Social Studies,
When Associate Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement from the Supreme Court, President Joe Biden nominated Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson, the first Black female, to fill the pending vacancy. The Senate hearings, Court history of all White men until the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall and all male until the confirmation of Sandra Day O’Connor, Court influence on society and recusal option provide lessons, resources and activities.
Star athletes and students in our classrooms experience the connection between physical health and mental health within the context of high performance expectations; transgender rights of students to use the bathroom of their gender identity and to participate in sports teams; and quandaries about learning, isolation from friends and covid-19 restrictions.
Three stories of summer 2021 — creation of a federal holiday, commemoration of a city’s race massacre and a cheerleader’s Supreme Court case — provide case studies of race relations, a nation’s values and rights of students outside of the school campus.
From Abigail Adams to Febb Burn women asked men to remember the ladies in their legislative endeavors. Along the difficult journey to their enfranchisement, women took their pursuit into their own hands — they organized, petitioned and protested in front of the White House; they marched, they sang, and were arrested. They voted and ran for office. We focus on the 19th Amendment, women in the Supreme Court and a 2020 Election Toolkit.
There is always change, but 2020 was a year of extraordinary changes — global deaths due to a pandemic, marches for racial equality and justice, name changes of schools and teams, a woman of Indian and Jamaican heritage on the Democratic ticket, NASA’s return to space shuttles — and mundane curtailments that influenced culture. Students read, discuss and debate, and write about these changes and those who made a difference.
Clean rivers require awareness of what our actions can do to them. They may be polluted by carelessness or intent. They may be monitored by volunteers — citizen scientists, revived, used and enjoyed. Government, businesses, communities and individuals all have roles.
With lesson suggestions, discussion questions and research prompts learn about cocoa and chocolate for possible health benefit, the cause of deforestation and cocoa farmers’ continued use of child labor.
Winning or losing season, varsity or JV, mens or womens, all sports teams should be covered by the school media. The Washington Post provides models for writers, editors and photographers and the Society of Professional Journalists guides with a code of ethics.
The initiation of impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump requires understanding the U.S. Constitution (Articles I and II) and the history of impeachment, the Whistleblower Protection Act, Ukraine and its new president — and many points of view.
After the FBI announced charges against 50 people in a college admissions scam, we take a closer look at college admissions (legacy, development, regular applicants), admissions essays (approaches to writing with authentic voices) and the effect of wealth on society and on determined parents (bribes, payments, sabotage), their children and other college applicants.
