Use the short evocative videos and films in this lesson plan to engage young people in conversations about identity, diversity, bias and social justice.

Teach students about the CROWN Act, the need for the bill and have them reflect on real-life examples of hair discrimination.

GRADE LEVEL: Middle School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Speaking and Listening, Language SEL STANDARDS*: Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decision-Making What are Reasons and Explanations for Challenging and Banning Books? Challenging and banning books goes back centuries. In recent times, children’s and young adult books have been challenged and banned. The reasons and explanations are many and varied and include profanity, “values,…

Civics Lesson GRADE LEVEL: High School How Were Youth Involved in the Civil Rights Movement? Throughout history, young people have stepped up and into leadership roles during different civil rights and social movements. This was never more evident than in the Civil Rights Movement, where young people were on the frontlines of the Montgomery bus boycotts, Freedom Rides and sit-ins. Given that student activism is on the rise again across the U.S., understanding how those young voices…

Civics Lesson GRADE LEVEL: High School What is Bias? What is Implicit Bias?In What Ways Could Bias Have an Impact on Your Civic Participation? The U.S. Constitution embodies ideals of equal opportunity and fair treatment for all and is reinforced by laws like the Civil Rights Act and Title IX. Yet, marginalized people who have experienced discrimination and unfair treatment historically, continue to do so in the present day. The stories in the news and social media seem to…

Echoes & Reflections: Teaching the HolocaustGRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language The lessons in this unit increase students’ understanding of Jewish people and awareness that antisemitism did not end after the Holocaust, and provide them with opportunities to learn about the persistence of antisemitism in its contemporary forms. Students investigate the ways in which old ideas about Jews and Judaism have…

GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School, Middle School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language Does Entertainment Represent Our Increasingly Diverse Society?In recent years, we have seen some progress made in terms of the diversity and representation of characters and actors we see in movies and on television. For example, over the last sixteen years, the percentage of Asian characters with speaking roles increased from 3.4% to 15.9%. However, there is still much…

GRADE LEVEL: High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Language We see symbols every day in all aspects of our lives. Symbols are used to convey ideas, qualities, emotions, material objects/products, opinions and beliefs. Unfortunately, symbols are also used to convey hate and bias. Lately, we have seen a lot of hate symbol graffiti in public spaces and specifically the swastika, which in most circumstances is understood as an expression of antisemitism. There has reportedly…

GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Speaking and Listening, Language The surge of antisemitic incidents in the United States is alarming to many. Several reported incidents include graffiti using swastikas, bomb threats, vandalism and shootings, bomb threats targeting Jewish Community Centers (JCC) and Jewish institutions across the country. Over the past 10 years, ADL has recorded a record number of antisemitic incidents across the U.S. Since 2015,…

GRADE LEVEL: High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening Racial Discrimination and Safeguarding the Right to Vote In August 2015, we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act which was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. The Voting Rights Act is landmark federal legislation that was enacted during the Civil Rights Movement and was intended to prevent racial discrimination in voting. Prior to that, even though Black…

GRADE LEVEL: High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language Since its contrivance at the turn of the twentieth century by the Russian secret police, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (or The Protocols of the Elders of Zion) has taken root in bigoted and uneducated minds around the world. The booklet’s twenty-four sections spell out the alleged confidential plans of a Jewish conclave seeking to attain world domination. They represent…

Share and discuss with middle and high school students war-time experiences of three child survivors and how the Holocaust affected them.