Current Issues
Classroom activities to engage students in learning about and discussing issues in the news
TeachableMoment
October 25, 2018
Opening
Ask students: “Do you know what will happen on November 6, 2018?”
Elicit or explain that even though there is no presidential election this year, the midterm elections will allow…
TeachableMoment
October 21, 2018
To the Teacher:
Consider combining this lesson with our concurrent lesson about the lawsuit young people have brought against the government: Young People's Suit Over Climate Disruption Comes to…
TeachableMoment
October 20, 2018
To the Teacher
Is there anything that young people can do to take on the urgent challenge of climate change? Twenty-one youth activists from around the country believe there is, and they have…
TeachableMoment
October 18, 2018
Note to teacher:
This lesson places arguments from President Trump alongside arguments from immigration advocates, and asks students to analyze the reasoning of both sides. The lesson can…
TeachableMoment
October 14, 2018
To the Teacher:
2018 is the 50th anniversary of a landmark protest at the Miss America beauty pageant. The protest was part of a new period of feminist activism—one with renewed significance in…
TeachableMoment
October 11, 2018
Objective:
Students will be able to communicate their views about a political issue in a letter to the editor.
Note to the teacher:
Before teaching this lesson, identify a local paper…
TeachableMoment
October 2, 2018
To the Teacher
Last year, shortly after #MeToo spread as a hashtag and shorthand, a companion phrase also emerged: “Believe women.”
In other words, believe women when…
TeachableMoment
September 30, 2018
The charges made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and others have embroiled our country in a public conversation on issues including power, privilege, bias…
TeachableMoment
September 17, 2018
To the Teacher:
Since taking office, President Donald Trump and his associates have been the subject of a Department of Justice investigation that has touched on the violation of campaign finance…
TeachableMoment
September 15, 2018
From August 21 to September 9, 2018, prisoners in at least thirty prisons across 16 states engaged in strike actions. The actions ranged from hunger strikes to labor strikes and were initiated in…