Facing History’s online resource library is vast and includes a wealth of information, lessons, videos, stories, and more for educators and lifelong learners to access anytime. But for busy teachers who need tried and true content for their classrooms and who lack the time to comb through our offerings, a go-to curated list provides extra value.
The following eight educational resources were among the most highly visited on the Facing History website throughout 2024. This indicates that teachers across the country have found these particular Readings, Teaching Strategies, Explainers, and Collections to be strong players in the classroom when it comes to factors such as simple execution, smooth integration into existing lesson plans, and deep engagement from students.
Below we offer bite-sized summaries of our most popular content, along with additional learning and teaching resources that can be used to round out or add dimension to the listed item.
We hope you bring some of these beloved resources into your classroom in the new year to enrich and complement your lessons.
Readings
This reading is also viewable as a video from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk where she describes the effects that labels can have on how we think about ourselves and others.
This reading is also viewable as a video from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk where she describes the effects that labels can have on how we think about ourselves and others.
The Danger of a Single Story
In this timely essay, Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie challenges us to consider the power of stories to influence identity, shape stereotypes, and build paths to empathy.
She describes the effects that labels can have on how we think about ourselves and others and finds herself reconsidering and changing the labels she herself placed on people without full consideration or understanding. Her profound takeaway: “Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize.”
Learn more about Nasro, a Somali-born girl living in a refugee camp, in a short film as told by the Warsan Shire. You can also access our mini-lesson delving into the lessons of the documentary.
Learn more about Nasro, a Somali-born girl living in a refugee camp, in a short film as told by the Warsan Shire. You can also access our mini-lesson delving into the lessons of the documentary.
Warsan Shire's Poetry about Home
Warsan Shire was born in Kenya to Somali parents and raised in London. From 2013 to 2014 she was the Young Poet Laureate for London. In her evocative poem “Home,” Shire gives voice to the experiences of refugees, shining a light on the terror and mental shift that comes from being a displaced person who must escape war and confront the basics of survival.
You can also read "How to Bloom in Dark Places” by Shire, an excerpt from a poem that tells the story of a young Somali-born refugee named Nasro.
Teaching Strategies
For a variation on Identity Charts that might resonate more with some students, you can also introduce the Starburst Identity Chart.
For a variation on Identity Charts that might resonate more with some students, you can also introduce the Starburst Identity Chart.
Identity Charts
Reflecting on one’s identity—and the identity of others—is key to the mission of Facing History & Ourselves. Identity Charts are an easy to use diagramming tool that allow students to visually consider the many factors that shape their own identity and that of groups, nations, and historical and literary figures.
There are no wrong entries on an Identity Chart—students can write in words and phrases they use to describe themselves, the labels that society gives them, and anything else that feels relevant to their sense of self and the world.
The sentence starters in this handout can help students participate in a Socratic Seminar.
The sentence starters in this handout can help students participate in a Socratic Seminar.
Socratic Seminar
In a Socratic Seminar activity, students work together to understand the ideas, issues, and values reflected in a text through a group discussion format. Students are responsible for facilitating their group discussion toward a shared understanding of the ideas in a text, rather than using the discussion to assert their own opinion or prove an argument.
Through this type of discussion, students practice how to listen to one another, make meaning, and find common ground while participating in a conversation.
Use this handout to help your students make text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections.
Use this handout to help your students make text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections.
Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World
Reading comes alive when we recognize how the ideas in a text connect to our experiences and beliefs, events happening in the larger world, our understanding of history, and our knowledge of other texts—this teaching strategy models how students can make those connections.
Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World encourages students to develop the habit of making these connections as they read. When students are given a purpose for their reading, they are able to better comprehend and make meaning of the ideas in the text.
Refer to this video example of a social studies teacher using the Fishbowl to better understand how to integrate this teaching strategy into your own classroom.
Refer to this video example of a social studies teacher using the Fishbowl to better understand how to integrate this teaching strategy into your own classroom.
Fishbowl
In a Fishbowl discussion, students inside the “fishbowl” actively discuss a topic. Students outside the fishbowl listen carefully to the conversation. Participants take turns in these roles to practice being both contributors and listeners in a group discussion.
A Fishbowl activity is especially useful when you want to make sure all students participate in a discussion, when you want to help students reflect on what a good discussion looks like, and when you need a structure for discussing controversial or difficult topics. This makes for an excellent pre-writing activity, often unearthing questions or ideas that students can explore more deeply in an independent assignment.
Explainer
For additional context and lessons concerning democracy, media literacy, polarization, political bias, and more check out Facing History’s comprehensive Teaching Resources for US Elections Collection.
For additional context and lessons concerning democracy, media literacy, polarization, political bias, and more check out Facing History’s comprehensive Teaching Resources for US Elections Collection.
Political Polarization in the United States
This explainer defines the term political polarization and provides information on how it impacts US politics and society. A lot of research over recent years, including from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Pew Research Center, has demonstrated that polarization in our country is sharply on the rise.
Despite this increase in polarization, there is more that unites us than divides us—learning how to navigate that duality and find connection is made easier with a better understanding of what political polarization actually is.
Collection
The most read primary source within this collection is “Letter from Jourdon Anderson: A Freedman Writes His Former Master.”
The most read primary source within this collection is “Letter from Jourdon Anderson: A Freedman Writes His Former Master.”
The Reconstruction Era Primary Sources
Enrich your teaching on the Reconstruction era with these primary source documents and images. This collection features resources on the Reconstruction era and the lasting effects of this important period in US history. These primary sources are organized thematically, moving from an exploration of freedom after Emancipation through reflections on memory and legacy. We’ve also included a selection of secondary sources from leading historians of the Reconstruction Era.
