Teaching About Race, Bias, and Social Justice
Teaching About Race, Bias, and Social Justice
Teaching About Race, Bias, and Social Justice
Strengthen your awareness by discussing race and bias. Starting these critical conversations will lead to lasting change in our schools, communities and nation.
These resources allow us to appreciate and empathize the differences we see in others and to stand for equity in our classrooms, homes, and communities.
Resources for Teaching about Race, Bias, and Social Justice
Anti-Bias Resources
5 Keys to Challenging Implicit Bias - Challenge implicit biases by identifying your own, teaching colleagues about them, observing gap-closing teachers, stopping "tone policing," and tuning into such biases at your school.
Anti Bias | NAEYC - Anti-bias education work in early childhood is shaped by a deep-seated belief in the importance of justice, the dream of each child being able to achieve all he or she is capable of, the knowledge that together human beings can make a difference. Listen to the voices of children who have experienced anti-bias education at school or at home. They give us hope and direction.
Anti-bias Curriculum Guides | ADL - Use ADL’s elementary, middle and high school curriculum guides to promote safe, respectful and inclusive classroom environments.
Anti-bias and Anti-Racism Resources for Teachers | The Cornerstone for Teachers - An accessible, non-overwhelming list. It’s a starting place rather than a comprehensive, all-encompassing collection.
Anti-Bias Education - Teaching for Change - Anti-bias curriculum is an approach to early childhood education that sets forth values-based principles and methodology in support of respecting and embracing differences and acting against bias and unfairness. Anti-bias teaching requires critical thinking and problem-solving by both children and adults. The overarching goal is creating a climate of positive self and group identity development, through which every child will achieve her or his fullest potential
Anti-Bias Tools and Tips for Educators | ADL - Tools, tips and resources assist educators and school administrators in bringing the concepts and knowledge of anti-bias education to school communities.
Anti-bias Toolkit - UnboundEd - Change starts with education -- here's a free toolkit for facilitated conversations about race, bias and prejudice so we can listen, lead and teach towards equity.
Breaking Bias: Lessons from the Amistad Curriculum - New Jersey State Bar Foundation - six-unit curriculum specifically focuses on how African Americans have not only been victims but agents of their own change throughout history, how racial oppression has transformed over time in the U.S. and what our responsibilities are, both individually and collectively, to respond to racism.
Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education (PDF) - This critical practices guide offers practical strategies for creating a space where academic and social-emotional goals are accomplished side by side. It also provides valuable advice for implementing culturally responsive pedagogy and describes how teachers can bring anti-bias values to life in their practice.
Do Something | Learning for Justice - Do Something performance tasks ask students to demonstrate their anti-bias awareness and civic competency by applying their literacy and social justice knowledge in an authentic real-world context.
Early Childhood Anti-Bias Education Booklists - Social Justice Books - Recommended books for young children, teachers, and parents for each chapter as well as additional resources on anti-bias themes and topics.
Five Anti-Bias Education Strategies for Early Childhood Classrooms | PBS SoCal - Here are a few strategies and resources that can help you begin anti-bias education, or go deeper into it, in your classroom by incorporating messages of affirmation, fairness and empowerment into all aspects of learning.
Understanding Anti-Bias Education: Bringing the Four Core Goals to Every Facet of Your Curriculum | NAEYC - Anti-bias education works as an underpinning perspective, which permeates everything that happens in an early childhood program—including your interactions with children, families and coworkers—and shapes how you put curriculum together each day.
Unconscious Bias Training - When considering strategies to address unconscious bias one must consider individual and institutional strategies.
Anti-Racism Information & Resources
9 Resources for Teaching Anti-Racism | ISTE - These resources offer a deep well of free materials for educators and parents to address racism, inequity and bias and strategies for offsetting the devastating effects of racism on young people.
Addressing Anti-Asian Racism with Students | Learning Together - A question and answer with Liz Kleinrock, an anti-bias educator and explore a TED talk by Liz about "How to Teach Kids to Talk about Taboo Topics."
Anti-Racism and Anti-Bias Resources | Second Step - These resources will help you implement social-emotional learning (SEL) in a way that builds on students’ cultural assets, critically examines systems of power, and develops better ways of teaching, learning, and being. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) calls this transformative SEL.
Anti Racist Teaching & Learning Collective (ARTLC) - a community of youth organizers, students, teachers, and teacher educators committed to advancing anti-racist pedagogy, curriculum and practice within K-12 public schools.
