Resources for Teaching About Current Events in the Classroom
Explainers
New for the 2019 school year, our printable Explainers introduce key terms and ideas that are essential to understanding today’s news.
Explainer: White Nationalism
This explainer describes key characteristics of white nationalist ideology and clarifies related key-terms, such “alt-right” and “white power.”
What is Migration? An Explainer
This Explainer presents statistics on migration around the world and defines key terms such as migrant, refugee, and asylum seeker.
Browse Current Events Resources by Topic
View All Current Events Resources Below
Our Teaching Ideas help you address specific events and issues in the news. With a variety of accessible resources and engaging teaching strategies, they can be used for all or part of a class period. We also offer on-demand webinars on a range of topics for professional learning that fits your schedule.
Indigenous Rights and Controversy over Hawaii’s Maunakea Telescope
Provide students with historical context for understanding the protests against the Thirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea and help them explore the reasons why many Native Hawaiians oppose its construction.
The Debate over Reparations for Racial Injustice
With reparations in the news, this Teaching Idea helps students define the term, learn what forms reparations can take, and consider what reparations should be offered for slavery and other racist policies.
Current Events in Your Classroom
In this webinar, we discuss tips for making meaningful connections between current events and your curriculum and strategies for navigating partisan politics in diverse classrooms.
Young People Stand Up Against Climate Change
Explore with your students why young people are calling for action against climate change and some of the strategies they can use to make a difference on this issue.
Political Debates and Cognitive Bias
Introduce your students to an upcoming political debate and challenge them to question the role of cognitive bias in our decisions to support a candidate.
Different Perspectives on Migrant Detention
Deepen students’ understanding of the issue of migrant detention by having them consider the diverse perspectives of detained migrants, an immigration lawyer, a border guard, and an immigration judge.
What Is Our Obligation To Asylum Seekers?
Help students understand how the United States’ complex asylum process works. Invite them to consider the question, who has an obligation to asylum seekers?
Why Do People Migrate?
Exploring why people migrate is essential to understanding migration at the US–Mexico border. Use these activities to examine migration from El Salvador to the US and the factors that drive migration.
Partner Resource: Checkology
Our partners at the News Literacy Project developed the media literacy resource Checkology, a set of lessons designed to help students learn how to critically evaluate and interpret news sources.
Teaching in the Wake of Violence
This teaching idea contains strategies and activities for supporting your students in the aftermath of a mass shooting, terrorist attack, or other violent event.
How the World Votes: India’s Election and Access to Polling Places
Explore ideas around access to voting by learning about India’s general election and the country’s commitment to ensuring that all voters are close to a polling station.
The Persistence of Racial Segregation in American Schools
More than 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education, give students an overview of the problem of school segregation in the United States today and open a discussion about possible solutions.
Attacks on Houses of Worship
Facilitate discussion in your classroom around the recent attacks in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim places of worship, and explore with students how communities respond after incidents of hate.
Can Dress Codes Exclude People?
Explore how dress codes can unfairly target the appearance of certain groups of people and help students consider what fair school dress codes look like.
Reflecting on the New Zealand Mosque Attacks
These activities are designed to help students reflect on the devastating attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Making Room at the Table
Teach students about Representative Shirley Chisholm’s groundbreaking career and connect her story to today’s 116th Congress—the most diverse federal legislative body in US history.
Brave Girl Rising: A Refugee Story
Created in partnership with Girl Rising, this teaching idea invites students to engage with the story of a young refugee and to consider the power of storytelling to spark empathy.
The Targeting of Uighur Muslims in China
Provide students with context for understanding China’s ongoing persecution of the Uighur Muslims and encourage them to consider the experiences of this religious minority group targeted with discriminatory policies and incarceration.
Blackface in the News
Use this teaching idea to introduce students to the story of Governor Northam, examine the history of blackface in the years before the Civil War, and consider how leaders and citizens should respond today.
Rising Antisemitism and Fading Memories of the Holocaust
Help students analyze recent trends regarding receding Holocaust memory and the resurgence of antisemitism in Europe, and prompt them to consider how history can help us confront hate in the world.
Responding to #LivingWhileBlack
Help students develop a framework for analyzing and discussing the incidents of racial bias they’re seeing in the news and on social media.
Where Do We Get Our News and Why Does It Matter?
Help students examine their current events consumption, explore the role of social media in the spread of misinformation, and think about what healthy news habits they want to adopt.
Human Rights 70 Years After the UDHR
As the 70th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights approaches, take the opportunity to teach students about the ideals stipulated in the UDHR and to evaluate its successes and shortcomings.
When Reporters Are Arrested
Students reflect on the role of freedom of the press by exploring the recent story of two journalists arrested in Myanmar while investigating the killings of Rohingya civilians.
The Many Faces of Global Migration
Use recent photographs to help students connect to the experiences of migrants and to better understand the scale of global migration.
Assessing The Strength of Democracy
Provide students with an opportunity to explore their understanding of democracy and to make meaning of current events about democracies at risk in the world today.
Family Separation at the U.S. Border
Inform students about the Trump administration’s family separation policy and help them emotionally process the human side of this news story.
Confronting Antisemitism in Europe Today
Help students to examine recent events and statistics about the rise of antisemitism in Europe and to consider how we can respond to hate.
Bearing Witness to Japanese American Incarceration
Use these activities and resources on Japanese American incarceration during World War II to introduce students to this history while exploring questions about American identity, racism, and citizenship.
Youth Taking Charge! Placing Student Activism in Historical Context
Many students considered participating in the national school walkouts to protest gun violence following the Parkland, Florida school shooting. Use this teaching idea to explore the rich history of youth activism from the 1960s to present day. You'll prepare them to think critically as they examine current events through a historical lens and equip them with tools and strategies to engage in difficult conversations.
Black Women’s Activism and the Long History Behind #MeToo
Use this teaching idea to help your students draw connections between the long history of black women’s activism against sexual violence and gender discrimination with the #MeToo movement today. The questions and activities focus on the experiences of Recy Taylor, Rosa Parks, and Essie Favrot.
The Continuing Debate Over Immigration
Use the following lesson and activities with your students to provide context for the 2018 U.S. immigration debate over who can come to the United States, who can stay, and what it means to be American. Recent news and debates may seem especially combative, but they echo earlier moments in US history when Americans questioned who could become a citizen.
Plan Ahead With Our Teacher Checklist
View our teacher checklist for preparing to teach current events to middle and high school students. We include recommended news sources, key questions to ask yourself as you plan, and strategies for navigating emotionally difficult or complex topics.
Responding to the Rohingya Crisis
Students place this ongoing crisis in historical context, view footage from a refugee camp, and reflect on survivor testimony.
Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age
Help students become informed and effective civic participants in today's digital landscape. This unit is designed to develop students' critical thinking, news literacy, civic engagement, and social-emotional skills and competencies.
