October 22, 2019

Teaching Students About Halloween Costume Choices

Every year, we hear of students and educators whose Halloween costumes reinforce stereotypes, bolster systems of oppression or even make light of hate. In these cases, a simple conversation might have prevented a lot of harm. We hope you’ll take the time to talk with your students about their Halloween costume choices this year—and think carefully about your own. Here’s a place to start.

Black Minds Matter // Coshandra Dillard

They Didn’t Back Down // Cory Collins

Teaching Hard History From the Beginning // Julia Delacroix
Only a Lynching Is a Lynching
President Trump recently compared himself to victims of racial terror, and he’s far from the first powerful man to do so. Trivializing an act so violent reduces the humanity of those who suffered at the hands of lynch mobs. This article offers recommendations that can help you talk with students about the painful history of lynching in the U.S.

The Symbolic Violence of Confederate-named Schools

In more than 100 U.S. schools, black educators and students see Confederate names on their walls, jerseys and diplomas. In the latest issue of our magazine, read about one educator's student of the consequences for black teachers and students working and learning in schools named for men who fought to deny their ancestors freedom.

Media Literacy Week: Resources for Digital Literacy

It’s Media Literacy Week! Our Digital Literacy Framework offers lessons and videos designed to help students develop digital and civic skills in tandem. Our podcast The Mind Online also provides information that students and educators alike can use to become safer, better informed digital citizens.

TT Educator Grant: Authors of Their Own Stories

While 50 percent of students in U.S. schools are children of color, multicultural characters, storylines and settings are included in only a fraction of children’s books. With help from a TT grant, students at a New York school took action: They encouraged publishers to print more books featuring characters of color and then wrote and printed their own stories.

Check Out What We’re Reading

“We have not achieved what we need to bring justice and high quality schools to the children and teachers of Chicago. We need to have the tools we need to do the job at our schools. We need pay and benefits that will give us dignity and respect. We are on strike until we can do better.” — Colorlines

“[Elijah Cummings] worked until his last breath because he believed our democracy was the highest and best expression of our collective humanity and that our nation’s diversity was our promise, not our problem.” — The Ringer

“Two teenagers — one black, the other white — growing up a few miles apart have had two very different experiences in the New York City public school system. The gap in the quality of their education has likely put them on unequal paths for the rest of their lives.” — The New York Times

Have a comment, question or idea for Teaching Tolerance? Drop us a line at [email protected].
Help us avoid the spam filter! Add [email protected] to your address book.
            
Copyright © 2019 Teaching Tolerance, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
400 Washington Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36104
334-956-8200 | tolerance.org

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can 
update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.