Being Antiracist | National Museum of African American History and Culture - To create an equal society, we must commit to making unbiased choices and being antiracist in all aspects of our lives.
EmbraceRace | Resources - Supports parents, guardians, educators, and other caregivers working to raise children who are thoughtful, informed and brave about race so that U.S. multiracial democracy can thrive.
A Guide to Equity and Antiracism for Educators | Edutopia - Teachers shaken by recent events and wondering how to work for change in our society and schools can start with these lesson plans, videos, and other resources.
Immigrant History Initiative - Immigrant History Initiative works with families, schools, and organizations to share this knowledge and design thoughtful, anti-racist programs and workshops for people from all walks of life. We also develop curricula, train educators, and create free educational resources.
The Institute for Anti-Racist Education - Centering education as a catalyst for social transformation.
Resources to Support Anti-Racist Learning - Readings, texts, and organizations that support anti-racist teaching.
Teachers Must Hold Themselves Accountable for Dismantling Racial Oppression - We must teach like our lives depend on it, because for some of us, it does!
Teaching with an Anti-Racist Lens | NEA - Educators are committed to helping students build a better future for everyone.
Tools for Anti-Racist Teaching | PBS - In this eight-part Tools for Anti-Racist Teaching series in which we’ll investigate the ways in which racism, mental health, history, and education intersect. Discover tools to deepen your understanding, turn knowledge into action, and create immediate, positive change in the fight against anti-Black racism in education
What Anti-racism Really Means for Educators | Learning for Justice - As anti-racism becomes a popular goal for schools across the nation, this TT advisory board member considers what it really means to be an anti-racist educator.Information & Resources about Race and Racial Justice
The 1619 Project Curriculum - The 1619 Project, inaugurated with a special issue of The New York Times Magazine, challenges us to reframe U.S. history by marking the year when the first enslaved Africans arrived on Virginia soil as our nation's foundational date. Here you will find reading guides, activities, and other resources to bring The 1619 Project into your classroom.
Addressing Race and Racism Head-On in the Classroom | Edutopia - From featuring stories of resistance to making sure kids see themselves represented in the classroom, a few things to keep in mind when teaching American history.
Are You Prepared to Talk About Race? | Teaching Channel - It will be difficult and emotional and uncomfortable. As smart, caring, and thoughtful professionals, it’s our responsibility to educate ourselves, to listen more than we speak, and to work to build a culture of honesty, trust, equity, and critical thinking in our classrooms in the hope that our students will carry the same into the world.
Center for Racial Justice in Education – Dismantling racism. Transforming communities. - Trains and empower educators to dismantle patterns of racism and injustice in our schools and communities.
Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners - Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.
EmbraceRace | Home - There is a growing body of research and evidence that makes clear that children’s racial sensibilities begin to form in infancy, that almost all children develop racial and other biases by kindergarten, and that those biases become fairly entrenched by adolescence. Embrace Race was founded in early 2016 to create the community and gather the resources needed to meet the challenges faced by those raising children in a world where race matters.
How to Speak to Children about Race: A Playlist | Wide Open Schools - Collection of videos to help parents and educators guide the conversation about race and racism.
How to Talk to Kids about Race and Racism | Today - There’s no “one way” to dive into this topic. But, there are better ways to go about it. Above all, it’s a conversation all parents need to have, no matter your background or experience. Here’s how experts suggest getting started.
Lesson Plans and Tool Kits | Safe At School - Help facilitate discussions about identity, inequality, and education for children of color. Six interactive graphs demonstrate the disparities black and brown children face in the world around them. Also acknowledges the uncertainty some teachers may face when trying to address race in the classroom and highlights four key things teachers should do when beginning this important conversation.
Let’s Talk: Discussing Race, Racism and Other Difficult Topics with Students | Teaching Tolerance - Educators play a crucial role in helping students talk openly about the historical roots and contemporary manifestations of social inequality and discrimination. Use the strategies in this resource as you prepare to facilitate difficult conversations about race and racism, and to build competency when discussing other types of discrimination, such as gender bias, ableism, and religious or anti-LGBT persecution.
PBS KIDS Talk About: Race and Racism - In the PBS KIDS Talk About: Race & Racism special, PBS KIDS spoke with real families and had conversations about racial identity, anti-Black racism, and how it is incumbent on all of us — children and parents alike — to actively work towards building a more equitable society.
