Verifying Breaking News
Students evaluate the differences among news accounts about Ferguson, develop strategies for verifying news and information, and understand the challenges facing journalists as they cover complex, fast-moving events.
![Reporters conducting an interview.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/iStock-1350663690.jpg?h=62bc044e&itok=TN8_VBij)
Reflecting on Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb"
Use these activities to help students reflect on the themes in Amanda Gorman’s Inauguration Day poem and consider how their unique experiences and voices can help America “forge a union with purpose.”
![Photo of Amanda Gorman at Biden's Inauguration.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/AP_21020703530611_fullres_Medium_res.jpg?h=3a61c815&itok=h5ZfP4Bq)
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.
![Two high school students in a classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/sedgehillY10-021115-nk-HR-4.jpg?h=1116cd87&itok=gUvyU5kN)
How Do Communities Define We & They?
Students draw on a classic Dr. Seuss story to explore how communities make choices regarding membership.
![Students and teacher engage in discussion in a classroom.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/SanFrancisco_Classroom_FH152780.jpg?h=f2fcf546&itok=m7vlE77a)
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.
![A high school student writes on a piece of paper.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/StudentinClassroom_teaser.jpeg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=2k0HoYAK)
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.
![Students at desks with laptops having a discussion.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/facing-history-sf-drew-bird-a-111_for_Web_or_Office_Use.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=locch3qM)
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.
![Students move around the classroom in conversation with each other. One student looks directly into the camera with a smile on their face.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/LA_ClassroomImage_2018_FH287148.jpg?h=a141e9ea&itok=lbbZPe6H)
Exploring Contemporary Experiences of Policing and Racial Injustice
In this mini-lesson, students use their head, heart, and conscience to engage with six sources that reflect a range of experiences with policing.
![Police Car.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/TI3_iStock-172192574_full-res.jpg?h=dbfb23f9&itok=rFZal30E)
The 1968 East LA School Walkouts
Students learn about education, identity, and activism through an exploration of the East Los Angeles school walkouts, when thousands of students protested unequal educational opportunities for Mexican American students.
![John Ortiz, Mexican-American student leader at James A. Garfield High School, addressing assembled students during a walkout.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/1968_LAStudentWalkoutatGarfieldHigh_FH2169821.jpg?h=61a57aa7&itok=I40HzuJ5)
California Grape Workers’ Strike: 1965–66
Students explore the first year of the Delano grape strike, when grape workers in California's San Joaquin Valley went on strike to demand higher wages and better work conditions.
![Dolores Huerta and others hold up "Huelga" signs as part of the grape strike.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/1965_GrapeStrikeDelanoCalifornia_FH2121754.jpg?h=ae158943&itok=JphiCAwe)
Getting to Know the 10 Questions
Students begin thinking about civic engagement in terms of their own passions and identities as they are introduced to the 10 Questions Framework.
![High school students participate in class.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/2017_DrewBirdVisualStoryteller_FH152738.jpg?h=f2fcf546&itok=WOzD1gqb)