & Traditions Shape Communities?
Students create classroom rules through a group activity, and learn the relationship between customs and laws as it relates to a safe learning environment.
How Do Others Define Your Identity?
Students draw on a contemporary parable to explore how identity is formed by our own perception as well as other people's perception of us.
What is Community?
Students answer the question, "What is a community?" by writing their own definition of the word and identifying what characteristics make their classroom a community.
Citizen Power Makes Democracy Work
Students explore citizenship, power, and responsibility using the work of civic entrepreneur Eric Liu.
Defining Democracy
Students brainstorm different definitions of democracy and consider democracy's relationship to their own communities and cultures.
Free Press Makes Democracy Work
Students explore the importance of a free press to democracy through recorded conversations with journalists from the United States and South Africa.
Insights on Democracy from South Africa
Students consider how South Africa's particular history and culture influence the ways its citizens understand and practice democracy.
Literature and Imagination Make Democracy Work
Students explore the connection between literature, imagination, and democracy by engaging with the work of acclaimed author Azar Nafisi.
Reflection and Action for Civic Participation
Students consider the importance of young people in democracy and analyze stories of civic participation using a ten-question framework.