Resources Promoting Equity

This past week I had the pleasure of meeting with students from the MAPSO Youth Coalition who have formed this organization following the murder of George Floyd. 

We discussed several issues including their desire to have more say in our curriculum development as we update our programming to meet the new New Jersey Learning Standards that were unveiled this past June. 

As we begin our planning for the school year, let's make sure to continue leveraging resources that promote equity, empathy, and tolerance. We should also implement materials that promote anti-racism as well. 

Please share with me the resources you find valuable. Here are some that I felt worthy of sharing, including materials from great organizations like  Common Sense Media, JSTOR, Human Rights USA, Teaching Tolerance, and Facing History. 

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Social Justice- and Equity-Focused Education Resources Use Common Sense Media to navigate difficult conversations, challenge bias, and create an inclusive space for your students to process current events. Go to resources NJSBF The NJ State Bar Foundation does great work in focusing on diversity and the law. (In fact, their RESPECT newsletter is a great classroom tool.)   They have also created a new platform as part of the NJDOE Amistad Commission called BREAKING BIAS. This is an updated link to the NJSBF workbook and they also helped with this product, Slavery in New Jersey. JSTOR has a great new resource called Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus.  It can surely help students "understand George Floyd’s death in the context of institutionalized racism." Human Rights Educators USA has collected resources in one collection as well. You can find them HERE on their website.  Rutgers has a continuing project called "Becoming Anti-Racist Resource List." The NCSS has promoted its curated page of resources for all of us to use to teach about racism, racial justice, and human rights. Click on this link, NCSS: Resources for Teaching about Racism, Racial Justice, and Human Rights. I would recommend the two websites Tolerance.Org and FACING History that have great K-12 materials for our students to learn about immigration, diversity and the unfortunate history of discrimination in America.  Funded by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Tolerance.Org site has these three great features: The Perspectives for a Diverse America Literacy Platform. The free online K-12 literacy curriculum helps young people learn about themselves and others. The text anthology reflects diverse identities and experiences. Moreover, teachers get free lesson plans and materials for each text. The Perspectives program supports differentiated instruction and the modular design allows for maximum flexibility so you can use the whole thing or just "plug in and play" with one poem to support the book you are already teaching! All you have to do is to (1) select an essential question aligned to your instructional goals, (2) browse through the various age-appropriate readings, and (3) assign the reading and use the tasks and strategies to build the literacy skills and active citizenship designed to help students deeply engage the text. Teaching Tolerance Magazine & Website. Teaching Tolerance brings you the latest thinking in social justice and anti-bias education, along with actionable tools, strategies, and lessons you can try tomorrow. As one reader said, Teaching Tolerance is “a groundbreaking voice in raising important issues within schools and connecting diverse groups with similar interests to one another.” And the best part? It’s ALWAYS FREE for educators. Subscribe today to make sure you’re getting all the goods from every magazine. Teaching Tolerance is released only three times a year (twice in print, once online), so you don’t have to worry about a cluttered mailbox. Subscribe now and never miss another issue.  FREE Film Kits. We have used these films at both Briarcliff & MLHS before. Order free materials using this form. There is a new documentary, Outrage, that is on lynching that is quite powerful.  Another great resource is FACING HISTORY & OURSELVES, a website and teacher resource that we use as the textbook for our Holocaust & Genocide elective. As you can see from the image below, the website tackles many issues including immigration. They also have a specific resource center dealing with the murder of George Floyd.  Make sure to check out their materials where you can find lessons, FREE e-texts, and videos.