Facing History and Ourselves

Facing History and Ourselves combats racism and antisemitism by using history to teach tolerance in classrooms around the globe.

Recent Posts

Suffrage Matters: 7 Reads on Black Voting Rights and Activism

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves on February 11, 2022

2022 is an election year in the U.S. and a period in which teachers can help students understand the political process and significance of voting. One way to deepen our understanding of voting rights is to consider the experiences of people who have been disenfranchised over the course of our nation’s history and into the present. The Black community is one that has faced immense barriers to voting, both in the distant past and even into the present. But Black people also continue to be pioneers in the movement to ensure that all Americans are able to exercise their right to vote.

Read More

Topics: Voting Rights, Reconstruction, civic education

Contracting and Re-Contracting in the New Year

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves on January 20, 2022

Contracting is an essential teaching strategy for aligning a group of students around shared values and practices. Elizabeth Carroll, New England Program Director at Facing History, recently wrote a piece on this crucial topic for the Massachusetts Civic Learning Coalitiona non-partisan coalition of nonprofits, educators, think tanks, universities, and other partners committed to preparing all students to become more civically aware and involved. Below is an excerpt from her piece on the value of contractingas well as re-contractingin January each year:

Read More

Topics: Teaching Strategy, Brave Space

Combating Bullying with New Data

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves on October 19, 2021

Every October is National Bullying Prevention Month--an important time to call attention to the fact that bullying affects 20% of young people ages 12 to 18 across social groups. Research also reveals that most of this bullying takes place in school environments. Due to the pervasiveness of bullying and its lasting negative impacts on victims throughout their lifespans, preventing and disrupting bullying behavior ought to remain important areas of priority within middle and high schools.

Read More

Topics: Cyberbullying, Bullying

Essential Teacher Habits for Driving Educational Equity

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves on August 17, 2021

Pamela E. Donaldson, Facing History's Associate Program Director for Equity and Inclusion, and Laura Tavares, Program Director for Organizational Learning and Thought Leadership, recently published an article on the School Library Journal website. There, they offer educators an invitation into equity work within their own school communities centered around personal introspection and self-education, as well as collaborative learning and reflection with fellow teacher colleagues. Below is an excerpt from the piece:

Read More

Topics: Equity in Education

Recap: Digging Deeper at Facing History's Immigration Summit

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves on August 13, 2021

In late July, Facing History was proud to present Identity, Membership, and Belonging: A Summit on Teaching Immigration. The three-day virtual summit welcomed hundreds of educators from around the United States and featured presentations from historian and #ImmigrationSyllabus creator Dr. Erika Lee as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas.

Read More

Topics: Immigration

A Conversation with Dr. Kimberly Parker on Movements to Create More Readers

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves on July 29, 2021

Laura Tavares, Facing History's Program Director for Organizational Learning and Thought Leadership, recently placed a piece on the School Library Journal website in which she interviews Dr. Kimberly Parker, cofounder of #DisruptTexts. #DisruptTexts is a "crowdsourced, grass roots effort by teachers for teachers to challenge the traditional canon in order to create a more inclusive, representative, and equitable language arts curriculum." In this interview, they discuss the impact of Dr. Parker's early experiences on her educational vision, how educators can expand upon the literary canon when selecting texts, and how educators can help their students see themselves as readers. Below is an excerpt from the piece:

Read More

Topics: ELA, Equity in Education

Embrace SEL and Trauma-Informed Teaching in 2021

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves on July 27, 2021

As teachers prepare to head back to school this year, it is valuable to prepare for the level of trauma that individual teachers may be called upon to hold. The Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Resource Center indicates that trauma “results from exposure to an incident or series of events that are emotionally disturbing or life-threatening with lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, and/or spiritual well-being.” From the economic strain and complex traumas induced by the COVID-19 pandemic to those resulting from racist violence, students and teachers are returning to the classroom with a heavy emotional load. With all that educators will be asked help students face, it is a great time to cultivate a strong foundation of social-emotional learning (SEL) and trauma-informed teaching methodology. 

Read More

Topics: SEL, Social-Emotional Learning, trauma

Growing Up Jewish in a Christian World

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves on July 8, 2021

As acts of antisemitic violence have become more visible in the news in recent years in the United States, many non-Jewish people have begun to apprehend the extent of violence that continues to befall members of this community. Amid this awareness, we often hear less about the way that non-physical forms of violenceincluding words, symbols, and narratives that advance antisemitic hateare equally insidious and have a particularly corrosive impact on young Jewish people’s experiences, self-concepts, and sense of possibility.

Read More

Topics: Antisemitism, Religious Tolerance, Jewish Education Program, Religion

How Do We Pursue Equity in Education? By Learning, Unlearning, and Muddling Through

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves on July 2, 2021

Facing History's Chief Officer of Equity and Inclusion Dr. Steven Becton and Kaitlin Smith recently placed an article in the School Library Journal newsletter about the historical contexts that shape educational inequity and what it takes to disrupt it.

Read More

Topics: Equity in Education

Responding to Contemporary Antisemitism in the Classroom

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves on June 8, 2021

As the nation reacts to the wave of antisemitic attacks that have been occurring in cities across the country in recent weeks, educators have an opportunity to help students gain a deeper understanding of contemporary antisemitism. In these times, teachers can play a vital role in helping students and communities respond to acts of hate. 

Read More

Topics: Antisemitism, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles

At Facing History and Ourselves, we value conversation—in classrooms, in our professional development for educators, and online. When you comment on Facing Today, you're engaging with our worldwide community of learners, so please take care that your contributions are constructive, civil, and advance the conversation.

WELCOME

Welcome to Facing Today, a Facing History blog. Facing History and Ourselves combats racism and antisemitism by using history to teach tolerance in classrooms around the globe.

Subscribe to Email Updates

Recent Posts

Posts by Topic

see all