From Tolerance.org

Use This Summer for Social Justice

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Teaching Tolerance offers five suggestions for self-guided professional development as summer break gets underway.

by Jennifer Holladay

1. Take time to renew and reflect. A great place to honor your inner teacher — and your inner self — is with the Center for Courage and Renewal; its programs are based on Parker J. Palmer's path-breaking work, The Courage to Teach. The Center offers retreats for educators, as well as free, downloadable articles and podcasts.


2. Visit or learn more about a site of conscience. Find other destinations using this map of civil rights sites from the National Park Service, as well as its catalogs of sites in Latino history and Asian American history. If you can make it to Alabama, come visit us at the Civil Rights Memorial Center; bring a copy of this article to receive free admission for yourself and a guest. After visiting a site, identify three ways to integrate your experience into classes next school year.


3. Broaden your perspective with books and blogs. Consider the selections from our 2004 Summer Reading Series, or head on over to Voices from the Gaps, which uplifts works by women artists and writers of color. Its index allows you to search by state or location and by "axes," such as "Filipina American." And be sure to check out Change.org's listing of essential readings on LGBT rights, as well as our "must reads" on disability rights.
   
   Bookmark or subscribe to the RSS feeds for progressive blogs. Five that top our personal lists: The Root, Change.org's Gay Rights, the unfortunately titled blog, Damn Mexicans, which seeks to debunk myths about immigration, Social Justice from IdentityTheory.com and Anti-Racist Parent. Our colleagues in the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project also offer the top-notch, and often disturbing, Hatewatch, which chronicles happenings in the radical right.


4. Connect with a social justice group near you. Use our map to find organizations in your community. Attend an event or volunteer. Build a relationship that can bolster a service-learning project in your classroom next year, one that supports real social change and prejudice reduction.


5. Identify three new ways to integrate social justice themes into your curriculum. Bookmark www.tolerance.org, explore our directory of classroom activities and order our grade-appropriate teaching kits — they are free to educators — including Viva La Causa, our newest kit for grades 8 and up about Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers' movement. Also examine materials available through Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change.

Reach And Teach resources for teachers:

