Teaching for Change

Our programs and resources encourage students to ask questions and develop the skills to build an equitable and just society. We place community, stories, and truth telling at the center.

Teaching for Change provides educators with tools to create schools where students learn to read, write, and change the world. We offer professional development, develop lessons, curate resources, and host learning communities.

Our new brighter, bolder style reflects our commitment to provide a strong foundation to build social justice, starting in the classroom. Visit our website teachingforchange.org (🔗in bio) to explore more!

:: Educator Professional Development :: Join us today for a 45-minute informational session facilitated by Jesse Hagopian, "Teaching for Black Lives" co-editor and Rethinking Schools editor, for educators interested in forming a "Teaching for Black Lives" study group in their school, district, or statewide. Participants will hear from study group coordinators, Nicole Seymour, early education consultant, and Sharae Green, middle school teacher. Join us to learn about the benefits and logistics. There will be time to ask questions and meet other educators in small groups. Register at teachingforblacklives.org/info-session (🔗in bio) and join us this evening!

This Teacher Appreciation Week and every day after, we celebrate the incredible truth teachers/tellers in school classrooms and community. We also raise attention to the contrast of what is desired and the reality, with stats from We Are Teachers ( @weareteachers ). We invite our community to dream into and create ✨ the futures we imagine ✨recognizing the conditions of classrooms and education spaces are happening in dangerous times. As we continue to build the just communities we ALL deserve, we invite you to imagine the conditions in classrooms and school buildings that will get us to the just futures we imagine. We extend deep gratitude for the INVALUABLE contributions of teachers. In our classrooms and communities, educators are not only teaching lessons, they are shaping futures and empowering the next generation to think critically and act with compassion. As we resist rising challenges to the truth, TEACHING becomes even more essential. Educators continue to stand firm in their commitment to teach with integrity, offering students the tools to understand the world as it truly is. May our policies and practices towards educators be the THANK YOU they deserve

This Black Teacher Appreciation Day, we celebrate the life of Septima Poinsette Clark, one of many anchors that ground the philosophy behind our work. In the opening to her profile, the SNCC Digital Gateway Project writes, Septima Poinsette Clark pioneered the link between education and political organizing, especially political organizing aimed at gaining the right to vote. “Literacy means liberation,” she stressed knowing that education was key to gaining political, economic, and social power. ✏️ This powerful picture book biography spotlights Septima Poinsette Clark, the civil rights leader who taught Black adults how to combat Jim Crow-era voting regulations. Born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1898, Septima Clark became a teacher who made it her mission to bring equity to literacy. Clark lost her job as a school teacher because of her NAACP membership, but went on to establish “Citizenship Schools” so African Americans could receive the education they needed in order to vote. We can't help but recommend this new book, and it's not just because we love the title. 😉 [Graphic: Features the cover of Yvonne Clark-Rhines' Teaching for Change: How Septima Clark Led the Civil Rights Movement to Voting Justice.] 📚📚📚 Shop Indie and small business: When you find a book at socialjusticebooks.org , please purchase it here. Our titles are linked to @bookshop_org . A portion of your book purchase helps sustain our work.

Check out our Spring picks for books, videos, websites, and other social justice resources 40.3, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues!⁠ ⁠ Link in bio.

@neatoday shares that only 7% of U.S. teachers identify as Black, while Black students make up over 15% of the k-12 population. This Black Teacher Appreciation Day, we uplift the national demand of @blmatschool to “Hire and RETAIN Black teachers.” We affirm the Black educators in our communities who carry a weight that is often undervalued and misunderstood. We see you, we appreciate you, we stand in solidarity with you, and we will continue to build spaces that celebrate your contributions and honor your expertise today and every day

"The Teaching for Black Lives study group was an answer to a prayer — to make sure that lessons I teach as a singular educator are replicated in a place where it's so sorely needed." — Alana Ward On Monday, May 11, Jesse Hagopian, "Teaching for Black Lives" co-editor and Rethinking Schools editor, will facilitate a 45-minute informational session for educators interested in forming a Teaching for Black Lives study group in their school, district, or statewide. Participants will hear from study group coordinators, Nicole Seymour, early education consultant, and Sharae Green, middle school teacher. Join us to learn about the benefits and logistics. There will be time to ask questions and meet other educators in small groups. Learn more and register at teachingforblacklives.org/info-session @neatoday @teach_change @rethinkingschools

📣 D.C. Action Alert! Join us at 5:30pm on Tues. 5/5 at the intersection of 16th & H. The #BraveofUS are demanding that we close the camps, bring families home, and free all families now. See you there 🦋❤️

Friends in the DC area: Join us on Tuesday, May 5 at 5:30pm for a Close the Camps action in front of the White House. People from the Coalition to End Family and Child Detention and various civil rights, faith and immigration justice organizations will gather at 16 & H for a vigil to call to close the camps.

Happening tomorrow! 🎙️ Tune in to Our DC, Our Culture: Arts & Culture Mayoral Candidate Forum broadcast live on WPFW 89.3 FM @wpfwdc 📅 Listen on May 1 from 5-6 pm on Darker Than Blue and continue the conversation on May 5 from 3-5 pm on Something to Say. 🔔 Get reminders by registering using the link in our bio and the one right here: https://tr.ee/Hd9dJSE0mn This forum is organized by DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative and Social Art and Culture. Partners on this event include: Teaching For Change, Theater Alliance, Critical Exposure, Beat Ya Feet Academy, Woolly Mammoth, DancePlace, Long Live GoGo, Washington DC Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Spur Local, Atlas Performing Arts Center, Americans for the Arts, and Children’s Legacy Theatre