engagEd is a resource for educators who wish to teach the tools of engaged citizenship and involve students in solving the world’s problems.
To create this collection of resources, AWTT invited the portrait subjects and the organizations that represent them, their ideas, and legacies, to produce lesson and activity plans that could be used in middle or high school classes to build bridges between the classroom and the most important issues affecting student’s lives.
These lessons are created by changemakers with strong opinions. AWTT’s staff has edited and curated these activities and lessons to offer educators and their students a window into the thought processes, lives, and dedication of activists who work for economic, social, and environmental justice. Each activity offers a particular point of view that we believe is worth understanding and exploring. It will be up to each teacher to ask questions or present materials that help students see other points of view. One way to do this is to always ask, “What is the other side of this issue?”
Above you will find two ways to sort the lessons. With the first, you can sort lessons into three broad discipline areas: Arts, Humanities, and Math, Science and Technology. With the second, you can find out which activities other teachers are using most, or the newest lessons we recommend you try. For teachers participating in the Samantha Smith Challenge, these activities offer a great starting point for introducing your students to the idea that they can be part of the solution to the problems they see around them.
Teach your students to think like activists. Show them how to be citizens in a democratic society. Engage them in finding solutions for real world problems. With these tools and the confidence to use them, they will discover their own voices as citizens.
