Explore classroom resources for making connections between current events and your curriculum, including activities and discussion strategies for high school and middle school students.
Engaging with current events is an essential part of educating young people to be informed and humane participants in society, helping them develop the capacity to examine issues from multiple perspectives and think critically about the world around them.
Our current events collection includes strategies for addressing current events with your students and mini-lessons on topics in the news, which can be adapted to teach in one class period or less.
This collection supports thoughtful classroom conversations about current events. It includes:
Flexible mini-lessons to help you address specific events and issues in the news.
Printable explainers to introduce key terms and ideas that are essential to understanding today’s news.
Collections of resources on four key topics: global immigration, democracy and civic engagement, racial justice in the United States, and bigotry and hate.
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Our current events toolkit offers tools and strategies to help teachers organize discussions on current events in their classrooms.
Centering Humanity While Following News of the Israel-Hamas War
Students reflect on their personal “universe of obligation,” the perspectives they see in the news, and how they can center others’ humanity when taking action.
Use this Explainer and Tropes Chart to help students understand what antisemitism is, how it shows up in contemporary settings, why it persists, and how it impacts individuals and communities.
Explore Our Current Events Collections
There are more than 250 million migrants around the world, including more than 65 million refugees. Explore the policies, debates and human stories of immigration around the world.
Democracies across the globe are increasingly fragile. Examine the health of democracy, voting and elections, and the pivotal role civic participation of young people plays.
We are in the midst of a national and global reckoning on race and justice. Use these resources to understand the past and present of racial inequities in the United States and the ongoing struggle for justice today.
Hate is in the headlines around the world. These resources offer sensitive entry points to confront troubling violence and injustice, including terrorism, genocide, and attacks on human rights.
Discussing Contemporary Islamophobia in the Classroom
This unit is designed to help students in the UK reflect on how Islamophobia manifests in contemporary society and what needs to be done to challenge it.
Students explore Islamophobic tropes, their troubled history, their evolution and their present manifestation in further depth, and consider the harm that their circulation can cause.
Students reflect on how Islamophobia manifests in the media and in the entertainment industry, and the potential consequences of being exposed to Islamophobic content.
Students reflect on the impact of Islamophobia on Muslims’ sense of belonging, consider what can be done to foster integration, and explore ways in which they and others can challenge Islamophobia.
Supporting Question 3: Navigating the Borders of National Belonging
Students explore the supporting question “How does the history of immigration through Angel Island help us understand how we create and challenge borders today?”
Students culminate their arc of inquiry into the Angel Island Immigration Station by completing a C3-aligned Summative Performance Task and Taking Informed Action.
Angel Island Immigration Station: Exploring Borders and Belonging in US History
This 5-7 day C3-aligned inquiry explores the compelling question “How does the history of the Angel Island Immigration Station help us understand how borders are erected, enforced, and challenged?”
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Facing History & Ourselves is designed for educators who want to help students explore identity, think critically, grow emotionally, act ethically, and participate in civic life. It’s hard work, so we’ve developed some go-to professional learning opportunities to help you along the way.
Professional Learning
Exploring ELA Text Selection with Julia Torres
On-Demand
Virtual
Listen to #DisruptTexts founder Julia Torres about taking a critical lens to text selection in ELA classrooms.
Professional Learning
Working for Justice, Equity and Civic Agency in Our Schools: A Conversation with Clint Smith
On-Demand
Virtual
Issues of equity and education have long existed in our country and continue to manifest today. How can writing and the power of one's voice help us respond to these disparities? Listen to writer and educator, Dr. Clint Smith, where we hear his poetry and reflections on working for justice, equity, and civic agency in our schools.
Professional Learning
Centering Student Voices to Build Community and Agency
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.
