Tips and guidance for helping K-12 schools encourage students to become civically engaged, provide safety and protection for all students, and adhere to students’ First Amendment rights.
11 Results
Teach students about disability rights activist Judy Heumann and what work in schools and communities still remains.
Olivia Julianna (who uses only her first and middle name publicly to protect her privacy) has been an activist for several years, advocating voting rights and reproductive-health care. Like many in her generation, she found the political side of TikTok where young people post about important issues facing them. Olivia is involved with Gen-Z for Change, a nonprofit organization leveraging social media to promote civil discourse and political action on a variety of topics including…
April is National Poetry Month
National Poetry Month provides an opportunity for many schools and classrooms to dedicate time to the study of reading and writing poetry.
Poetry uses vivid and descriptive language, beautiful imagery, unique sounds and rhythms, and diverse voices. It often evokes an emotional and empathetic response and can open doors to people and worlds for which we are unfamiliar. It can touch hearts and minds and motivate action and societal…
Civics Lesson
GRADE LEVEL: High School What are Human Rights?
What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
In 1946, in the immediate aftermath of World War II, with hopes of preventing future atrocities, an international committee with varied legal and cultural backgrounds began to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR was proclaimed by the new United Nations General Assembly in 1948. This document contains 30 Articles that set a standard…
Teach students about the role and importance of the youth vote and have them consider barriers to the youth vote.
by: Libby Otto By mid-September, you’re busy with school, work and fall activities. Constitution Day, on September 17, may slip past you without a thought. So why should this year be any different?
Constitution Day is the anniversary of the day that the Founding Fathers signed the United States Constitution. As you reflect this year on how the current political climate and public policies impact millions of people, continue asking yourself: are you making a positive change to…
GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School, Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, History/Social Studies In commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, this curriculum for grades 3–12 provides grade-specific lessons, resources and extension activities to provide your students opportunities to examine civil rights in the United States past and present. The lessons provide an opportunity for students to delve deeper into Martin Luther King Jr…
Teach students about the history of discrimination and racism in the U.S., the struggle for civil rights and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Speaking and Listening, Language “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” These are the words of the landmark Supreme Court decision on May 17, 1954 that declared segregated schools unconstitutional. More than seventy years later, even though much progress has been made, there are…
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s came about out of the need and desire for equality and freedom for African Americans and other people of color. Nearly one hundred years after slavery was abolished, there was widespread segregation, discrimination, disenfranchisement and racially motivated violence that permeated all personal and structural aspects of life for black people. “Jim Crow” laws at the local and state levels barred African Americans from…