Last week, the first Black, Asian American woman was elected vice president. We hope these resources will help you contextualize this historic moment for all students.
This Media Literacy Week, it’s more important than ever to ensure your students are informed digital citizens. As Election Day approaches, your students are encountering plenty of online information about issues that affect them and their communities. Our digital literacy resources can help you teach them to evaluate and check sources for bias, interrupt hate speech, and critically analyze and discuss online information about the election.
Even if your students are too young to vote, there are plenty of ways they can get involved in the last few days of this year's election season. Try sharing our Voting and Voices pledge and Story Corner video to encourage them to talk with their families about voting. Or check out our Voting and Voices classroom resources for ready-to-use lessons, texts and activities that can get students of all ages excited about Tuesday's elections!
Voter suppression is not a thing of the past. It’s essential that students learn to identify it in history—and in this current election cycle. Including insight from Carol Anderson, John Lewis and others, these resources can help you teach about the Voting Rights Act, the historic back-and-forth fight for voting rights, the ways voter suppression manifests today and the ways young people are demanding better of the democratic process.
Being discerning about the information around us is important, especially during elections. As our access to information from a variety of media sources has increased, the benefits of wider exposure are being undermined by a media landscape filled with polarized messaging, manipulated content, disinformation and propaganda. Rhetoric and catchphrases – especially about complex and divisive issues – are abundant and often attempt to reduce complex concerns to simplified and biased explanations.
