Timely resources to help K-12 educators encourage social responsibility and foster social & emotional learning. Find out more.
TeachableMoment Lessons
Featured Lessons
In honor of Teacher Appreciation week, Morningside Center offers this Circle-based lesson as an invitation for students and Circle keepers to reflect on the impactful teachers and “teachers” in their lives; what lessons were learned; and ways they’ve passed this learning forward.
Spring is a natural time for transformation, for embracing new beginnings while shedding those attitudes or mindsets that no longer serve us. It’s also an ideal time to consider the changes in our lives and their impact. In this lesson students reflect on change, grief, and loss through a scrawl wall, a circle, and building a collective playlist.
In this lesson students examine New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration speech to learn what a speech can reveal about a leader’s values, priorities and vision for democracy—and how a speech can shape how people see themselves and others in a community.
SEL & RP
Activities to support students' social and emotional learning and restorative practices
Current Issues
Classroom activities to engage students in learning about and discussing issues in the news
Tips & Ideas
Guidance and inspiration to help build skills and community in your classroom and school
Filter TeachableMoment Lessons By:
Most Americans are "energy illiterate." These lessons for high school students promote energy literacy, especially about oil. We begin with a student energy quiz, followed by three
The new president-elect faces many challenges. Two student readings outline the economic crisis and Obama's prescriptions for addressing it. Discussion questions follow.
Four brief readings and suggestions for engaging students on why we have nuclear weapons and what to do about them.
3 lessons to help students learn about and debate the history of nuclear weapons policy, up to the Bush administration.
Three brief student readings (with suggestions for discussion) focus on the use of unnamed and potentially unreliable sources and journalists' need to protect sources.
Most Americans get their news from sources owned by profit-driven media conglomerates. Three student readings (with discussion questions) examine the impact of the bottom line on
Original quotes and discussion questions to open a class exploration of media issues.
This DBQ exercise can help students practice for standardized tests such as the New York State Regents Exam. To prepare students for the exercise, consider conducting the "Nuclear
Two student readings review the history of FISA and new legislation that allows continued warrantless surveillance of Americans.
Filter TeachableMoment Lessons By:
Students read and reflect on a poem and on their experiences over the past year, and consider things they've learned or goals they want to set for the coming year.
In this brief activity, students take a quick quiz on voter access, then discuss the debate over this issue, including Hillary Clinton's recent proposal to make voter registration
In this brief activity, students learn about recent controversies surrounding the Confederate flag, discuss opposing views of the flag, and consider the range of opinion among
An investigative report by the New York Times uncovered the deplorable and frequently illegal conditions faced by employees at nail salons. This lesson has students consider
Through a quiz and brief discussion, students consider Tsarnaev's death sentence and growing opposition to capital punishment.
Chicago decided on May 6, 2015, to provide reparations for its history of brutal police abuse, after decades of organizing by activists. This brief classroom activity uses two