BEGIN HERE: How the Monuments Came Down Series and Curriculum Guide introduction: Introductory information about the series and curriculum guides, along with a linked list of the episodes in order.Note: This item and the collection it belongs to was imported with permission from #GoOpenVA. While the content is the same, the original location can be found here.  

The Own It! Handbooks are guide books for a transformative after-school, trauma-informed enrichment program. The 21st Century Health  Challenges & Inequities handbook provides  lessons & activities about essential elements of the American health and healthcare system. In 2020, the strengths and weaknesses of American health care were brought powerfully into each home by  the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Like  prior 20th century health crises --the 1918 flu, polio,   AIDS -- COVID-19 represented a fundamental challenge to all Americsans. This Handbook seeks to help us better understand how our healthcare systems can better serve the American people.Own It! also nurtures academic skills, personal growth and leadership. It uses history to connect our past to our future, as part of the Own Your History® (OYH) Collection. But Own It! is not “school” and it differs from traditional approaches to history.  

Overview: In this workshop, we will build our capacity to identify the range of intellectual resources students use as they make sense of phenomena. We will first explore how equity and justice relate to culture-based approaches to pedagogy—and then focus on how to identify and leverage the resources students use in moments of sensemaking. This resource can also be used by individuals wanting to learn how equity involves promoting the rightful presence of all students across scales of justice, desettling inequities, and supporting expansive learning pathways. This workshop provides participants with an opportunity to explore important theoretical ideas by exploring examples of how learners engage in diverse sense-making. Participants will learn about some of the challenges that less expansive learning environments can cause for learners from non-dominant communities. This resource is estimated to take between 161-268 minutes (2 ⅔ - 4 ¾ hours), depending on the choices of the facilitator in scenario selection.

Students write and perform a skit or monologue that brings awareness to a specific issue addressed in the text.

Agree or Disagree? asks students to demonstrate their argumentative and comparative writing skills.

In Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies, Asao B. Inoue theorizes classroom writing assessment as a complex system that is "more than" its interconnected elements. To explain how and why antiracist work in the writing classroom is vital to literacy learning, Inoue incorporates ideas about the white racial habitus that informs dominant discourses in the academy and other contexts. Inoue helps teachers understand the unintended racism that often occurs when teachers do not have explicit antiracist agendas in their assessments. Drawing on his own teaching and classroom inquiry, Inoue offers a heuristic for developing and critiquing writing assessment ecologies that explores seven elements of any writing assessment ecology: power, parts, purposes, people, processes, products, and places.

Are You Convinced? asks students to demonstrate their argumentative and evaluative writing skills.

Students produce original art (visual art, music, drama or poetry) that conveys an anti-bias or social justice message. Students then plan a public showcase of their work.

For Asian Americans living, working, and growing up in the margins in the United States during the 1960s and 70s, participating in social activism played an important role in advancing justice for them as citizens of the United States. Asian Americans worked in partnership with other ethnic and racial groups to overcome unfair treatment. Through the examples of the United Farm Workers Movement and the student strike at San Francisco State College, and at the Peace Rally after the L.A. Civil Unrest, students will learn how Asian Americans spoke out against injustice and stood up for the better treatment of all Americans.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 3.2
Geography: 5.13
Historical Knowledge: 1.12, 5.22
Historical Thinking: 2.21
Social Science Analysis: 1.12, 3.18, 3.19, 4.21, 4.24, 5.28

A project developed by Cornell College’s KIN-200, Athletes and Activism class.  Authored by Caitlin Babcock, Alec Boldt, Cristian Dixon, Megan Gandrup, Olivia Henkel, MacKenzie Macam, Caitlyne Mar, Kali March, Alexis Partida, Ilah Perez-Johnson, Mary Puffett, Kara Rivard, Julissa Rivera, and Delaney Thomas; edited by Professor Christi Johnson. Because of the power that sports have to shape our understandings of everyday life, we explore the stories of athletes who became activists related to social justice causes.  These athletes used their platforms to advocate for positive social change.  We summarize and share their stories here.  In addition to describing their athletic pursuits, our summaries of their stories include key terms, concepts, and definitions related to socially just causes.  We also include short video overviews of the athletes' sporting lives and social activism. 

The conflict in Colombia has established itself as the longest and one of the most complex armed conflicts in the world. Since colonial times, the country's history has been marked by violence, a racist violence that has led to extreme inequality in the distribution of wealth. This inequality in Colombia persists to this day and is a central point in the numerous violent clashes.

Beautiful Language asks students to demonstrate their narrative skills when writing to gain the understanding of others.

In this 5th grade STEM Storyline Unit focused around Climate Justice, we present students with the idea of environmental stewardship and restoration. Students learn from communities and activists who are working to protect the Earth against negative human impacts. We believe that a part of STEM literacy is the ability for students to be aware of and think critically about the ways in which we are protecting or disturbing the natural world. We hope to use this unit to amplify the voices of Youth Activists of Color and support your 5th graders in developing their own voices as leaders in their community. The unit culminates with students presenting their learning to their community in order to expand their community’s understanding of environmental stewardship.

Students identify and investigate a community problem and propose a solution. They then plan and implement action directed at solving the problem.

This activity was produced in conjunction with The Library of Congress and the TPS at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. This activity allows learners to examine and listen to first-hand accounts and primary sources images of history during the Civil Right time period.  This activity will allow learners to develop empathy and understanding of:why someone might feel they should protest or stand up for their beliefs.how we can interact and respect others who may be different or have experiences we cannot fully understand.

Interdisciplinary survey of people of African descent that draws on the overlapping approaches of history, literature, anthropology, legal studies, media studies, performance, linguistics, and creative writing. This course connects the experiences of African-Americans and of other American minorities, focusing on social, political, and cultural histories, and on linguistic patterns.

Interdisciplinary survey of people of African descent that draws on the overlapping approaches of history, literature, anthropology, legal studies, media studies, performance, linguistics, and creative writing. This course connects the experiences of African-Americans and of other American minorities, focusing on social, political, and cultural histories, and on linguistic patterns.

Andrew Branca, a high school student from Central Academy of Technology and Arts, in North Carolina talks about how he was inspired to write Boal after attending a summer theater workshop on Brazilian theater activist Augusto Boal. Cast members discuss what it was like to collaborate on the playwriting process and why they felt it was important to start a serious discussion on racism and Islamophobia.

Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

Boal is a play written and performed by high school students from the Central Academy of Technology and Arts in Monroe, North Carolina. Boal brings a variety of social issues to the stage, focusing on racism and Islamophobia.

The play was inspired by Augusto Boal, a Brazilian theater director, writer, and politician. Boal was the founder of the Theatre of the Oppressed, a theatrical group dedicated to creating political change.

The performance was taped as part of the High School Theatre Festival during the Southeastern Theatre Conference.

Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

Break it Down asks students to demonstrate their explanatory and descriptive writing skills.