This lesson challenges students to analyze and to reflect on messages presented in songs — and to express their own views about important issues addressed in some songs.
A common misperception in many early childhood environments is the idea that, as one teacher told me, “There’s no diversity in my classroom.” She, and many others, think that a focus on diversity is unnecessary in an apparently homogeneous classroom.
In this story, the parents of three children decide not to tell people the gender of the third child in an effort to avoid promoting stereotypes. Instead, they allow the child to be a person rather than a pretty girl who wears pink or a strong boy who wears blue.
This segment examines black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey and his organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Best known for his leadership in a "back to Africa" movement, Garvey's ideas would influence later black nationalist thought.
Ava, an 8th-grade student in my after-school creative writing class came to me to discuss a story she was working on. She was writing a fictional story about a gay teenager who struggles with his sexuality and coming out. Even early on in the process, I was impressed with her ability to look at this story as a complex study in understanding—giving a voice to, and respectfully exploring, the conflicts of a gay teen.
After hearing from skeptics about our Teaching Hard History report findings, TT Director Maureen Costello came across striking new evidence that the project is necessary.