Hardship and Hope: Teaching Amanda Gorman’s “New Day’s Lyric”
This mini-lesson invites students to analyze Amanda Gorman’s poem “New Day’s Lyric” and create a class poem about hope and collective action during challenging times.
Teaching about the Ukrainian Refugee Crisis
Use this mini-lesson to introduce students to the experiences of Ukrainian refugees fleeing war, highlight inspiring ways people have stepped up to help, and raise ethical questions about the treatment of refugees from non-European countries.
Identity and Storytelling Assessment Ideas
Create a culminating experience for your students that helps them draw new connections between the concepts and ideas presented in this text set, themselves, and the world today.
Why Identity Matters
Students reflect on how aspects of their identities are more visible or felt in certain situations and read an informational text to help them consider the interplay between individual identity and social identity.
Use Poetry To Teach About Identity
Celebrate National Poetry Month with this mini-lesson that uses poetry to help students grapple with the complexities of identity and inspire them to tell their own stories.
What Is Our Obligation To Asylum Seekers?
Help students understand how the United States’ complex asylum process works. Invite them to consider the question, who has an obligation to asylum seekers?
Where Do We Get Our News and Why Does It Matter?
Explore media bias using recent news coverage of controversial events and help students think about what healthy news habits they want to adopt.
Why Do People Migrate?
In this mini-lesson, students reflect on stories of migration and learn about migration from El Salvador to the United States as a means of exploring the underlying factors that drive migration.
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.