Curriculum & Resources — YES! Magazine

In each of the following categories, you'll find a variety of teaching tools for immediate use in the classroom or for building your own curriculum. These resources include: lessons, curriculum, poetry, videos, projects, stories, and essays.

Photo by nezumichuu

:: Teaching Happiness

Discover the good life through resilience, creativity, and community.

:: Teaching Outside the Box

Meaningful learning pushes boundaries with action, inquiry, and innovation.

:: Teaching Peace & Justice

Paths to peace, inclusion, equality, and compassion for all.

:: Teaching Sustainability

How to build a robust economy, healthy planet, and just world for all.

:: Visual Learning

Use the wonder of a photo to engage in deep discussions and understanding.

Institute for Democratic Education in America by Jing Fong Apr 18, 2014: IDEA is a movement building organization that showcases what powerful learning looks like today—and what it can look like in the future. Its network of teachers, schools and communities, build relationships, share high quality resources, and work together to help shape the future of democratic schools. Featured resources include IDEA’s online library, Learning Report, plus the documentary, A Year at Mission Hill.
Media Resources to Empower Young People from What Kids Can Do by Jing Fong Mar 17, 2014: What Kids Can Do uses digital, print, and broadcast media to showcase the power youth can achieve when they are taken seriously. Check out writing curricula, stories, and other powerful learning resources that give voice to the opinions and talents of young people, particularly those compromised by poverty, race, and language.
Visual Learning: A Slow, Press-ious Process by Jing Fong Feb 17, 2014: With this YES! lesson plan, try to truly understand an image, its message, and why it’s interesting (or not). In this case it's all about local, sustainable farming.
Food Literacy Quiz by Jing Fong Feb 17, 2014: From Nourish and Food Day, a quiz that tests how food literate you are. The 15 questions reveal facts about food and its relationship to the bigger food system, and the community-at-large.
Questions No One Knows the Answers To Feb 17, 2014: TED Curator Chris Anderson shares his boyhood obsession with quirky questions that seem to have no answers.
Why Women's Stories Matter by Jing Fong Feb 17, 2014: March is Women's History Month. In this New York Times Learning Network lesson plan, students examine their school curriculum and personal experiences on reading stories about and by women. Through this analysis, they will deepen their understanding of why women's stories matter.
Poster: What Healthy Diets Have in Common by Jing Fong Feb 17, 2014: This colorful poster compares eight healthy diets—vegan, Mediterranean, ancestral, glycemic index, anti-inflammatory, raw, traditional Asian, and Natl. Institutes of Health—and shares what they have in common (besides kale) and how they are different.
Sustainable Table Resources for Better Food Choices by Jing Fong Jan 28, 2014: YES! recommends Sustainable Table, a program of Grace Communications Foundation, for its well-rounded resources that educate and motivate people of all ages to take good care of their bodies and our planet.
Infographic: Health Effects of Caffeine by Jing Fong Jan 28, 2014: Did you know that kids aged 12-17 are the fastest growing population of caffeine consumers? This infographic shows which countries consume the most caffeine and highlights some not-so-savory side effects of your morning coffee.
"Jazz in America" Curriculum by Jing Fong Jan 28, 2014: The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz has developed "Jazz in America," an Internet-based jazz curriculum for social studies, American history, and music classes to help students "develop imaginative thinking, creativity, curiosity, a positive self image, and a respect for their own and others' cultural heritage."
Visual Learning: With These Hands by Natalie Lubsen Jan 28, 2014: This Visual Learning lesson will get your students thinking about poverty—here and in other countries—and will help them explore a creative approach to solve poverty.
Simon Okelo's Response to "Simple Living" Essay Winners by Simon Okelo Jan 28, 2014: Simon Okelo, author of "Growing Up in a Kenyan Slum Taught Me the Real Value of Stuff," responds to essay winners of the Fall 2013 "Simple Living" writing competition.
The Story of Stuff Project Resources by Jing Fong Nov 18, 2013: The Story of Stuff Project is more than its signature short film. It's a movement to get us to throw away all the stuff in our lives and work together to build a healthy planet. Spot-on curriculum, short films, and more resources are generously offered.
No Impact Project Curriculum by Jing Fong Nov 18, 2013: Since 2006, No Impact Man, Colin Beavan, and his family have inspired a nation to swap their old consumer habits for new environmentally-friendly ones. The No Impact Curriculum explores the effects of your students’ everyday behavior on the environment, their health, and their well-being.
Visual Learning: Knock, Knock. Who's There? by Cynthia Daniel Nov 18, 2013: This Visual Learning lesson will get your students thinking about people experiencing homelessness and the importance of sleep.