info@teachingforchange.org PO Box 73038, Washington, D.C. 20056

Our Publications

To fill a void found in traditional curricula, Teaching for Change has published several books and DVDs. All are available for sale at SocialJusticeBooks.org.


Beyond Heroes and Holidays

A Practical Guide to K-12 Multicultural, Anti-Racist Education and Staff Development

Beyond Heroes and Holidays is an interdisciplinary guide for teachers, administrators, students, and parents. Through lessons and readings, we share examples of how educators, staff, students, and parents can work together to transform the curriculum, rather than simply adding to current frameworks. We also go beyond the classroom to address issues such as tracking, parent/school relations, and language policies. There are readings and activities for pre- and in-service staff development. Read more.


Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching

A Resource Guide for Classrooms and Communities

As one of the most commonly taught stories of people’s struggles for social justice, the Civil Rights Movement has the capacity to help students develop a critical analysis of United States history and strategies for change. However, the empowering potential is often lost in a trivial pursuit of names and dates. Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching, published by Teaching for Change and PRRAC, provides lessons and articles for K-12 educators on how to go beyond a heroes approach to the Civil Rights Movement.

The book includes interactive and interdisciplinary lessons, readings, writings, photographs, graphics, and interviews, with sections on education, labor, citizenship, culture, and reflections on teaching about the Civil Rights Movement. Read more.


Teaching the Caribbean Experience

The Caribbean has been a major source of immigrants to the United States and Canada for over a century. The past three decades have seen a further surge in Caribbean immigration, so that the region is now the leading source of legal migrants to a number of U.S. cities and states. People of Caribbean origin are an economic and cultural force in such cities as New York, Hartford, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Toronto and Montreal, and in many smaller cities and towns as well.

Despite this pervasive presence, most Caribbean communities have been, at best, invisible to the mainstream culture, noticed only on such occasions as Carnival or the Puerto Rican parade. At worst, they are subject to the negative stereotyping and scapegoating of immigrants that is gathering force across the country. Read more.


Between Families and Schools: Creating Meaningful Relationships

Teaching for Change is pleased to announce a new edition of Between Families and Schools: Building Meaningful Relationships, available for digital download. The publication addresses two key questions facing schools today: “How do we get more parents involved in our schools?” and “How do we enhance collaboration and communication between parents and teachers?”

Between Families and Schools is based on the findings of an action research project on family engagement, complete with stories, suggested actions, and questions to investigate within school communities. Read more.

 

Booklets and PDF Downloads

Collective Memory: The African Presence in Latin America (1993, 15 pages)
A brief study guide with a the focus on the “maroons,” those Africans who escaped slavery and established independent communities within colonial Latin America.


Inside the Volcano: A Curriculum on Nicaragua (1990, 130 pages)
Edited by Bill Bigelow and Jeff Edmundson
This teaching guide includes interactive lessons on land distribution in Nicaragua before the revolution; the Sandinistas; the involvement of the United States; the literacy campaign; Ben Linder; and the Honduran connection.


Of Secret Wars and Roses / De las guerras secretas y las rosas (1990, 64 pages)
By Dinorah Sandoval
Short story and study guide for secondary social studies, English, Spanish and advanced ESL classes.


Rediscovering America / Redescubriendo América
Edited by Gioconda Belli, et al.
A bilingual collection of short stories, essays, poetry, folktales, and songs for K-12 on conquest and resistance from Latin America and the Caribbean.


Songs for Social Justice (1992, 32 pages)
Song lyrics (some in Spanish) with annotations, teaching ideas and resource guide to help use songs in an interdisciplinary approach to history, language arts and music.


Wilfredo: A Boy from El Salvador (1991, 45 pages)
A free, downloadable bilingual book for children about the experiences of a 12-year-old boy in San Francisco who immigrated to the United States when he was 10.

 

 

Films

Equity in Early Childhood Literacy


Teaching for Change is the lead distributor for:

A Place at the Table: Struggles for Equality in America
Published by Teaching Tolerance. (2000, 48 pages).
The student textbook examines the courageous efforts of some “unsung heroes” who toppled barriers in education, voting, employment, housing, and other areas to participate more fully in democracy. The book contains stories of women and men who crossed ethnic, racial, religious, and other divides to help further the cause of justice.

 

Scarves of Many Colors: Muslim Women and the Veil (CD and Booklet, 54 pages and 24 min.)
By Bigelow, Bill, Childs, Sandra, Diamond, Norm, Dickerson, Diana, Jan Haaken
This award-winning CD and an accompanying curriculum engage students in thinking critically about stereotypes of “covered” Islamic women. The audiotape introduces a range of U.S. and Middle Eastern women who tell stories and offer insight. The curriculum offers four classroom-tested lessons, including an excellent role play/tribunal on “Women and the Veil,” with accompanying student handouts. Ideal for Global Studies, psychology, sociology, women’s studies, world history, or teacher education. Unfortunately, this title is out of print.