Current Issues
Classroom activities to engage students in learning about and discussing issues in the news
A brief activity on the movement to get colleges, cities, churches and other entities to divest from fossil fuels, pegged to Global Divestment Day on Feb. 13-14, 2015.
This brief activity kicks off Black History Month by examining King's letter from a Birmingham jail in light of current events.
A short activity has students consider President Obama's proposal for free community college.
Students consider responses to the attack on Charlie Hebdo from multiple points of view by examining tweets containing different expressions of solidarity, and create their own tweets.
In this brief activity, students consider Oxfam's finding that the world's richest 1% will own half of global wealth by 2016.
The movie Selma depicts the struggle for voting rights for African Americans that led to the 1965 Voting Rights Act. In this lesson, students examine a primary source document to help them understand why so few southern blacks could vote in 1965. Students explore why voting rights were so important...
Two student readings provide a brief history of the embargo of Cuba and its role in Cold War foreign policy and consider different opinions about President Obama's move to normalize relations.
Students consider a wide range of statements in response to the killing of NYC police officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. In guided discussion, students consider the statements, what the speaker intended to achieve, and whether they feel the statement was helpful.
After a siege in a Sydney, Australia cafe by a self-described Islamic cleric, Australian Muslims feared a backlash. But Australians of all backgrounds responded instead with an act of solidarity through Twitter. Students learn about the news and the response, and consider how they might stand up...
Our lessons and guidelines on Michael Brown and Eric Garner have been used in schools across the country. Here they are, all in one place.