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.
![Two students look at each other in conversation. One student is also taking notes.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/ClassroomEvent_2018_%20FH287178.jpg?h=a141e9ea&itok=CX7H4ckw)
Stories of Identity and Belonging
Students read and discuss personal narrative essays and consider what factors can make it challenging for young people to be who they really want to be in the world.
Cultivating Identity Literacy
Students learn about a project, created by two young adults, that engaged people across the country in conversations about race, identity, and culture. Then they start to envision what sharing their own stories can look, sound, and feel like.
Maycomb's Ways: Setting as Moral Universe
Students explore how race, class, and gender create the moral universe that the characters inhabit in To Kill a Mockingbird.
![The exterior of a theatre called "Rex Theatre for Colored People."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/1937_theatreinlealandmississippi_FH248624.png?h=2d333439&itok=SYGt0BUt)
Scout as Narrator: The Impact of Point of View
Students consider how Harper Lee’s decision to tell To Kill a Mockingbird through the eyes of young Scout impacts readers' understanding of the novel.
![Mockingbird Graphic.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/WebRedesign_Wrapper-card_Mockingbird.jpeg?h=24afd704&itok=qskeXCqD)
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.
![Zoomed in photo of student writing.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/118_Bully_Summit%2C_2012%2C_LA%2C_113_for_Web_or_Office_Use.jpg?h=7fb2964e&itok=xdupak2M)
Brave Girl Rising: A Refugee Story
Created in partnership with Girl Rising, this lesson invites students to engage with the story of a young refugee and to consider the power of storytelling to spark empathy.
![Young woman in red in front of trees](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/shorthand_image140of143.jpeg?h=4dc35482&itok=7UScoCil)
Moral Growth: A Framework for Character Analysis
Students connect the moral development of To Kill a Mockingbird's central characters to the moments in their lives that have shaped their sense of right and wrong.
![A man named Floyd Burroughs stands with four children on a wooden house porch.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/2014_FloydBurroughsWithChildren2_FH131398.jpg?h=76e782aa&itok=X94ixWj8)
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.
![Two male students write at their desks.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Cleveland_Classroom_2019_FH2100139.jpg?h=78aab1d8&itok=eGCF5ua2)
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.
![Two Volta Elementary School students work at their desks.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-07/Chicago_Classroom_2019_%20FH2101627.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=Pd3sRqZO)
Agency, Choice, and Action
Students apply their thinking about power and agency to an analysis of four personal narrative essays written by young people.
![Uniformed students work together in class.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Chicago_Classroom_2019_FH2101464.jpg?h=0f4230fa&itok=eqY000u8)