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
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Marieke van Woerkom's activity helps younger students consider how Haitians are faring now that the news media has largely moved on.
Students analyze new evidence of growing wealth disparity based on race and ethnicity and overall U.S. economic inequality. Then they consider what they and others might do to
The important and often controversial historian and social movement activist Howard Zinn died on January 27. A student reading about the man and his ideas is followed by discussion
A student quiz, reading and discussion explore the court's role in interpreting the Constitution and its recent decision to lift limits on corporate & union election ad spending.
Help your students learn about the earthquake and Haiti's history, and brainstorm about how they can help Haitians now and in the long run.
Students learn about the earthquake and Haiti's history, and brainstorm about how they can help Haitians now and in the long run.
Through engaging activities, video, and small-group discussion, students consider the Montgomery Bus Boycott and how they might stand up against injustice in their own lives.
Two student readings explore the controversy over the use of remotely-piloted aircraft to drop bombs in the Afghanistan/Pakistan war. Discussion questions, a fish bowl activity and
A classroom activity has students simulate a US Senate filibuster. Two student readings then explore the Senate's less-than-democratic 60-vote rule and possible methods for
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Labor Day isn't just a holiday, it's a teachable moment. In this lesson, students learn about the history of Labor Day and some of the labor movement’s past accomplishments, then
Students explore the mainstream media's portrayal of Michael Brown (an unarmed teenager who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, MO) and the conversation it has
Students discuss the police killing of Michael Brown, 18, in Ferguson, MO, and consider the racial and economic backdrop to the killing and the protests that have followed.
Would free higher education be possible in America? How did people in other parts of the world win and defend their right to affordable higher education? In this lesson, students
While homelessness has declined over the past three years, it's still a serious problem, especially for young adults. In two readings and discussion, students consider this problem
In two readings and a media analysis exercise, students examine the campaign to change the Washington Redskins’ name and to end the use of stereotypical depictions of Native