National Endowment for the Humanities
"From Citizen, VI [On the Train the Woman Standing]," Claudia Rankine
Claudia Rankine's poem "From Citizen, VI [On the Train the Woman Standing]," asks readers to consider direct and more subtle forms of prejudice. After discussing the format of the poem, its tone, and the emotions expressed, class members...
Digital Public Library of America
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the focus of a teaching guide that introduces readers to some of the many controversies surrounding the use of the novel in classrooms. The packet includes 15 primary source excerpts and...
Simon & Schuster
Curriculum Guide to: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
An 18-page curriculum guide for Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice consists of five lessons. The first plan asks readers to compare the manners, social behaviors, and class issues in Austen's novel to today's. Next, pupils examine a...
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Three lessons based on "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales offer scholars an opportunity to examine literary satire, medieval attitudes towards women, and the form and function of a frame story.
Facing History and Ourselves
Public Art as a Form of Participation
David Binnington's mural commemorating the 1936 Battle of Cable Street is the focus of a lesson that looks at public art as a form of civic participation. After reading background material about the mural, individuals analyze a segment...
Teaching Tolerance
Spotlight on Change Agents
A thought-provoking resource guides learners as they interview agents of social change and share their findings. Scholars select an individual, create questions, conduct the interview, and create a profile of the person they selected....
Teaching Tolerance
Collage of Concerns
A picture can speak louder than words. An interesting lesson introduces the themes of social justice and diversity to young learners by having them create artwork. Scholars create collages from a variety of sources to showcase what...
Literacy Design Collaborative
Author Study: Kate Chopin
Four stories by Kate Chopin offer high schoolers an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the ways authors use various literary elements and movements to develop their themes and social commentaries.
Little Stones
How Can Poetry Make People Think and Care?
Can beautiful words change the world? Literary scholars discover how to paint their visions of change using poetry in a series of three workshops. Each independent topic gives participants a chance to examine their feelings about...
J. Paul Getty Trust
Picturing a Story: Photo Essay about a Community, Event or Issue
Picture this. Class members follow in the footsteps of W. Eugene Smith, Dorothea Lange, James Nachtwey, and Lewis Hine by creating their own photo essay about a local event or issue.
Curated OER
What Makes the Writer Write
Your 11th and 12th graders are ready to critique society! Channel that inclination by studying a novel that offers social criticism of other eras (book recommendations included). This resource presents a well-thought-out overview of such...
Curated OER
Cartoons for the Classroom: Social Commentary
Expose your class to the genre of political cartoons less concerned with serious political issues. This political cartoon analysis handout features social commentary on the many entertainments of youth, ironically paired with their...
Curated OER
Understanding Social Commentary
By learning how to identify and understand social commentary students can flex their critical thinking skills.
Curated OER
Art as Social Commentary
Students view artworks that make a statement about social conditions. They discuss the artworks, write about them and present their ideas to the class. They create socially conscious art pieces of their own.
Curated OER
Poetry as Social Commentary
Learners read poems with social commentaries. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students read poems selected by their instructors and complete the provided social commentary chart to determine how the poems speak out...
Curated OER
Performance Poetry as Social Commentary
Students explore poetry that examines social concerns. In this poetry lesson, students research poems and poets. Students present their findings to their classmates.
Curated OER
Borrowed Inspiration: Writing Social Commentary
Students read poems with social themes. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read poems selected by their instructors and complete the provided social commentary chart to determine how the poems speak out against social ills....
Curated OER
Pinckney Benedict's "The Sutton Pie Safe" from Town Smokes
Students read Pinckney Benedict's "The Sutton Pie Safe" to learn about family symbols and social commentary. For this close reading lesson, students read four journal prompts for the story and answer the listed questions for each section.
Curated OER
Mightier than the Sword
Students complete a variety of activities as they use the Washington Post Newspaper in the study of editorial cartoons, cartoonists, social commentary and freedom of speech.
British Library
British Library: Dickens's Hard Times: Industrialisation
In this activity, students will examine the working lives of those who produced goods in factories, towns, and cities and investigate the social and economic backdrop to Charles Dickens's novel "Hard Times".
Library of Congress
Loc: Cartoon America
includes political illustrations, gag cartoons, Online collection that includes comic strips, illustrations, animation, and caricature.
PBS
Pbs American Masters: Robert Rauschenberg: Reinventing Art
Studying the life and work of Robert Rauschenberg, we see a reflection of American culture. Click his name to a full biography and timeline.
Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press.
New Georgia Encyclopedia: Corra Harris (1869 1935)
The "first female war correspondent to go abroad in World War I" is the focus of this article about her life and work. The site includes a list of suggested readings.
Other
Legacy Project
The Legacy Project houses the work of artists and writers who have made twentieth-century traumas and conflicts their subject. Visitors learn how artists construct art from memories of apartheid, wars, massacres, genocides, acts of...