In #USvsHate, teachers can teach an “anti-hate” lesson of choice (ideally, a short series of lessons). Teachers also can build anti-hate messaging into their own curriculum, or invite students to make messages after reading a great anti-bias book.
Then, you’ll invite students to create anti-hate messages in any media for their school communities and the broader public. (See Getting Started for all instructions.)
(Youth: you can also submit directly to #USvsHate on your own!)
We’ve curated lessons from a national group of partner organizations, below. Our lessons invite students to reject bigotry, celebrate diversity, pursue inclusion, build relationships, and explore how to counter deeper biases and injustices together to create schools and a society where all are valued. You can use them in clubs or classrooms.
(You don’t have to use the lessons on our website to enter our national challenges. You can build anti-hate messaging into your existing curriculum or school activities.)
We have organized #USvsHate lesson offerings into two sections below. We hope that you might go beyond a single lesson to a short series of lessons, and then, longer-term learning. (Check out Learning for Justice’s Social Justice Standards, which invite students into ongoing exploration of identity, diversity, justice and action– all key aspects of inclusive teaching in a diverse nation.)
Our two #USvsHate lesson lists follow a general #USvsHate arc.
- We refuse hateful behavior that treats any group of people as “inferior.” Bigotry, cruelty, bullying, and slurs are just not OK in school or anywhere. Instead, we celebrate diversity and learn to respect, better know, and include everyone.
- We explore ways to understand and counter the deeper biases and injustices under the hate – all the ways we have treated “types of people” as less-than in our society, or allowed folks to be so treated. (See Definitions and Concepts for more.)
- We envision the type of school and society we do want, where everyone is supported, included, and valued.
#USvsHate lessons invite students to include all in ”us” and to counter harm to any of “us.” Use #USvsHate as an onramp to address the issues your students and school need you to address.
Refusing “hate” lays the groundwork for long-term work embracing inclusion and justice for all.
1) Lessons for Building an Inclusive School Community
These lessons help build inclusive relationships, start to challenge stereotypes, and explore overarching issues of empathy, bias, bullying, and ally behavior. Start here, especially if the people in your group don’t know each other well. You can also always get students going with a great anti-bias book!
A student-requested section, Saying No to Words That Hurt, will help give students the chance to discuss recent experiences with bigotry, exclusion, or disrespect, and to envision schools and a society where these do not happen.
2) Lessons on Countering Specific Forms of Hate, Bias, and Injustice
These lessons build a stronger foundation to explore and counter specific forms of hate, bias, and injustice needing attention in specific communities and the nation, and to envision schools and a society where all are supported instead. You can also always go deeper with a great anti-bias book!
Choose lessons to fit your school’s needs, your curriculum, your preparation, and your student relationships. Incorporate these lessons into your deeper ongoing exploration of texts and ideas. Treat this as one step on a longer learning journey equipping yourself and your students on the issues raised.
We have lots of PD resources to help you get ready, too. See Definitions and Concepts for background information on “hate” and “anti-hate.” See Tools for Productive Anti-Hate Dialogues and our quick #USvsHate Dialogue strategies to prepare for conversations, including setting norms.
#USvsHate lays the foundation for long-term inquiry and action embracing inclusion and justice for all. Join the #Schooltalking Facebook community for ongoing support, and follow the partner organizations below.
ABOUT OUR LESSONS
We asked a national group of participating organizations to share one or more “top” lessons designed to spark a classroom dialogue refusing hate and pursuing inclusion and justice in our diverse society. These include Learning for Justice, Facing History and Ourselves, the Anti-Defamation League, the Bully Project, the Human Rights Campaign’s Welcoming Schools, the American Federation of Teachers, including the AFT’s “Share My Lesson,” Zinn Education Project/Rethinking Schools, Teaching for Change, the National Education Association, the National Association for Multicultural Education, GLSEN, the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, Not In Our Town/Not In Our School, the New York Times Learning Network, and Woven Teaching, as well as #Schooltalking, the first supporter of the #USvsHate project.
The Conscious Kid is our partner in selecting great anti-bias books!
Learn more with our contributing organizations via ongoing resources and trainings.