March 30, 2021

Black Lives Matter This Week and Always

This week, as Derek Chauvin is prosecuted for the murder of George Floyd, we urge you to continue supporting and centering Black students. These resources will help you provide that support, initiate discussions on the impact of systemic racism and police violence, and bring the Black Lives Matter movement into your classroom.

“We Won’t Wear the Name” // Coshandra Dillard 

Presently Invisible: The Arab Plight in American Classrooms // Amanda Najib Ibrahim

We Still Haven’t Learned From This // Cory Collins
Black Male Educators Create Space for Joy
Black men make up just 2% of all public school teachers, yet are overwhelmingly expected to handle cultural competency and discipline issues at their schools. It can be isolating, so many are joining together. In the latest issue of our magazine, learn how Black male educators are resisting white supremacy as they build community.

Podcast Episode: Black Power and the Black Panther Party

The history of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense can help us understand the transition from civil rights to Black Power and contemporary issues like mass incarceration. In the latest episode of season three of our Teaching Hard History podcast, historian Robyn C. Spencer outlines key aspects of the party’s revolutionary ideology, grassroots activism and community service. And historian Jakobi Williams joins to share valuable classroom insights.

Children’s Literature and AAPI Identity and History

In our newest online article, Dr. Monisha Bajaj identifies common stereotypes that harm AAPI students—and she suggests texts that can be used to counter them. Highlighting books for elementary and middle-grade readers, Bajaj recommends stories educators can use today to celebrate AAPI identity and history with all their students. 

Digging Deep Into the Social Justice Standards: Action

Learning for Justice’s Social Justice Standards are comprised of four domains: identity, diversity, justice and action. Our most recent PD Café focuses on action, and it includes an overview and examples of how to incorporate this standard into your curriculum. This resource can help you encourage your students to make a change by taking action for a more just world. 

Check Out What We’re Reading

“They are saying there are things wrong with us because of who we are. It doesn’t make me feel valued in the slightest. I just hope by the time I’m 18, things are better, because I don’t want other kids to have to grow up at age 10 and have their basic human rights debated.” — The Guardian

“In Brooklyn, when schools were closed last spring, social worker Maria Garcia also turned to books to connect with grieving students. She partnered with a local bookstore to send ‘bereavement baskets’ to students at her Brooklyn elementary school who lost family members to coronavirus.” — KQED

“To better understand why Black teachers leave the profession, it’s important to look at how today’s schools are shaped by decades of institutional racism.” — Edutopia
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