How to address violence in the news with your kids.
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Civil Rights and Social Justice Resources for Classrooms
Top Picks
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Anti-Defamation League
Toolkit equips teachers to tackle bias with ready-to-go resources
Bottom line: This site fuses meaningful curricular connections between challenging current events and class content, and is a helpful go-to for teaching tough issues.
Grades: Pre-K–12
Price: Free
Roots & Shoots
Lessons, activities, and projects promote social and environmental change
Bottom line: Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots will inspire you to lead change in your community.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
Learning for Justice
Thought-provoking classroom resources support diversity education
Bottom line: It's an invaluable teacher tool to help reduce prejudice and encourage tolerance in schools, as well as within society as a whole.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
Library of Congress
Dig into famed library's collection of research goodies
Bottom line: The Library of Congress delivers the best of America's past and present, and with teacher support it could be a reliable research resource for students.
Grades: 1–12
Price: Free
Critical Media Project
Relevant media clips get students examining identity, culture
Bottom line: Teachers will need to take time to build effective lessons, but if they do, this is a useful, relevant, high-interest resource for deconstructing identity and building critical thinking and empathy skills.
Grades: 9–12
Price: Free
EDSITEment
Extensive humanities resource offers deep well of great content
Bottom line: The National Endowment for the Humanities has put together an outstanding place for art, history, language, and literature.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free
Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility
Brave, caring approach to teaching social justice tackles tough topics
Bottom line: An important free resource for educators seeking to embed social justice education.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free
National Archives
Access U.S. history with treasure trove of docs, genealogy, and other resources
Bottom line: NARA's website wasn't designed for kids, but they can definitely use it to research and learn about history, genealogy, and the U.S. population and government.
Grades: 4–12
Price: Free
Digital Public Library of America
Organized digital library features piles of useful primary resources
Bottom line: DPLA is at the top of the list of high-grade, online primary source collections if teachers make effective use of what's on offer.
Grades: 5–12
Price: Free
My Hero
Global community of storytellers share inspiring examples of humanity
Bottom line: Free resource that teaches kids about all kinds of heroism, gives them skills to tell stories, and offers a platform to share them.
Grades: 5–12
Price: Free
When Rivers Were Trails
Point-and-click story shares Native perspectives on forced migration
Bottom line: Offers a valuable alternative perspective to the colonial history found in U.S. classrooms, through a familiar, Oregon Trail-style format.
Grades: 5–12
Price: Free
American Archive of Public Broadcasting
Comprehensive collection of public radio and television broadcasts
Bottom line: A valuable resource for teachers who want to incorporate multimedia into their curricula.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Annenberg Classroom
Civics website makes teaching the Constitution manageable, meaningful
Bottom line: Go for the videos, stay for the lessons: Annenberg Classroom saves teachers' prep time when teaching the Constitution, current events, or other civics lessons.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Do I Have a Right?
Law sim lets players practice pairing rights with amendments
Bottom line: Standout iCivics title helps learners new to the U.S. Constitution get great practice matching amendments to individuals' rights, and have good fun doing it.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Facing History and Ourselves
A wealth of resources explore racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism
Bottom line: These valuable materials empower students to understand and address difficult ethical choices -- past and present.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Ken Burns
Dynamic video clips explore cultural themes throughout U.S. history
Bottom line: A huge time-saver and an effective way to share Ken Burns' brilliant documentaries with students.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free, Paid
That's Your Right
Card game gets students to wield the power of the Bill of Rights
Bottom line: This is a high-quality, surprisingly fun way to see how the Bill of Rights relates to everyday situations.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Zinn Education Project
Resources, lessons help teach a more inclusive version of U.S. history
Bottom line: Free downloadable resources encourage critical thinking and active learning in search of a more accurate picture of American history.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
IWitness
Explore survivor testimony with lessons, video on teacher-geared site
Bottom line: IWitness allows students to reflect upon the past, looking toward today’s values and society. Students build knowledge about the past using a dynamic, specific tool.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free
National Museum of the American Indian
Valuable resources offer needed perspectives, require adaptation
Bottom line: This site is great for the planning phase and has excellent resources for bringing in Native perspectives and histories, but it will need some tweaking to fit well into classrooms.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free
Thinkalong
Civics site offers a PBS-guided approach to thoughtful debate
Bottom line: This is a powerful framework for building critical media literacy, but teachers might need to bring in some extra perspectives.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free
YR Media
Dynamic site harnesses creative young talent to speak truth to power
Bottom line: This fresh and socially aware website will draw students in with catchy -- often controversial -- topics, but keep them there with quality content.
Grades: 8–12
Price: Free
Stanford History Education Group
High-quality, document-based lessons spark stellar historical inquiry
Bottom line: A gold mine of cross-curricular literacy lessons that encourage sound, research-backed strategies for reading, analysis, and critical thinking.
Grades: 8–12
Price: Free
Voices of Democracy
Vast collection of primary source documents a solid starting point
Bottom line: A great place to begin when you want to make history feel more real, but "begin" is the operative word; plan on creating your own scaffolding.
Grades: 8–12
Price: Free
Constitute
Extensive, highly searchable collection of the world's constitutions
Bottom line: Quickly and easily access almost any country's constitution, locate an excerpt, or compare governments.
Grades: 9–12
Price: Free
K-TOWN'92
LA riot videos shake up dominant narrative
Bottom line: This artful re-examination of the '92 LA riot can offer new insights and diverse perspectives, if students don't get too lost in the design.
Grades: 9–12
Price: Free
Liyla and the Shadows of War
Stark, arresting game offers emotional perspective on war's human toll
Bottom line: The short length and powerful themes make this an effective way to help students consider the brutal effects of war on families.
Grades: 9–12
Price: Free
Parable of the Polygons
Dynamic interactive helps classrooms explore topics of bias, diversity
Bottom line: A fascinating way to address how communities become segregated due to individual bias.
Grades: 9–12
Price: Free
The Republia Times
Unassuming editorial sim elegantly exposes the business of bias
Bottom line: What this game lacks in pizzazz it makes up for in smarts, and it's certain to get students thinking and talking about bias and media politics.
Grades: 9–12
Price: Free
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
Deep, complex database is challenging but a peerless research tool
Bottom line: This is a highly academic site for better and for worse; it's filled with deep, research-backed resources and primary sources but is intimidating without clear guidance.
Grades: 10–12
Price: Free
The 1619 Project
Striking resources can add depth, rigor to lessons on slavery's legacy
Bottom line: These high-level materials will add depth and context to lessons about slavery, but they need scaffolding to connect with students.
Grades: 11–12
Price: Free to try
