Climate Crisis on Trial

A Lesson for Middle and High School

Who — or what — is to blame for the terrible effects of the climate crisis? This lesson by Bill Bigelow from A People's Curriculum for the Earth helps students understand the factors involved. With 2023 being the hottest year on record and the U.S. government doing little to address the crisis, it is urgent that young people learn who is responsible and how to take action.

As with all of the lessons at the Zinn Education Project website, this lesson is free. We welcome stories about how you use or adapt the lesson.

Identity and Resistance

Abby MacPhail, a high school teacher at the United Nations International School in New York City, shares a story about her students’ study of Rosa Parks through the lens of identity and resistance.

We read The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks, journaled and debriefed our responses in small groups, engaged in the mixer lesson by Bill Bigelow, and watched Democracy Now! interviews with the book’s author, Jeanne Theoharis.

After reading the chapter about Mrs. Parks’ life in Detroit, my students wanted to know more about redlining and segregation, so we devoted some time to exploring these topics.

I handed out Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) maps of the five boroughs of New York City so they could look up their own addresses to see what grade they had been awarded.

Teaching About Palestine-Israel

Each week we add resources to our teaching collection on Palestine-Israel, such as the excellent documentary The Occupation of the American Mind. Viewers learn the source of the propaganda repeated daily in mainstream media. The film streams for free in various lengths. We also added Israelism, a documentary featured on Democracy Now!

We are responding to school districts that suppress teaching truthfully about the region. Administrators at a D.C. high school prohibited a student group from showing the 20-minute version of The Occupation of the American Mind. Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland have yet to reinstate the four teachers suspended for their social media about Palestine.

Students Design an Equitable Community

Rethinking Schools Cover Story

Events

Feb. 2: Art and Culture in the Movement

The SNCC Legacy Project is hosting a livestreamed roundtable conversation on Art & Culture in the Movement with Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee veterans Charles E. Cobb Jr. and Jennifer Lawson and humanities scholars Wesley Hogan and Joshua Myers.

Feb. 5: The Sum of Us

Heather McGhee, author of The Sum of Us: How Racism Hurts Everyone, will discuss the young readers’ edition on Monday, February 5.

Our Teach the Black Freedom Struggle classes are ideal for teachers and teacher education students.

Teachers have brought high school students to the classes, too. The response: “Amazing.” “It launched great class discussions.” Let us know if you plan to bring students so that we can organize specific breakout groups for them.

Teachers attending the workshop can request free copies of the young readers’ edition of The Sum of Us, thanks to a donation by REI Co-op. 

PD certificates and ASL interpretation provided.

Feb. 5–9: Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action

Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action is held annually during the first full week of February.

This year the week of action is Feb. 5–9. Find teaching stories, lessons, and books for pre-K–12.

Feb. 29: NCSS Proposal Deadline

Apply to present a workshop at the 2024 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) conference in Boston on Nov. 22–24. Or apply to review proposals. The more people’s history educators reviewing and presenting workshops the better!

March 14: NEH Teacher Institute Deadline

Applications are open through March 5 for the annual NEH teacher institutes. This year includes summer institutes on Japanese American Incarceration, Freedom Summer, LGBTQ+ Histories, Boricuas, Wilmington 1898, and more.

Check out more events, including the Teach the Black Freedom Struggle class series and conferences on the link below.

Teachers are under attack for teaching truthfully about U.S. history. Please donate so that we can continue to offer free people’s history lessons and resources and defend teachers’ right to use them.