Resources on Teaching Kids about Race and Racism | RaceForward.org - Collection of resources being used by educators who wish to supplement their social justice and racial equity lesson plans.
Resource Roundup: Leading for Concrete Change | Teaching Channel - A collected and curated list of readings, resources, and tools created by the Teaching Channel.
Resources to Empower Students with Hard History | Teaching Channel - As we strive for a more just and equitable future, it is crucial to teach this history in schools.
Talking About Racism and Violence with Students: Resources for Educators | Colorin Colorado - Resources to help promote deeper understanding around the issues of racism and violence and contribute to discussion of these topics during this difficult time, even at a distance.
Teaching Tolerance | Diversity, Equity And Justice - These resources can help spur much needed discussions about implicit bias and systematic racism and help empower your students to enact the changes that will create a more just society.
YouTube Kids: Togetherness - For PreK- Everyone can use their voice to make a difference and talking about race and discrimination at a young age is critical to establishing lasting change. Create an account and log in for videos and discussion questions.
YouTube Kids: Understanding Each Other - 5 years and older - Everyone can use their voice to make a difference and talking about race and discrimination at a young age is critical to establishing lasting change. Create an account and log in for videos and discussion questions.
Teaching about Current Events & Multiple Perspectives of History
6 Resources for Teaching Current Events | Facing History & Ourselves - Explore classroom resources to help you prepare to teach about current events.
Examining Multiple Historical Perspectives Through Primary Sources | Historical Society of PA - Introduces strategies that can be used to prepare students to interact with primary sources when exploring historical perspectives on a certain time period or historical event.
How to Broaden Middle and High School Students’ Sense of History | Edutopia - By incorporating diverse voices not found in some textbooks, teachers can provide a fuller, more accurate picture of historical events.
How We Go Home: Voices from Indigenous North America Curriculum | @voiceofwitness - How We Go Home: Voices from Indigenous North America shares contemporary first-person stories in the long and ongoing fight to protect Native land, rights, and life. These twelve oral histories shaped by injustice and resilience provide a nuanced, empathy-based understanding of the issues facing Indigenous communities.
Multiple Perspectives NCSS presentation - Teaching what really happened: How to avoid the tyranny of textbooks and get students excited about doing history.
Multiperspectivity: What Is It, and Why Use It? | TeachingHistory.org - Explore the question - What is multiperspectivity in history?
Playing with Perspective | Facing History & Ourselves - Students reflect on the concept of perspective and consider the importance and limitations of our ability to see things from another’s perspective.
Teaching with Current Events in Your Classroom | Facing History - Resources to engage students in thoughtful conversations to address current issues, build critical thinking skills, develop engagement and foster civil discourse and reflection.
Teaching Current Events: Educator Guide | Facing History - Engaging with current events is an essential part of educating young people to be informed and humane participants in society, helping them develop the capacity to examine issues from multiple perspectives and think critically about the world around them. This guide offers tools and strategies to help teachers organize discussions on current events in their classrooms.
Untold History - Stories you won’t learn about in a textbook. New videos released every week. Developed in partnership with The New York Historical Society, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, iCivics, White House Historical Association and American Battlefield Trust.
Zinn Education Project - Promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history, introducing students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of history than what is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. Offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and reading level.Culturally Responsive Information & Resources
1000blackgirlbooks - Marley Dias - Representation matters! After noticing that very few of the books available to her and her peers featured Black female protagonists, elementary student Marley Dias decided to solve a problem. Since its inception in 2015, Marley’s goal to collect 1,000 books with Black girls as the main characters has surpassed itself. The collection now contains over 13,000 books.
Cultural Diversity Toolkit for Early Childhood Educators | Brookes Inclusion Lab - A collection of online resources that will help you teach young dual language learners effectively and support their success.
Cultural and Linguistic Differences: What Teachers Should Know | IRIS Center - Examines the ways in which culture influences the daily interactions that occur across all classrooms and provides practice for enhancing culturally responsive teaching.
Culturally Relevant Education: Course Enhancement Module | CEEDAR - The purpose of this course enhancement module (CEM) is to provide foundational knowledge related to culturally relevant education, including common terms, examples in selected content areas, and information about managing the classroom and individual behaviors. It is designed to be used flexibly for pre- and in-service teacher and leadership professional learning.
Culturally Responsive Education Hub - CRE Hub provides the history, tools, and resources to contextualize and build the movement for culturally responsive education and ethnic studies.
