Imagine preserving the voices and stories of an entire generation over a single holiday weekend. For the second year in a row, Facing History and Ourselves is partnering with StoryCorps for The Great Thanksgiving Listen to accomplish just that. You can preserve history with us by uploading your own interview with an elder this year, and empowering your students to do the same, by using the free StoryCorps app. Visit thegreatlisten.org for more details about the project and to download the TGTL 2016 Teacher Toolkit.

Topics: Student Voices, Memory, Identity, History, Community, David Isay, StoryCorps

As revealed in Teaching Tolerance’s report last spring, teachers are encountering a variety of challenges this election season ranging from bullying and fear among immigrant and Muslim students, to uncivil discourse and behavior in schools, classrooms, and the playground.

In the midst of a divisive presidential election, how can educators create classrooms where students learn to exchange ideas, listen respectfully to different opinions and experiences, try out ideas and positions, and give – and get—constructive feedback without fear or intimidation?

Topics: Teaching Strategies, Facing Ferguson, difficult conversations, civil discourse

We couldn’t believe it ourselves: Over 4,000 students entered our 2016 Facing History Together Student Essay Contest!

Topics: To Kill a Mockingbird, Contests, Student Voices

In small ways, each day, Facing History and Ourselves is fostering positive changes in our world, with lessons that show students their choices have consequences. We call it choosing to participate. By exploring individuals’ choices in history, our students discover that mass violence, bigotry, and prejudice are not inevitable. Understanding their power in their own lives, they discover the power to act on behalf of others, in ways large and small.

Topics: Classrooms, Students, Facing History and Ourselves, Giving Tuesday

Students leave a Facing History classroom inspired by history—not paralyzed by it. They are inspired to learn more, to empathize, to speak up, and to advocate for change. 

In partnership with The BULLY Project and other like-minded organizations, we are working with two Facing History alumnae whose study of history and the impact of choices people made have inspired them to petition the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam Webster Dictionary to add the word upstander. 

Topics: Classrooms, Bullying and Ostracism, Students, Bullying, The BULLY Project

We are excited to welcome American photojournalist and MacArthur Genius Grant Winner, Lynsey Addario, who will be headlining our upcoming Community Conversation in Chicago on Thursday, November 12, presented in partnership with The Allstate Foundation.

The author of a New York Times best-selling memoir It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War, Addario uses her work as a photographer to record images of people and societies in conflict around the globe.

Topics: Photography, Community Conversations, Lynsey Addario, Journalism, The Allstate Foundation

What do Facing History and Ourselves classrooms really accomplish? Where do our students go after graduation? And how does our approach actually change their lives? We find one answer in the story of a Dominican teenager who immigrated to New York City less than a decade ago. Luis Santos—like so many youth today—fled violent rioting in the streets of the Dominican Republic after it took the life of one of his best friends. Santos found himself attending the Facing History School in Hell's Kitchen, NYC.

Topics: Students, New York, Teaching, Facing History and Ourselves, Teachers, Bryan Stevenson

October is Bullying Prevention Month in the U.S. Add your voice to The BULLY Project’s latest collective effort to raise awareness by sharing art and stories.

One of the hardest things about bullying, said filmmaker Lee Hirsch, is communicating about it. Lee, the founder of the The BULLY Project, which has sparked broad conversations about the bullying epidemic, has been working to build bullying prevention into a grassroots movement. His award-winning 2011 documentary, Bully, has the tagline: “When we come together, we can do anything.”

Topics: Classrooms, Bullying and Ostracism, Students, Bullying, Lesson Plans, The BULLY Project

“Aligning to the Common Core does not mean ignoring what we’re passionate about...The key is to do both: challenge our students to develop their literacy skills while examining difficult histories and issues of social justice.”

Topics: Common Core, Common Core State Standards, Webinars, Literacy Design Collaborative

Imagine preserving the voices and stories of an entire generation over a single holiday weekend. That’s our hope, as Facing History and Ourselves partners with StoryCorps for the 2015 Great Thanksgiving Listen. We will work with high school teachers across the country, whose students will interview a grandparent or elder over the 2015 Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and record their story with the StoryCorps mobile app.

Ahead of the Great Thanksgiving Listen, we sat down with Dave Isay, the founder of StoryCorps and winner of a 2015 $1 million TED Prize. Isay made public radio documentaries for nearly two decades before starting StoryCorps 12 years ago. (The interview has been slightly condensed.)

Topics: Student Voices, Memory, Identity, History, Community, David Isay, StoryCorps