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.

Infographic: Gender Identity and Expression Feb 01, 2016: Are you confused about how to refer to someone? He, she, or they? Gender is a complicated social construct that goes beyond the binary definition of man and woman. Help your students better understand themselves and their peers with IMPACT’s easy-to-use interactive map that explains over 40 definitions of gender.
Refugee Stories: Mapping a Crisis Feb 01, 2016: The current refugee migration out of the Middle East is a pressing human rights concern. This lesson from Brown University’s Choices Program places students in a refugee’s shoes to help them understand why people flee their homes, and their arduous journey to find a safe place to live.
Resources to Teach #BlackLivesMatter Oct 13, 2015: The San Francisco Unified School District has compiled a collection of no-holds-barred resources to teach #BlackLivesMatter, including “Dos and Don’ts for Teaching About Ferguson.” Dare to ask your students what they want to talk about regarding Michael Brown’s death, the roots of this tragedy, and how they can stand up to racial injustice
This Writer Brings the World to Your Classroom. She Wants Your Students to Understand the Everyday Struggles and Courage of Ordinary People. Oct 13, 2015: Welcome to the world of Cleary Vaughan-Lee and Global Oneness Project, whose films, photography essays, stories, and lessons immerse you into the extraordinary lives of your global neighbors.
Visual Learning: What's the Buzz? by Cara Thompson Oct 13, 2015: This Visual Learning Lesson will get your students thinking about the importance of honey bees and the effects of commercial pesticide-use on colony health.
SPENT: An Online Game to Understand Poverty by Jing Fong May 31, 2015: If you don’t understand the feeling of trying to survive poverty, you will after playing SPENT.
"Eating Together" Student Writing Lesson by Jing Fong Apr 08, 2015: Does it matter who you eat with and how often you eat together?
Old Leaves, New Wisdom by Morgan Wright Mar 13, 2015: This Visual Learning Lesson will get your students thinking about what modern civilization can learn from ancient texts and traditions.
This Marine Biologist Taught at Occupy Camps. Now She’s Written Curriculum to Inspire Students to Action. by Morgan Wright Mar 13, 2015: Middle school and high school students constantly hear about the many challenges our society faces—from fracking to police shootings to corporatization. What they don’t hear enough about is what they can do to make their world better.
Ecological Footprint Calculator by Jing Fong Mar 13, 2015: Take the Ecological Footprint quiz to measure your impact, and explore solutions to leave a kinder, gentler impression on Mother Earth. Bonus: K-12 Climate Change Week activities
Infographic: Transportation for the New Generation by Morgan Wright Jan 01, 2015: Walk! Bike! Ride the bus! Check out this infographic to learn how young people are leading the way in replacing driving with alternative transportation. Don’t be fooled— it’s not just because they want to save the planet.
The Knotted Line by Jing Fong Jan 01, 2015: Get your students ready for an imaginative ride through history. The Knotted Line uses interactive media and over 50 paintings—representing historic and future events from 1495 to 2025—to explore the relationship between freedom and incarceration in America.
Visual Learning: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Morgan Wright Jan 01, 2015: This Visual Learning Lesson uses an intriguing photo to get your students thinking about the tensions between wilderness and industry, and the importance of being a conscious consumer.
Visual Learning: Heart and Sole by Jim McGowan Oct 17, 2014: This Visual Learning lesson will get your students to think about prisoners—the uniforms prisoners wear and the most effective ways to prepare for their transition back into society.
Reflections on Poverty with "Nikki-Rosa" Poem by Jing Fong Oct 17, 2014: Nikki Giovanni's poem, "Nikki-Rosa" reflects on Giovanni's living with poverty—what she had, more than what she lacked. The poem, with accompanying Def Jam video and ReadWriteThink lesson will help students develop their understanding of poverty, explore their childhood experiences, and write about these reflections in a poem.