Current Issues
Classroom activities to engage students in learning about and discussing issues in the news
Hillary Clinton stands on the brink of becoming the country's first female president. In the lesson, students learn about women who have run for president in the past and consider the significance of having a woman as president of the United States.
In this brief Teachable Instant activity, students learn about ways that people in the U.S. and around the world have stood up to anti-Muslim bias.
This listening circle on the tragic shooting in Orlando on June 12, 2016, gives young people a chance to share what they are thinking and feeling, encouraging mutual understanding and support.
In this brief Teachable Instant classroom activity, students find out about the Libertarian Party candidates on the 2016 presidential ballot, and discuss where libertarians stand on the issues.
Can you imagine your public school being renamed "Coca-Cola High"? This lesson has students think critically about the trend toward corporate branding of public spaces and consider the significance of "public space" in a democratic society.
A student at Dartmouth College touched off a successful national campaign to get the Library of Congress to stop using the term "illegal aliens" to refer to undocumented immigrants. Now a Congressional committee is challenging the move.
In this lesson, students learn about the controversy over new federal guidelines aimed at ensuring that "transgender students enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment." Students explore their own responses to it, and discuss how they can make their school welcoming to transgender...
A major strike by workers at Verizon offers a teachable moment: Why do people join unions? Why do they strike? And why are they now striking Verizon?
The demand for reparations surfaced during the 2016 presidential election, creating a teachable moment on this long-debated issue. In this activity, students learn some background on the demand for reparations and join in the ongoing discussion about it.
Presidential candidate Ted Cruz's plans to speak at a Bronx high school were scrapped after students there wrote a letter to their principal describing how Cruz's views were "actively working to harm us, our community, and the people we love." In this brief activity, students learn about this...