Get Started

Explore our resources and support to get started with using Facing History’s curriculum and approach.

If you are just beginning your journey with Facing History, these resources will provide you with an introduction to key concepts, strategies, and tools to incorporate our pedagogy into your practice.

Sandra Derstine-Desai, Teacher, Tech Boston Academy High School, on a Facing History professional development session.

Start with Yourself

Facing History classrooms are built on a foundation of supportive relationships between educators and their students and within the classroom community as a whole.

Building the trust needed to establish a successful learning community begins with an educator’s own curiosity and self-reflection. Becoming aware of one’s beliefs, values, biases, politics, and emotional responses, empowers educators to be thoughtful about how these forces and factors influence their interactions with and expectations of their students.

Most teachers are willing and wanting to tackle the difficult topics, but we need the tools.

— Gabriela Calderon-Espinal, Teacher, Bay Shore High School, Bay Shore, NY

Video

Psychologist John Amaechi talks about the impact of educators' interactions with students and the importance of acknowledging their power.

Section

Reflect on your identity as an educator and your ideas about teaching and learning, as well as your school context and the students in your classroom.

An English Language Arts teacher prepares to teach a literature unit for middle and high school students.

Video

Dr. Kimberly Parker discusses the internal work that teachers need to do during the curriculum development process in order to engage and support students in their learning.

Professional Learning

On-Demand

Virtual

Explore approaches to centering student voice, building authentic relationships and cultivating community with Molly Josephs, the creator of This Teenage Life, a youth-driven, story-sharing podcast that started as a school club.

Toolkit

This toolkit of teacher resources and classroom activities will help you lay a foundation for a reflective and caring community in the opening days of the school year.

Students move around the classroom in conversation with each other. One student looks directly into the camera with a smile on their face.

Mini-Lesson

This mini-lesson asks students to start the school year by designing their ideal learning space.

Professional Learning

On-Demand

Virtual

Watch this webinar to hear three classroom teachers discuss their best practices, reflect on classroom successes and challenges. Throughout, they share their tried-and-true Facing History teaching strategy favorites, strategies you can implement in your classroom right away.

Guide

In this classroom video, a middle school teacher leads his class through the contracting process during the first week of school and students discuss expectations and norms of how class members will treat each other.

Guide

In this classroom video, social studies teacher Tareeq Rasheed teaches the lesson “The Choices the Leaders Made (Part II)” from the Choices in Little Rock unit.

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Insight

by Kaitlin Smith

Jan 26, 2022

Research released by the Claims Conference found that 49% of U.S. millennials and generation Z have seen Holocaust denial or distortion content online—and that one in five U.S. millennials and generation Z surveyed in New York believe that Jews caused the Holocaust. This toxic combination of ignorance allied with antisemitic hatred continue to permeate global consciousness, and teachers have an important part to play in turning the tide.

Auschwitz photos taken of imprisoned children

Insight

by Roger Brooks

Jan 17, 2022

Martin Luther King Day is a moment for reflection and service; for considering the life and legacy of an extraordinary individual; and for recommitting ourselves to the unfinished work he championed. At a time of extraordinary bigotry and violence, Dr. King challenged all Americans to confront our history of racial discrimination, to open our eyes to injustice, and to be intentional about building a better future.

B&W photo of Martin Luther King Junior giving a speech

Insight

by Julie Halterman

Jan 19, 2022

Here are 9 Facing History resources that can help you reflect on your own teaching practices, teach the history of the Civil Rights Movement, and explore contemporary issues around racial justice and democracy in the United States.

Black and white photo of MLK and Mathew Ahmann in a Crowd

Impact Story

by Kaitlin Smith

Jan 13, 2022

Like many people of my generation who cut their teeth on the critical insights of bell hooks, news of her passing in December unleashed a wave of reflection for me about the ways she’s impacted me as a person and public scholar. Beyond the many moments of resonance I experienced while reading her writings over the years, her impact on me is most powerfully encapsulated in an experience I had in 2008 when I met her.

bell hooks standing on stage and speaking while holding a microphone.

Insight

by Adam Strom

Apr 16, 2015

Facing History shares a list of key components for a reflective classroom and provides educators with a number of resources to guide them in building their own.

