Student Texts
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Our searchable library of short texts offers a diverse mix of stories and perspectives. This multigenre, multimedia collection aligns with the Common Core's recommendations for text complexity and the Learning for Justice Social Justice Standards.

Choose from informational and literary nonfiction texts, literature, photographs, political cartoons, interviews, infographics and more. You can also filter by text type, grade level, subject and topic.

“The leveled texts have really helped me engage students and introduce them to complex topics in a way they can understand.”

Text Type
Grade Level
Social Justice Domain
Subject
Topic

622 Texts

Informational

Just Peace: A Message of Hope

In this book excerpt Mattie Stepanek describes what it is like living with a rare neuromuscular disease. Defying many developmental odds, Mattie recounts highs and lows as he travels toward his tenth birthday, living on what he terms “the edge.”
by
Mattie Stepanek
Grade Level
Topic
Social Justice Domain
July 5, 2014
Informational

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

McIntosh's article details the ways in which white people—male and female—are given unacknowledged advantages. She focuses on situations in which skin-color is the dominant priveleging factor (over class, religion, ethnic status, or geographic location) but acknowledges that many of these attributes are interconnected.
by
Peggy McIntosh
Grade Level
Subject
Civics
Economics
Social Justice Domain
July 5, 2014
Literature

Why Frogs and Snakes Never Play Together A Pourquoi of Prejudice A PLAY IN 3 ACTS

A chance meeting of a family of frogs and a family of snakes in the woods one day allows wonderful new friendships to be made. Later, when the siblings tell their parents about their new friends, they are told never to play together again. Find out why in this easy-to-produce play that teaches about the serious topic of prejudice.
by
Jeff Sapp
Grade Level
K-2
Subject
Civics
Geography
Social Justice Domain
July 5, 2014
Informational

1960: Sitting Down to Take a Stand

In this article, Suzanne Bilyeu details how the sit-in by the "Greensboro Four" at Woolworth's store in North Carolina created a domino effect which led to sit-ins across the country and galvinized support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
by
Suzanne Bilyeu
Grade Level
Subject
Civics
History
Economics
Geography
Social Justice Domain
July 5, 2014