Culturally Responsive Teaching | Edutopia - Find and share resources and explore strategies to engage students by connecting to and honoring their cultures, experiences, and backgrounds.
Culturally Responsive Teaching | International Literacy Association - For literacy teaching and learning to be culturally relevant and responsive, educators must begin by aligning curriculum and instruction with students’ backgrounds, life experiences, and cultures. The following resources offer perspectives on everything from diverse children’s and young adult literature to creating equitable student-centered classrooms.
Culturally Responsive Teaching — National Equity Project - Culturally responsive teaching incorporates and centers unique student experiences and identities, supporting educators to build learning partnerships that result in increased student engagement and ownership of learning.
Culturally Responsive Teaching in Early Childhood Education | Edutopia - Four ways to validate and affirm young students’ cultures in meaningful ways, which can boost their engagement and motivation.
Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Online Classroom - What does culturally responsive teaching in online classrooms look like? How can online instructors use principles of culturally responsive teaching to develop culturally responsive online classrooms?
Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Guide - Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is a research-based approach that makes meaningful connections between what students learn in school and their cultures, languages, and life experiences.
Diverse Book Finder: Database of Nearly 2,000 Diverse Picture Books - A go-to resource for librarians, educators, parents, book creators, and publishers who seek to create collections in which all children can see themselves -- and each other -- reflected in the picture books they read.
K12 Hub: Culturally Responsive Teaching | Teaching Channel - Free resources and insights for educators.
NJDOE Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Educational Resources - Provides a wide range of resources that can be used to develop curricula, facilitate professional learning and engage community stakeholders in conversations on incorporating diversity and inclusion throughout the kindergarten through twelfth grade learning environment.
Resources for the classroom - Let's Fight Racism! | UN.org - There are many ways of making the classroom a place of acceptance and of multiracial celebration.
REL Blog | Valuing Student Experiences: An Introduction to Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) - As the number of students of color in the public school system continues to increase,2 how can educators make educational experiences relevant for students from diverse backgrounds? This is where culturally responsive education (CRE) comes in.
What Is Culturally Responsive Teaching? | EdWeek - Culturally responsive teaching means using students’ customs, characteristics, experiences, and perspectives as tools for better classroom instruction.
What is Culturally Responsive Teaching? | Understood.org - Culturally responsive teaching is a research-based approach to teaching. It connects students’ cultures, languages, and life experiences with what they learn in school.
Resources on Social Justice
Abolitionist Teaching Network - Supports educators who fight injustice with grants and residencies, readings, videos, a podcast, and opportunities to network with other activists. Their site is full of resources and actionable items you can participate in to support educational liberation for all students.
Critical Practices for Social Justice Education - A resource to support K-12 educators in growing their understanding of social justice principles and integrating them into their practice. This revised edition is informed by the current social and political landscape and acknowledges the ways educators have been challenged by increased political scrutiny, censorship and debate about what can be taught in schools.
Helping Students to Recognise and Respond to Social Injustice: Suggested Strategies and Resources | TESOL | International Association - We live in a time where poverty, war, oppression, injustice, and uncertainty are predominant issues in every part of the globe. Many of us, as teachers, may feel overwhelmed, and unsure of where to even begin.
How to Teach Social Justice in the Classroom | Resilient Educator - In order to foster classroom social justice, teachers must first build a safe, encouraging place where students can speak about their experiences and beliefs.
Learning for Justice - A collection of resources to spur discussions and empower students to enact the changes that will help create a more just society.
Multicultural and Social Justice Books - Social Justice Books - The best selection of multicultural and social justice books for children, YA, and educators.
Social and Cultural Literacy Resources for Classrooms | Common Sense Education - Tools to build a set of social and cultural literacies that help us navigate difficult conversations, acknowledge and challenge bias and prejudice, create inclusive classroom spaces, and fight for social justice.
Teaching for Change - Building Social Justice Starting in the Classroom - By drawing direct connections to real world issues, Teaching for Change encourages teachers and students to question and re-think the world inside and outside their classrooms, build a more equitable, multicultural society, and become active global citizens.
Teaching With Testimony - A new educational program that unlocks the powerful classroom potential of testimony. Drawing upon USC Shoah Foundation's vast library of audiovisual testimony from survivors and witnesses of genocides, Teaching with Testimony empowers students to find their voices and take action for a better future.
