Rethinking Schools provides materials for teaching social justice that all caring teachers should be familiar with.
Rethinking Schools for Social Justice
Teaching for Black Lives: Review by Teach Peace Now
Rethinking Schools publishes some of the best educational materials for teachers who want to open their students’ eyes to the world around them. One of their most recent publications is titled Teaching for Black Lives. This volume of essays, teacher experiences, and lesson ideas is essential reading for all teachers at this moment in our […]
Where the Angels Lived – A TPN Book Review
~Does the Past Foreshadow the Future? ~ The choice to remember, and why and how to remember are explored in the memoir Where Angels Lived by Margaret McMullen as she discovers her lost Jewish relatives in Hungary. The family’s traits, both physical and behavioral, become evidence linking the past to the present. The historical past […]
Heart of a Chief – Review and Activities
~Heart of the Chief ~ Can one boy make a difference? Author Joseph Bruchac Upper elementary-Middle school Heart of the Chief: A Summary This book depicts Native Americans today facing a society that does not understand their culture. Set on an intentionally fictional reservation in New England, a boy enters the local middle school and deals […]
Sister Anne’s Hands: A Book About Prejudice & Civil Rights
Written by MaryBeth Lorbiecki, Sister Anne’s Hands, is set in the 1960s. Told from the viewpoint of a white second grade girl, this is the story of a nun with dark skin who comes to teach in an all white Catholic school. The young narrator has never seen a black person before. She comes to love and […]
Have You Ever Heard of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland?
Many people played a role in the Civil Rights Movement. She Stood for Freedom is a brand new children’s book that tells the story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. Although raised in the South and surrounded by segregation, Joan was angered by the unfair treatment of people because of the color of their skin. In 1960, despite […]
Empathy & the Politics of Tenderness
It is almost impossible to grow up. Most people just get older — Maya Angelou An essay by Tim Wolcott Empathy can be crushed Rancor for the ‘other’ has long been an effective tool of the Right to mobilize supporters. In their plans, empathy is to be avoided at all costs. Many adults, harboring unresolved anger and mistrust, […]
Muhammad Ali: A Man of Peace
Designated by the United Nations in 1998 as a UN Messenger for Peace, Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) is best remembered in his passing as a man dedicated to justice. Six themes guided his life: respect, confidence, conviction, dedication, giving and spirituality. Combined they produced a man who wasn’t afraid to stand up for what he believed in […]
Teach Peace Now Recommended Books for African American History Month: The Story of Ruby Bridges
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges Six-year-old Ruby Bridges was the first black child to integrate an all-white public school in the south. Day after day, escorted by U.S. marshals and her mother, she braved spitting, hissing, cursing crowds of white people throwing things at her in […]
Are You Stressed?
Activities for a Time of Stress This is the time of year when we often think about peace and yet many times find ourselves stressed from holiday preparations and rounds of visitors. Below are some activities that teachers can do with their students, and parents can do with their children, or that you can do on your own, in order […]
International Literacy Day
Imagine not being able to read. You would not be able to text a message or send an e-mail. You would not be able to blog. You would not have access to the wonderful world of books. Reading is a human right. September 8th is International Literacy Day a day set aside by the United […]
Addressing Racism
Stand Against Racism Dayis April 27th. Here are links to some exemplary lessons to use in your classrooms from our own website and from others. Lessons are ordered by suggested grade levels, but can be adapted by creative educators to other levels. Preschool Alike and Different All the Colors We Are The Colors of Us […]