How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming Hard Cover SKU: 978-1-58469-103-7 Price: $17.95	And Tango Makes Three SKU: 978-0689878459 Price: $16.99	Steps and Stones: An Anh's Anger Story SKU: 978-1-935209-87-4 Price: $16.95
Going Home: The Mystery of Animal Migration SKU: 978-1-58469-127-3 Price: $8.95	How to Talk to an Autistic Kid SKU: 978-1-57542-365-4 Price: $12.99	Montessori Learning in the 21st Century A Guide for Parents & Teachers SKU: 978-0-939165-60-5 Price: $18.00
F in Exams SKU: 9780811878319 Price: $9.95	We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures small edition SKU: 978-1-84507-650-4 Price: $8.95	Making the Grades: My Misadventures in the Standardized Testing Industry SKU: 9780981709154 Price: $16.95
Mastergate: A Play on Words SKU: 1580816460 Price: $19.95	Helping Teens Stop Violence, Build Community, and Stand for Justice SKU: 978-0-89793-568-5 Price: $19.95	Bug Butts SKU: 978-0-9797455-0-8 Price: $14.95
Teaching With Voices of a People's History of the United States 2nd Edition SKU: tvpzinn Price: $21.00	Rethinking Popular Culture and Media SKU: 9780942961485 Price: $18.95	Scammed by Statistics SKU: 978-0967991573 Price: $17.95
Teaching Green: The Middle Years SKU: 9780865715011 Price: $22.95	Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary SKU: 978-0670011896 Price: $19.99	Sojourner Truth's Step-Stomp Stride SKU: 978-0786807673 Price: $16.99
My Princess Boy SKU: 978-1442429888 Price: $14.99	Child's Mind by Christopher Willard SKU: 978-1935209621 Price: $14.95	3.2.1: Time for Parachute Fun SKU: 978-0876593004 Price: $9.95
Going Blue: A Teen Guide to Saving Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, & Wetlands SKU: 978-1-57542-348-7 Price: $14.99	Sometimes the Spoon Runs Away with Another Spoon SKU: 978-1604863291 Price: $10.00	Abe in Arms SKU: 978-1604861983 Price: $15.00
Great Ball of Fire: A Poetic Telling of the Universe Story SKU: gbof Price: $19.95	The Breadwinner Trilogy SKU: 978-0-88899-959-7 Price: $16.95	Rethinking Early Childhood Education SKU: 978-0-942961-41-6 Price: $18.95
Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness A Guide for Anyone Who Teaches Anything SKU: 0-86171-567-5 Price: $16.95	My Baby Rides the Short Bus: The Unabashedly Human Experiences of Raising Kids with Disabilities SKU: 9781604861099 Price: $20.00	Young Gardener by Stefan and Beverley Buczacki SKU: 978-1-84780-000-8 Price: $12.95
Witness to Hiroshima SKU: hiroshima Price: $20.00	Worms Eat My Garbage: Classroom Activities for A Better Environment SKU: 9780977804504 Price: $12.95	My Baby Rides the Short Bus (e-Book/PDF) SKU: 9781604861099d Price: $15.00
Architects of Peace - Visions of Hope in Words and Images SKU: 978-1-57731-231-4 Price: $24.95 $18.95	Travels with Tarra by Carol Buckley SKU: 978-0-88448-283-3 Price: $16.95 $15.00	Bountiful Earth SKU: bountiful Price: $19.95
The Friendship Puzzle - Helping Kids Learn About Accepting and Including Kids with Autism SKU: 978-0-9789182-4-8 Price: $14.95	25 Real Life Math Investigations That Will Astound Teachers and Students SKU: 978-0-96799-158-0 Price: $24.95	A People's History for the Classroom SKU: 978-0-942961-39-3 Price: $12.95
Turtle and Dolphin (Penyu dan Lumba-lumba) SKU: turtle_and_dolphin_book Price: $14.95	Global Art SKU: 9780876591901 Price: $16.95	Creative Resources for the Anti-Bias Classroom SKU: 978-0827380158 Price: $67.05
Feet Are Not for Kicking Board Book SKU: 978-1-57542-158-2 Price: $7.95	Words Are Not for Hurting / Las palabras no son para lastimar Board Book SKU: 978-1-57542-155-1 Price: $7.95	Gandhi SKU: 9789810549459 Price: $14.95
Planet Earth: 25 Environmental Projects You Can Build Yourself SKU: 1934670049 Price: $14.95	Sesame Street Playground SKU: putu_282 Price: $14.95	Angels with Attitude SKU: attitudeangels Price: $12.95
A Fistful of Pearls and Other Tales from Iraq SKU: 978-1-84507-641-2 Price: $8.95	Gervelie's Journey (Refugee Diary) SKU: 9781845076528 Price: $16.95	Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak SKU: 978-0-88899-645-9 Price: $9.95
We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures SKU: 978-1-84507-650-4 Price: $19.95	Science Adventures: Nature Activities for Young Children SKU: 5555 Price: $24.95	Hobo-Dyer Equal Area - The World Turned Upside Down - South-up/Africa-centered SKU: hdws-21-33 Price: $15.95
