Students in the English Language Arts classroom have access to more author commentary than ever. While following authors on social media may deepen students' engagement with their assigned reading, it also threatens to subdue students' own interpretations of the authors' texts. This essay explains how educators can introduce basic aspects of…

This instructional resource presents contemporary works of art that illuminate and revel in the decadence, decay, and potential for regeneration imminent in organic matter decomposition. In so doing, these artists employ a range of strategies that might be drawn on in the art classroom: observing, illustrating, and reinterpreting decay;…

Early experiences of death and loss have a significant impact on children's coping and development across the lifespan, whether the deceased was a family member, friend, or even classmate. Given the sense of community and continuity that children often garner in schools, teachers are uniquely positioned to tailor and facilitate grief supports to…

Given the unavoidable prevalence of death in the world, the author writes that she finds it interesting that teachers devote little if any class time to the topic of grief. Teachers often avoid talking about recent losses, cloak death in metaphors and euphemisms, and feel discomfort around grieving students. Yet death still comes to classrooms.…

In 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom established the Governor's Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education (the Council) to assess and improve education about the Holocaust and other genocides (Holocaust and genocide education) in California schools. In response to declining youth awareness of these issues and events and to rising hate incidents, the…

This collection weaves together the personal narratives of a group of diverse scholars in academia in order to reflect on the ways that grief and hope matter for those situated within higher education. Each chapter explores a unique aspect of grief and loss, from experiencing a personal tragedy such as the loss of a loved one, to national and…

Over the past decade, Terror Management Theory (TMT) has been widely studied for its role in conflict management and in shaping the behavior of target populations, including in the classroom. Emerging from research on the importance of self-esteem, TMT submits that much of our behavior is driven by death anxiety and its effects are particularly…

Despite limitations and challenges, teaching about difficult histories is an essential aspect of social studies courses and units across grade levels. This practical resource highlights stories of K-12 practitioners who have critically examined and reflected on their experiences with planning and teaching histories identified as difficult.…

The death of a student, especially to gun violence, is a life-changing experience that occurs with more and more frequency in America's schools. For each of these tragedies, there is a classroom and there is a teacher. Yet student death is often a forbidden subject, removed from teacher education and professional development classes where the…

COVID-19 offers a unique opportunity to transform the K-12 social studies curriculum, but history suggests that changes to the formal curriculum will not come easily or automatically. This book was conceived in the space between the dismantling of our old way of life and the anticipation of what comes next. The authors in this volume--leading…

This article presents a unit of study in which students examine skeletons and draw conclusions from the evidence they find in a simulated mass grave. The activity involves the foundation of forensic anthropology--interpreting the structure of skeletal remains to determine sex, age, height, and possible cause of death. Working through a series of…

In this article, the authors describe how integrating music with reading and writing practices stimulated transmediation to (1) honor musical students' identities, (2) deepen readers' meaning making with literature, and (3) invite writers' memories to generate emotional grist for composing poetry. The authors share examples to inspire teachers to…

Courses: Introduction to Communication; small group; interpersonal. Objectives: This single activity demonstrates: (1) how interdependence can lead to better group outcomes than individual outcomes can; (2) how diversity of knowledge from multiple contributors helps group functioning; and (3) how students can be introduced to members of the…

Two of the most important aspects of a health education teacher's work are to meet the needs of all students in their classes and to create a safe space in which those students feel supported and valued. This charge often brings to mind ensuring safe spaces for students related to aspects of their identity, such as their gender identity,…

Imagine saving just one of the 23,000 species threatened with extinction. Students studying endangered species in a general life science course faced the decision of which species to save as a summative assignment in a unit on scientific explanation and argumentation. They used the claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER) framework in which students…