Teaching Materials Archive

People’s History of Abortion Care in the United States

Article. By Wesley Hogan. 2024.
A collection of primary sources to illustrate the history of abortion care in the United States.

Five Films for Teaching the Rebellions of the 1960s

Article. By greg wickenkamp. 2024.
A description of the top five films for teaching about the uprisings of the 1960s, plus a handful of honorable mentions.

The Overthrow of Democracy in Chile — A Timeline

Article. Timeline by Bill Bigelow. 2023.
A timeline of the overthrow of democracy in Chile — the fall of Salvador Allende and the rise of Augusto Pinochet.

Expanding Intersectional Queer History in the Elementary Grades

Article. By Laura Shelton. Rethinking Schools. 2022.
A 5th- and 6th-grade teacher asks her students to wrestle with what “identity” and “intersectionality” mean.

The Day of Silence: Queer Kids, Conservative Kids, and the Silences Within and Between Them

Article. By Anna McMaken-Marsh. Rethinking Schools. 2022.
A high school teacher navigates the tensions that arise in conversations with students about the Day of Silence, and how to bridge divides.

The Climate Crisis Has a History. Teach It.

Article. By Mimi Eisen and Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 2023.
A rationale for a new timeline of the climate crisis.

drawing of a protester being erased from a chalkboard.

The Attack on Anti-Racist Teaching Attacks Environmental Justice Teaching

The right-wing legislation restricting lessons on history and systemic racism also denies students climate literacy.

Erasing the Black Freedom Struggle: How State Standards Fail to Teach the Truth About Reconstruction

Article. By Ana Rosado, Gideon Cohn-Postar, and Mimi Eisen. 2022. 44 pages.
The report includes assessments of education standards in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, along with findings and recommendations for how to improve instruction on Reconstruction.

Discussion Questions for “A People’s History of the United States”

Questions and selected activities to accompany A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn.

Textbook Myths About President Woodrow Wilson

Article. By James W. Loewen.
Excerpt about President Woodrow Wilson from "Lies My Teacher Told Me" (The New Press).

Two Thumbs Up: Movies and Documentaries to Use (and Avoid) When Teaching Civil Rights

Article from "Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement" edited by Hasan Kwame Jeffries.
A critical review of films on the Civil Rights Movement and institutionalized racism, with dozens of recommendations of films to watch and those to avoid.

Rosa Parks Highlander School | Zinn Education Project

Resources for Teaching Outside the Textbook About Rosa Parks

Lessons, books, digital collections, films, key people, events, and more for teaching about Rosa Parks beyond the textbook.

How History Got the Rosa Parks Story Wrong

Article. By Jeanne Theoharis. The Washington Post. 2015.
The radical life history of Rosa Parks, before and after the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Teach Voting Rights

Voting rights toolkit for students.

Gaby Lemieux testifying before the school board.

Teachers vs. Climate Change: The Story of Teachers’ Work for Climate Justice in Portland, Oregon

Article. By Bill Bigelow.
The story of how teachers, parents, and students in Portland, Oregon organized to demand that climate change be taught honestly and to pass a climate justice resolution.

On September 20th, If Our Students are Not in the Streets, Let’s Bring the Streets to Our Students

Article. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. Rethinking Schools Blog, September 2019.
A call to action for teachers to join students, whether in the streets or in classrooms, by using their voices for climate justice.

Because Our Islands Are Our Life

Article. By Moé Yonamine. Rethinking Schools, Summer, 2019.
A high school ethnic studies teacher describes how students in the Pacific Island Club used poetry to refocus the narrative surrounding climate justice onto frontline communities.

The Green New Deal and Our Schools

Article. By the Rethinking Schools Editorial Board. Rethinking Schools, Summer 2019.
The Green New Deal will only be brought to life by people who grasp the enormity of the crisis that humanity faces and the radical changes necessary to address it. This requires that we teach a climate justice curriculum.