Group items tagged

"The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the use of Howard Zinn's best-selling book A People's History of the United States and other materials for teaching a people's history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. The Zinn Education Project is coordinated by two non-profit organizations, Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change. Its goal is to introduce students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of United States history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. The empowering potential of studying U.S. history is often lost in a textbook-driven trivial pursuit of names and dates. Zinn's A People's History of the United States emphasizes the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history. Students learn that history is made not by a few heroic individuals, but instead by people's choices and actions, thereby also learning that their own choices and actions matter."

"Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action, a new policy paper by Renee Hobbs, Professor at the School of Communications and the College of Education at Temple University and founder of its Media Education Lab, proposes a detailed plan that positions digital and media literacy as an essential life skill and outlines steps that policymakers, educators, and community advocates can take to help Americans thrive in the digital age."

Global projects for students, classes and schools to join

"The 4 Action Initiative has created a comprehensive curriculum and resource guide that will include seven thematic units for grades K-12. Each unit draws on new and existing curricula covering multiple subject areas ranging from human behavior to the history of terrorism to recovery and building a better future. "

"iCivics is a non-profit organization dedicated to reinvigorating civic learning through interactive and engaging learning resources. Our educational resources empower teachers and prepare the next generation of students to become knowledgeable and engaged citizens. Founded and led by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, iCivics provides students with the tools they need for active participation and democratic action, and teachers with the materials and support to achieve this. Our free resources include print-and-go lesson plans, award-winning games, and digital interactives. The iCivics games place students in different civic roles and give them agency to address real-world problems and issues. They are rooted in clear learning objectives and integrated with lesson plans and support materials. iCivics curriculum is grouped into topical units that align to state and Common Core standards. "

" Social Media Classroom Using social media to learn about social media issues Today's students live in a world in which all of the traditional elements of their education-texts, lectures, connections with the world outside the campus-have been transformed by the ubiquitous presence of laptops and Wi-Fi. In their lives outside the classroom, and in the lives of their families, communities, and fellow citizens, important questions arise about the effects of using digital media-questions about identity, relationships, community, collective action, public sphere, social capital"

"For years, magazines and newspapers have used photo galleries to tell stories. Photos can build emotion, provide information, encourage a specific action and create great questions. We can have our kids do the same thing by asking them to create Five Photo Stories. It seems like a great way for kids to activate prior knowledge, review information, learn new content or practice summarizing. It's basically an all-purpose graphic organizer! "

Check this lesson out.

"Facing History and Ourselves, in partnership with PBS's flagship history series, American Experience, is pleased to offer the free study guide, Democracy in Action to accompany the American Experience film Freedom Riders which airs on PBS May 16th, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides"

Shares teachers who have experimented with flipping instruction. Also, contains links to articles about Khan Academy.

Article in the times about the Triangle Fire and present day attempts to educate citizens about the event

Use the Triangle Fire to discuss community action

Trust in America: Recovering What's Lost Podcast about people's rust in government. From NPR's All Things Considered

Interesting basis for our own investigation, 50 people one question video about trust in government or even school.