A Better Way to Teach the Civil Rights Movement

This institute has completely transformed how I think about the Civil Rights Movement and ultimately how I am going to teach it in the classroom. I have received so many resources to use for teaching this hard history. I am a part of the movement that will change the way history is being taught and […]

Challenge Islamophobia Project Introduces Lessons from Baltimore to San Francisco

Alison Kysia, project director of “Islamophobia: A people’s history teaching guide,” was invited to present at Morgan State University’s Faculty Institute in Baltimore, MD on August 9, 2018. She shared the interactive lesson on “Black Muslims in the United States: An Introductory Activity” with 175 educators and discussed ways that participatory pedagogies like the meet-and-greet […]

Highlights from Year One of D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice

On our one year anniversary, we share highlights from our accomplishments. In the spring of 2017, Teaching for Change contacted social justice educator networks from around the country to collect ideas about what they did and how they were organized. We then held focus groups to explore those ideas and shape the vision for the […]

Louise Derman-Sparks Responds to Scholastic

Many years ago, as the author of Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children, I was invited to serve on an advisory board for Scholastic to help them produce books for young children that accurately and respectfully depicted the many forms of diversity in our country. With the publication of President Donald Trump, Scholastic is […]

Despite National Outrage, Scholastic Defends Children’s Books Celebrating Trump

Earlier this month we published critical reviews of the Scholastic books for early and upper elementary students about the election of President Trump. Both books present Trump’s life and the election in a celebratory tone, as summarized by this poem in the book for first and second grade. More than 1,000 educators, parents, librarians, and […]

Teaching for Change Summer 2018 Interns Blog

This blog is being maintained by Kathy Nganga and Sarah Cornelius to document the work and insights of the 2018 summer interns. Week One (June 4 – 8) Monday, June 4th, and Tuesday, June 5th: Reorganizing the Resource Center Monday, was our first day of work! We walked to work together on Monday morning and […]

Scholastic Tells Children: Trump is Great

Review by Kathleen Nganga and Sarah Cornelius “His buildings reached into the sky. His businesses just grew and grew. Then Trump became our president– People wanted something new.” This optimistic poem, which reads like promotional campaign material targeted at children, comes from Scholastic’s Rookie Biography series. President Donald Trump by Joanne Mattern (2017) claims to offer young […]

Timothy Jenkins Honors Chuck McDew with Donation to Civil Rights Teaching Book

With the current threats to voting rights and democracy, understanding the bottom up history of the Civil Rights Movement has never been so urgent and relevant. To encourage the teaching of grassroots organizing during the Civil Rights Movement – lessons that can inform student activism today – we want to publish a new print edition […]

Challenging Islamophobia Project Director to Present at Two Upcoming Conferences

Alison Kysia, project director of Teaching for Change’s “Islamophobia: A people’s history teaching guide,” will be presenting at two upcoming conferences. She will present “Black Muslims in the United States: An Introductory Activity” from 1:45-3:15pm on Saturday, May 5 at the 9th Annual Teacher Action Group (TAG) Education for Liberation Conference in Philadelphia, PA. The conference, […]

Reconstruction Teach-In at Howard University

Reconstruction, the era immediately following the Civil War and emancipation, is full of stories that help us see the possibility of a future defined by racial equity. Yet the possibilities and achievements of this era are too often overshadowed by the violent white supremacist backlash. Today — in a moment where activists are struggling to […]