Teaching Young Children About Bias, Diversity, and Social Justice | Edutopia - Use young children’s understanding of differences to teach social justice through age-appropriate literature, news stories, anti-bias lessons, familiar examples, and problem solving.
Information on Social Emotional Needs & Racism
Empatico / by Builders - Welcome to Empatico’s library of online activities and games aimed at fostering empathy and understanding among students worldwide! Our journey continues as a Builders initiative to help cultivate the next generation of thoughtful problem-solvers.
Equity and SEL - Casel Schoolguide - SEL can be a lever for advancing educational equity and excellence.SEL can be a powerful lever for creating caring, just, inclusive, and healthy communities that support all individuals in reaching their fullest potential.
Racism and Violence: How to Help Kids Handle the News | ChildMind - Resources to help meet your child where they are and acknowledge their feelings, fears or worries.
Racial Justice Resources to Promote Social and Emotional Skills | ECLKC - This three part series supports early childhood staff in building young children’s social and emotional skills by talking about race and diversity. Watch these videos to learn more about celebrating identities, building community, and resolving conflicts with resources designed for young children, their families, and the staff who care for them
SEL and Racial Equity - Social Emotional Learning Curriculum for Kids - SEL teaches children the lessons they need to understand and practice racial equity. Social-emotional learning starts with bringing an end to racism and injustice. But how do we have these tough conversations with young people? Explore this list of resources, books, and activities to help adults and kids talk about race.
Social Emotional Learning and Equity | National Equity Project - The promise of social and emotional development as a lever for increasing educational equity rests on the capacity of educators to understand that all learning is social and emotional and all learning is mediated by relationships that sit in a sociopolitical, racialized context – for all children, not just those who are black and brown.
Supporting Racial Equity with Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and SEL | Committee for Children - SEL and culturally responsive teaching are mutually reinforcing. Both can help build safe and supportive learning environments. Culturally responsive teaching does this through the SEL competencies of self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship skills, and by encouraging teachers to learn about and recognize kids’ distinct backgrounds.
Trauma & Grief | ChildMind -Every kid processes emotions differently and some benefit from professional support when coping with a major life change, grief, or witnessing or experiencing violence.
Transformative SEL - CASEL - CASEL has been working with educators, families, and researchers to identify and study innovative SEL strategies that better support every students’ strengths and aspirations; deepen partnerships among families, schools, and communities; and help close long-standing gaps in educational opportunities and outcomes.
Why We Need an Anti-Racist Approach to Social and Emotional Learning - Supplying students with useful tools to aid their social and emotional needs is paramount during this time.
LRC-South Online Resources: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) refers to acquisition and application of the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand/manage emotions; set and achieve positive goals; feel and show empathy for others; and make responsible decisions.
Restorative Justice
6 Restorative Justice Practices to Implement In Your Classroom [+Real Examples] - Here are our tips to help you start implementing restorative justice practices in your classroom and school community.
Center for Restorative Justice - The Center for Restorative Justice (CRJ) at Suffolk University was founded to foster collaborative partnerships to support a growing social movement to build just and equitable communities and to institutionalize restorative approaches to problem-solving, harm and violations of legal and human rights.
Combatting Anti-Asian Racism | Harvard Graduate School of Education - Equipping educators with restorative justice techniques to upend discrimination and stereotype.
Do Restorative Practices Work? | NEA - The growing acceptance and enthusiasm for restorative justice practices comes on the heels of more than a decade of research documenting the damaging impact of exclusionary discipline.
Restorative Justice | Learning Together - A question and answer by Julia Wang, Kathy Lu, and Sarah Applebaum overviewing Restorative Justice as a tool for addressing anti-Asian racism.
Restorative Justice in Schools, Explained | EdWeek - Under a restorative justice model, any delinquency or victimization is viewed as harm done to a web of relationships in schools, and the response is healing the harm, rather than punishing the perpetrator by excluding, shunning, or stigmatizing them. There is a sense in the school community that everyone belongs and everyone is connected.
Toolkit: The Foundations of Restorative Justice | Learning for Justice- School discipline and classroom management do not have to be based in compliance. Learn more about restorative practices in this companion piece to the feature article “It Was Always About Control.”
What Is Restorative Justice in Schools? Everything Educators Need To Know | We Are Teachers - What is this alternative to traditional discipline, and does it really work?
Return to Online Resources to view LRC-South's collection of free resources for use by educators and families. Please check back often as we are regularly updating the online resources we provide.