"Many artists create work that intersects with political activism and social justice causes. Throughout history, art has been used as an accessible tool for communication, raising awareness about social issues and affecting positive change. This video collection will introduce students to artists who create work that inspires dialogue about problems faced by communities around the world, and will provide inspiration for classroom projects with a social, public or political purpose."

"An upstander is a person who recognizes injustice, knows their personal strengths and uses those strengths to create change."

This resource explores how to be an upstander in a variety of settings and includes:
*a full teacher's guide
*FREE virtual museum visit can be booked to accompany
*Canadian upstanders & upstanders you know
*stories
*rights
*take a stand
*tell
*act

Items available to download:
*Resource intro
*Lesson 1 - Africaville
*Lesson 2 Brother
*Lesson 3 - Eye to Eye
*Lesson 4 - Made it
"The main purpose of this resource is to help educators and students explore Canadian hip-hop music and its role as a tool for promoting and advocating for social justice. The songs selected to support the lessons developed for this resource all have identifiable social justice themes. As such, social justice education must be at the center of a learning that takes place in the classroom through the use of this resource."

Canadian art is a door to learning about a wide range of subjects.

The Art Canada Institute teacher resource guides presented here offer students the opportunity to study a multitude of subjects—from environmental awareness to activism, social justice to gender studies, politics to computer science (to name a few)—through the art and artists who have defined this country’s visual culture.

Following our provinces’ education curricula, the teacher resource guides provide multidisciplinary learning activities that reveal how Canadian art powerfully reflects our world so we can better understand it.

Activities for K-12!

Students take their ideas from the classroom page to the community pavement when they participate in a service-learning project based on their multimedia presentations.

History has many faces in this lesson in which students read Jane Addams Award-winning books to learn about peace, social justice, world community, and equality.

Art and culture have played a central role in every successful movement for social change. Art can inspire, educate, and spur the imagination beyond the realm of what politics can do. Social justice posters, in particular, are powerful living reminders of the ongoing worldwide struggles for peace and justice.

In this activity, students will watch a short video by artist Favianna Rodriguez on the guiding principles of effective poster design, and then will create a poster of their own.

"Human rights stories are all around us. We explore contemporary and historic human rights stories, from Canada and around the world."

This resource from The Canadian Museum for Human Rights explores numerous stories about Indigenous Perspectives (treaty education, witness blanket, UN Rights of Indigenous, Mincome, reconciliation, veterans, etc. ), Social Justice (BLM, misogyny, racism, genocide, antisemitism, Holodomor, refugees, etc.)

Each story contains information, artifacts, images, and questions to guide your thinking. It also links to related stories for further exploration.

This site is an invaluable teacher tool to help reduce prejudice and encourage tolerance in schools, as well as within society as a whole. For grades K-12. Classroom resources include: Lessons, Learning Plans, Student Texts, Student Tasks, Teaching Strategies, Learning Plan Builder, Film Kits, Printable Posters.

Heterodox Academy is a group of educators, administrators, and graduate students who believe diverse viewpoints and open inquiry are critical to research and learning. This resources listed on this document are intended to provide K-12 educators with materials to create classrooms that welcome diverse people with diverse viewpoints and that equip learners with the habits of heart and mind to engage that diversity in open inquiry and constructive disagreement.

This is an interactive simulation that immerses users in the challenges of living on a low income. Players make tough financial decisions over a month, reflecting real-life scenarios like medical emergencies and unexpected expenses.

Key Features:
Simulation Game: Navigate daily choices with limited resources.
Educational Insights: Learn about poverty, budgeting, and systemic issues.
Awareness Building: Fosters empathy and understanding of financial hardship.
Target Audience: Ideal for educators, students, and community organizations interested in economic disparity.

Benefits:
Enhances financial literacy.
Promotes discussions on social justice.
Provides a safe space to explore difficult choices.

Jonathan Swift's 1729 pamphlet "A Modest Proposal€" is a model for satirizing social problems. In this lesson, students complete multiple readings of Swiftĺĺs essay: a guided reading with the teacher, a collaborative reading with a peer, and an independent reading. The online Notetaker tool helps students restate key ideas from Swift's essay as they read and elaborate upon these ideas postreading. After independent reading, pairs of students develop a mock television newscast or editorial script, like those found on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update,€" The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, or The Colbert Report, including appropriate visual images in PowerPoint.

Use the choice board and corresponding page or section with more detailed instructions and examples to have your students complete social justice art activities or experiences.

The Social Justice Fair is a group inquiry project designed to be cross-curricular and adaptable to individuals, groups, or classrooms based on their unique learning paths. Allow students to explore examples and representations of a social justice issue through art and music, research and writing, and action planning to make a difference. Included in this resource is an assignment, group member tracking sheet, self/peer evaluation page, and outcome list.  

An excellent resource from the Eastern Ontario Catholic Curriculum Cooperative. This resource includes an in-depth simulation to place students into the “shoes” of those living in poverty. “This unit will help engage students to actively explore international trade, development and co-operation issues as they pertain to Canada, its trading partners, and the fair trade system.”

"We provide a wealth of free curriculum-based teaching resources and online tools to help you teach your students about prejudice, human rights and social justice.

By registering for our Teacher Dashboard you can:

Customize lessons with your own notes and instructions
Share lessons and assignments for students to access online
Create PDF handouts
Use assessment tools to evaluate"