PBS/POV Documentary"From This Day Forward" portrays an American family coping with one of life’s most intimate transformations. Years ago, when director Sharon Shattuck’s father came out as transgender and began living as Trisha, Sharon was in the awkward throes of middle school. Her father’s transition to female was difficult for her straight-identified mother, Marcia, to accept, but her parents stayed together. As the Shattucks reunite to plan Sharon’s wedding, she seeks a deeper understanding of how her parents’ marriage, and their family, survived intact. From This Day Forward is shown…

In the quietly powerful Raising Bertie, three black boys in North Carolina’s rural Bertie County come of age right before our eyes. Filmed over six years, they deal with the same issues that every boy approaching the leap to manhood faces—and others triggered by their specific and often precarious conditions. As the quote from James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son that opens the film puts it, “I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also so much more than that. So are we all.” Raising Bertie has its national broadcast premiere on the PBS documentary series…

The American Psychological Association (APA) is pleased to announce the first-ever APA Summit on High School Psychology Education, which will take place July 9-14, 2017, at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. The goal of the summit is to strengthen the value, delivery, assessment, and reach of psychological science through the teaching of high school psychology. In a high school psychology course, students gain an understanding of the complexities and diversity of human thought and behavior. Enrollment numbers in high school psychology courses are strong and growing. APA has supported…

Join an investigation into the science and politics of vaccine safety. Despite a scientific consensus that there is no link between vaccines and disorders like autism, the war over whether to immunize children continues. If a few un-immunized children catch a dangerous disease, it can suddenly threaten thousands of children and adults alike, sparking a pandemic. Maybe social science, popular education, and public policy are as important as medical science when it comes to keeping a human society healthy. Read more at www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/vaccines.

The New York Times provides "25 Mini-Films for Exploring Race, Bias and Identity With Students" at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/learning/lesson-plans/25-mini-films-for-exploring-race-bias-and-identity-with-students.html?_r=0 There are some opening ads by Exxon-Mobil, but these are short. Lesson plans are here too. These are free downloads. In the introduction to the collection, Michael Gonchar writes (March 25, 2017): "Teachers traditionally turn to literature, history and current events to open up these conversations, but it’s always helpful to have a bigger toolbox to tackle such…

In the wake of recent tragic and fatal events between men of color and law enforcement, learn how black and Hispanic families counsel their kids to stay safe if they are stopped by the police. Visit http://www.pbs.org/wnet/the-talk/ "The Talk – Race in America is a two-hour documentary about the increasingly common conversation taking place in homes and communities across the country between parents of color and their children, especially sons, about how to behave if they are ever stopped by the police. In many homes, “the talk,” as it is called, usually contains phrases like this: If you…

In this article, the author describes one way to teach about religion in elementary school social studies using the C3 Framework IDM model. The compelling question that guides the lesson focuses specifically on whether Judaism is a race, religion, or ethnicity. Each compelling and supporting question in the lesson is connected to one or more picture books that complicate student understandings of what it means to be Jewish. Students use these texts to develop answers to the questions. Throughout the lesson, students are asked to engage in formative performance tasks, but teachers are also…

This session helps teachers understand some of the common misconceptions when teaching about Hinduism. It goes over Hinduism’s core philosophies, as well as important points to keep in mind when discussing the religion and social practices in India. Teachers will be equipped with new teaching strategies, as well as updated, accurate, and culturally competent resources for their classrooms. What if everything you knew about Hinduism was wrong? What lessons have been learned from controversies around the country in World Religions Classes, like field trips, guest speakers, or trying on burkas…

Educators are teaching about religion in an increasingly volatile atmosphere. Islamophobia is on the rise as are incidents of anti-Semitism. Many Americans do not even know it’s legal to teach about religion. In recent years, uproars over world religion lessons, particularly on Islam, have caught teachers and school systems by surprise. In many cases, teachers had used the same activity for a decade, including letting students try on burkas and hijab. Should teachers avoid dress-up exercises, field trips and guest speakers? Or can they put in safeguards to avoid controversy? In this webinar,…

In this talk, Dr. Hope examines critical consciousness as a protective factor, and possible coping strategy, against experiences of racism that negatively affect mental health for Black adolescents. Racism has negative mental health implications for Black adolescents (Benner et al., 2018). Critical consciousness (critical reflection, critical agency, critical action) may be one way that Black youth combat oppression and the resulting negative effects (Hope & Spencer, 2017). It is also possible that critical action exacerbates the negative mental health effects of racism. Participants were…