Create a Toolbox for Care
This mini-lesson invites students to think about the “tools” they have access to during the coronavirus pandemic that can help them take care of themselves, others, and their wider community.
![Rock with the phrase "free like a bird" painted on it](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Kindness_Rocks_Project_near_Bochum.jpeg?h=9debdb27&itok=IMHNDeTT)
Different Perspectives on Migrant Detention
In this mini-lesson, students gain insight into migration and the systems surrounding migrant detention by considering the perspectives of migrants, an immigration lawyer and advocate, a border guard, and an immigration judge.
![Undocumented immigrant families walk from a bus depot to a respite center](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/PerspectivesonDetention_RTX6D3SR_fullres.jpg?h=2a871bf3&itok=i7w7FDb7)
5 New YA Books on Native American Lives
Members of our staff are exploring these five new books published written by a group of Indigenous authors across North America for readers ages 12 and up and we invite you to explore them alongside us. These texts address themes including Indigenous youth navigating adolescent identity, community, and resistance.
The Costs and Benefits of Belonging
Students learn about group membership and explore the range of responses available to us when we encounter exclusion, discrimination, and injustice.
![Hands raised in the air by group of people](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_GroupBelonging_FH229369.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=O6H7UmzG)
Defining Human Rights
Students create a definition for a "right" in order to explore the challenges faced by the UN Commission on Human Rights to create an international framework of rights for all human beings.
![A black and white photo of Eleanor Roosevelt holding a large copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Spanish.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/19_ER_with_UDHR.jpg?h=765edc00&itok=7RVP-8e7)
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)
The Power of Propaganda
Students analyze several examples of Nazi propaganda and consider how the Nazis used media to influence the thoughts, feelings, and actions of individual Germans.
![An issue of the antisemitic propaganda newspaper Der Stürmer (The Attacker) is posted on the sidewalk in Worms, Germany, in 1935. The headline above the case says, ""The Jews Are Our Misfortune.""](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_NaziPropagandaNewspaper_FH229452.jpg?h=fb0bd1b2&itok=WOgfci3M)
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)
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.
![A student and teacher are in discussion.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-07/Chicago_Classroom_2019_%20FH2101408.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=lIhPr3AR)
Finding One's Voice
Through continued reflection on the short story “As You Were,” students consider the factors that impact power and agency in moments of decision-making and explore the possibilities and limitations of justice and reconciliation.
![Students engage in discussion in a San Francisco classroom.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-07/San_Francisco_Classroom_2017_FH152714.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=dM3u491J)