Collection
Civics for All Resources for NYC Public Schools
This collection features all the Facing History resources recommended in the New York Department of Education’s Civics for All curriculum.
Subject
- Civics & Citizenship
- History
- Social Studies
Grade
6–12Language
English — USPublished
In this lesson
Overview
About This Collection
This collection features all the Facing History resources recommended in the New York Department of Education’s Civics for All curriculum. Resources are organized according to the grade bands and themes in the Civics for All table of contents.
This collection includes:
- Resources for grades 6–8, including lessons, videos, readings, a unit, and an on-demand webinar
- Resources for grades 9–12, including lessons, readings, a guide, and a unit
- All resources above organized around the themes of Foundations of American Government, Rights and Responsibilities, Role of the Individual, Power and Politics, and Active Engagement
Lesson Plans
Grades 6–8
- Lesson: Defining Democracy
Students brainstorm different definitions of democracy and consider democracy's relationship to their own communities and cultures.
Related Materials
- Lesson: The Challenge of Confirmation Bias
Students will define confirmation bias and examine why people sometimes maintain their beliefs in the face of information that contradicts or challenges their understanding or assumptions. - Video: Defining Confirmation Bias
Reporters and media professionals define the term “confirmation bias,” and discuss its effect on how people approach and evaluate news and other information. - Reading: Online Civic Participation
Civic participation increasingly takes place online. Share with students political theorist Danielle Allen's ten questions to ask before choosing to take action online. - Reading: The Voices of Millions
Learn about the advent of online activism and consider the internet's impact on civic participation. - Unit: Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age
Help students become informed and effective civic participants in today's digital landscape. This unit is design to develop students' critical thinking, news literacy, civic engagement, and social-emotional skills and competencies. - Lesson: Free Press Makes Democracy Work
Students explore the relationship between a free press and responsible citizenship by listening to interviews with journalists from the United States and South Africa. - Video: The Role and Challenges of a Free Press
Reporters and media professionals discuss the functions and importance of a free press in a democracy.
- Lesson: Public Art as a Form of Participation
Students analyze the Battle of Cable Street Mural and reflect on the role of public art to commemorate, educate, and build community. - Video: '63 Boycott: Today is Freedom Day Video
Students today can learn from student activism in the past. This video features footage and eyewitness accounts of the Chicago Public Schools Boycott when 225,000 students protested racial segregation and unequal conditions in Chicago's schools. - On-Demand Webinar: Student Agency After Parkland
This webinar recording helps educators explore the many questions they may face in the wake of the events like those in Parkland, Florida. - Reading: How the Parkland Students Pulled Off A Massive National Protest in Only 5 Weeks
Learn about the movement to end gun violence launched by Parkland students after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. - Lesson: Citizen Power Makes Democracy Work
Students explore citizenship, power, and responsibility using the work of civic entrepreneur Eric Liu.
- Lesson: Preparing Students for Difficult Conversations
By acknowledging people's complicated feelings about race and creating a classroom contract, teachers and students can establish a safe space for holding sensitive conversations before introducing the events surrounding Ferguson.
Related Materials
- Lesson: Finding Your Voice: Flag of Faces Activity
In this activity, from our Finding Your Voice lesson, students reflect on what "American" means to them and are introduced to the idea that the United States is the product of many individual voices and stories.
Related Materials
Grades 9–12
- Reading: We the People in the United States
Learn how the US Constitution’s promise of equal protection under the law has been questioned throughout US history in debates over issues such as women's right to vote and birthright citizenship. - Lesson: Defining Democracy
Students brainstorm different definitions of democracy and consider democracy's relationship to their own communities and cultures.
Related Materials
- Chapter: The Individual and Society
How does our society shape the way we define ourselves and others? Explore some of the dilemmas people experience when others perceive them differently than they define themselves using the readings from a chapter in our resource, Holocaust and Human Behavior.
Related Materials
- Reading: We the People in the United States
Learn how the US Constitution’s promise of equal protection under the law has been questioned throughout US history in debates over issues such as women's right to vote and birthright citizenship. - Lesson: Citizen Power Makes Democracy Work
Students explore citizenship, power, and responsibility using the work of civic entrepreneur Eric Liu. - Collection: What Makes Democracy Work?
Use this collection of lessons, podcasts and blog posts to teach your students about the fundamentals of democracy and the importance of engaged citizenship.
- Mini-Lesson: Voting Rights in the United States
Use this teaching idea to helps students explore the expansion and constriction of voting rights throughout US history. - Lesson: The Challenge of Confirmation Bias
Students define confirmation bias and examine why people sometimes maintain their beliefs in the face of information that contradicts their understanding.
- Guide: Fostering Civil Discourse
This guide provides strategies to help you navigate the challenging times and support your students to develop effective skills for civic participation. A login is required to download this publication. - Unit: Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age
Help students become informed and effective civic participants in today's digital landscape. This unit is design to develop students' critical thinking, news literacy, civic engagement, and social-emotional skills and competencies.
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10 Questions for the Future: Student Action Project
Students create a plan for enacting change on an issue that they are most passionate about using the 10 Questions Framework.
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10 Questions for the Present: Parkland Student Activism
Students identify strategies and tools that Parkland students have used to influence Americans to take action to reduce gun violence.
Mini-Lesson
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Voting Rights in the United States
In this mini-lesson, students learn about the history of voting rights in the United States and consider how current voting laws in different states impact voters today.
Mini-Lesson
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How to Read the News Like a Fact Checker
Reading “laterally” is a key media literacy strategy that helps students determine the quality of online sources. This mini-lesson trains students to use this technique to evaluate the credibility of the news they encounter on social media feeds or elsewhere online.
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Confronting Apartheid
Examine how South Africans grappled with their history, from early interactions with white European settlers, resistance to the imposed apartheid regime, and a long struggle for democracy.
Mini-Lesson
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The Hope and Fragility of Democracy in the United States
In this mini-lesson, students learn about the history of democratic and anti-democratic efforts in the United States and examine sources that illuminate this tension from Reconstruction through today.
Mini-Lesson
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What Happened During the Insurrection at the US Capitol and Why?
This mini-lesson guides students to use an iceberg diagram to synthesize the events of January 6, 2021, and outline the complex array of causes at work.
Mini-Lesson
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Reflecting on George Floyd’s Death and Police Violence Towards Black Americans
This mini-lesson is a guide for teachers to begin conversations with their students about George Floyd’s death and the events that surround it.
Mini-Lesson
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Responding to The Tree of Life Shooting in Pittsburgh
The mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue capped off a week of hate crimes and political violence in the United States. This mini-lesson help teachers and students process the events and reflect on what they mean for them and their communities.
Mini-Lesson
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Responding to the Insurrection at the US Capitol
This mini-lesson is designed to help guide an initial classroom reflection on the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.
Mini-Lesson
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The Equal Rights Amendment: A 97-Year Struggle
This mini-lesson provides an overview of the ERA and a look at the history behind the struggle to ratify the amendment that would formally guarantee women equal rights to men under the US Constitution.
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#IfTheyGunnedMeDown
Students explore the potential negative impact of images through the social media protest #IfTheyGunnedMeDown and develop a decision-making process for choosing imagery to represent controversial events.
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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
Listen to writer and educator Dr. Clint Smith as he shares 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.
Using the strategies from Facing History is almost like an awakening.
—
Claudia Bautista, Santa Monica, Calif
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