Peters Equal Area Map (as seen on the West Wing) SKU: pwm-35-50 Price: $19.95 $15.95	A Kids' Guide to Protecting & Caring for Animals SKU: 978-1-57542-303-6 Price: $6.95 $4.00	It Takes a Child SKU: 1-59458-402-8 Price: $21.95
Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen SKU: 978-0688152857 Price: $6.99	Inclusive Lesson Plans Throughout the Year SKU: 9780876590140 Price: $29.95 $23.95	Immigration Myths Poster SKU: 10myths Price: $9.00
Martin Luther King on Violence Poster SKU: mlkposter Price: $12.00	Nature's Playground - Activities, Crafts, and Games to Encourage Children to Get Outdoors SKU: 9781556527234 Price: $16.95	Teaching Kids to Change the World - Lessons to Inspire Social Responsibility for Grades 6-12 SKU: 9781574828771 Price: $19.95
Give a Goat SKU: 978-0-88448-301-4 Price: $16.95	Amadi's Snowman SKU: 978-0-88448-298-7 Price: $16.95	Under the Night Sky SKU: 978-0-88448-297-0 Price: $15.95
Margaret Chase Smith: A Woman for President SKU: 978-1-58089-235-3 Price: $7.95	Priscilla & the Hollyhocks SKU: 978-1-57091-675-5 Price: $15.95	Ready to Rock Kids Volume 2 SKU: 978-1-57542-245-9 Price: $16.95
Stick Up for Yourself! SKU: 978-1-57542-068-4 Price: $11.95	Proud to Be You SKU: 978-1-57542-202-2 Price: $9.95 $7.99	The Survival Guide for Kids with ADD or ADHD SKU: 978-1-57542-195-7 Price: $13.95
If You Were My Baby: Board Book SKU: 978-1-58469-090-0 Price: $7.95	Forest Bright, Forest Night Board Book SKU: 978-1-58469-089-4 Price: $7.95	A Walk in the Rainforest Board Book SKU: 978-1-58469-088-7 Price: $7.95
Over in the Ocean - In a Coral Reef: Board Book SKU: 1-58469-082-8 Price: $7.95	A Swim through the Sea Board Book SKU: 1-58469-080-1 Price: $7.95	The Forever Forest: Kids Save a Tropical Treasure SKU: 978-1-58469-102-0 Price: $8.95
How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming SKU: 978-1-58469-103-7 Price: $11.95	The Bear and the Fox - El Oso Y El Zorro SKU: 9789586928403 Price: $9.95	Why Don't They Like Me - Por Que No Me Quieren? SKU: 9789586928281 Price: $9.95
Why Can't I Steal Less - Por Que No Puedo Robar Menos? SKU: 9789586927680 Price: $9.95	Together We Are Strong / Juntos Somos Fuertes - Poster SKU: P603CW Price: $14.00	Featherless / Desplumado SKU: 978-0-89239-195-0 Price: $16.95
Super Cilantro Girl / La supernina del cilantro SKU: 978-0-89239-187-5 Price: $16.95	Losing Heart: The Moral And Spiritual Mis-education of America's Children SKU: 978-0805857221 Price: $25.00	Keeper of the Swamp SKU: 978-1-890515-27-0 Price: $8.95
I Found a Dead Bird - The Kids Guide to the Cycle of Life and Death SKU: 978-1-897066-71-3 Price: $9.95	Camel Rider SKU: 978-1-58089-314-5 Price: $10.95	Good Earth Art SKU: 9780935607017 Price: $18.95 $14.00
The Teen Guide to Global Action SKU: 1-57542-266-4 Price: $12.95	Hands Are Not for Hitting / Las manos no son para pegar Book SKU: 746 Price: $7.95	Rethinking Globalization SKU: 0-942961-28-5 Price: $18.95
Rethinking Mathematics SKU: 0-942961-54-4 Price: $16.95	Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) SKU: 1197 Price: $8.95	An Angel Just Like Me SKU: 9781845077334 Price: $7.95
Hot Stuff to Help Kids Chill Out - the Anger Management Book SKU: 978-0965761000 Price: $9.95	Keep Your Ear on the Ball SKU: 978-0-88448-296-3 Price: $10.00	Our Friendship Rules SKU: 978-0-88448-291-8 Price: $16.95
A Young People's History of the United States SKU: 9781583228692 Price: $19.95	Americana SKU: PUT-266 Price: $14.95	Animal Playground SKU: PUT-264 Price: $14.95
One World, Many Cultures SKU: PUT-258 Price: $14.95	Who Would Want Those Apples Anyway? SKU: 978-0963370532 Price: $4.95	Why Can't I Be the Leader SKU: 978-0963370525 Price: $4.95
The Boy Named 27091 SKU: 978-0963370549 Price: $5.95	Petar's Song SKU: 978-1-84507-352-7 Price: $7.95	A Place Where Sunflowers Grow SKU: 0-89239-215-0 Price: $16.95
Lakas and the Makibaka Hotel /Si Lakas at ang Makibaka Hotel SKU: 0-89239-213-4 Price: $16.95	Going Back Home: An Artist Returns to the South SKU: 0-89239-197-9 Price: $7.95	Two Mrs. Gibsons SKU: 0-89239-170-7 Price: $7.95
The Upside Down Boy/El nino de cabeza SKU: 0-89239-217-7 Price: $7.95	Childhood Is A Journey Not A Race poster SKU: P623CW Price: $9.00	Self-Esteem Passport SKU: passport Price: $6.95 $5.00
Upside Down World Jigsaw Puzzle SKU: mappuzzle Price: $14.95	Whats Up South World Map SKU: 1WUS-24x36-LT Price: $13.95	Polar Bear - Everything IS Connected Poster SKU: P625CW Price: $14.00
Be the Change Poster SKU: P617CW Price: $14.00	A Little Too Straight SKU: P231CW Price: $12.00 $10.00	Bake Sale SKU: P563CW Price: $8.00