Gregory Peck (left) and Brock Peters in a pivotal scene from the 1962 film "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Insight

by Kaitlin Smith

Mar 15, 2022

The January 6th investigation has deepened widespread concerns about rising threats of fascism, racism, white nationalism, and other phenomena that undermine justice for all. But in analyses that focus primarily on the role of white nationalism fomented within media echo chambers, for example, commentators have overlooked what may be a more pervasive parallel phenomenon: the widespread crisis of faith in U.S. media and institutions at large.

Photo of Two People Watching the News on TV

Insight

by Kaitlin Smith

Dec 19, 2021

The 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) that took place in Glasgow, Scotland from October to November 2021 was, in many ways, a historic event. However, even though the COP remains a crucial space for international cooperation in the fight against climate disaster, there is notable consternation over the unique burdens that various policies may place on poorer nations and those most vulnerable to adverse climate events.

Photo of Earth and African continent from space

Impact Story

by Kaitlin Smith

Dec 10, 2021

As a United Nations panel of experts is set up to investigate systemic racism and human rights abuses against Black people around the world, we explore a series of African American leaders who have invoked the language of “human rights” to underscore the urgency of their situation here in the U.S.

Olympians on the podium, bowing their heads and raising a fist with a black glove.

Impact Story

by Kaitlin Smith

Dec 7, 2021

During Universal Human Rights Month, in December, we invite you to use any of these Teaching Ideas grounded in social-emotional learning (SEL) that provide ample social and historical context while being concise and easy to integrate into your classroom conversations.

Paper cut outs of face profiles in different skin tones.

Impact Story

by Kaitlin Smith

Nov 30, 2021

The wendigo stories of Algonquian peoples offer a window into the endurance of cultural resources used to transmit significant moral values, and underscore the power of Native people using these stories to engage in social critique.

Deer antlers cage a child, burying their face in their hands in fear.

Insight

by Kaitlin Smith

Jan 31, 2022

Facing History offers an overview and guide for Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming, an ideal book to teach in the middle school classroom.

Insight

by Kaitlin Smith

Feb 9, 2022

Below is a curated list of classroom resources and educator-relevant events available from Facing History’s peer and partner organizations across the education space this month and beyond.

Black Soldier Reading on Truck photo in b&w

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“It completely changed the lens through which I teach.”

Start with Yourself

Donate now and together we'll build a better world

You might also be interested in…

Holocaust Denial: How Teachers Can Turn the Tide

Facing History on Martin Luther King Day: A message to our educators

9 Resources for Teaching about MLK's Legacy

bell hooks Taught Us to Transgress

What Does It Mean “To Kill a Mockingbird”?

January 6th

COP26, Environmental Justice, and Human Rights

African Americans and the History of "Human Rights"

13 Teaching Ideas on Human Rights

More Than Monsters: The Deeper Significance of Wendigo Stories

Why and How to Teach Brown Girl Dreaming

Deep Dive into Black History: 13 Events + Resources for Educators

Get Started

“It completely changed the lens through which I teach.”

“It completely changed the lens through which I teach.”

Start with Yourself

Lay the Foundation

John Amaechi Discusses the Importance of Being Present

Start With Yourself

Curriculum Planning Begins with Self-Reflection

Create an Equitable Learning Environment

Centering Student Voices to Build Community and Agency

Back to School: Building Community for Connection and Learning

Co-design Your Classroom with Your Students

Build your Teaching Practice

Effective Teaching Strategies

Contracting

Supporting a Culture of Inquiry in Your Classroom

Educators who bring Facing History into their classrooms see outcomes far beyond when the lesson ends.

Don't miss out!

Donate now and together we'll build a better world

You might also be interested in…

Holocaust Denial: How Teachers Can Turn the Tide

Facing History on Martin Luther King Day: A message to our educators

9 Resources for Teaching about MLK's Legacy

bell hooks Taught Us to Transgress

What Does It Mean “To Kill a Mockingbird”?

January 6th

COP26, Environmental Justice, and Human Rights

African Americans and the History of "Human Rights"

13 Teaching Ideas on Human Rights

More Than Monsters: The Deeper Significance of Wendigo Stories

Why and How to Teach Brown Girl Dreaming

Deep Dive into Black History: 13 Events + Resources for Educators

Inspiration, insights, & ways to get involved