AMERICAN HISTORY
Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.
March is Women’s History Month, and this year’s theme, according to the National Women’s History Project and the Library of Congress, is “Writing Women Back Into History.” (Note, too, thatInternational Women’s Day is March 8.)
To help you “write women back into history” with your students, we have compiled related lesson plans and Times materials for teaching about women’s history into a collection called Celebrate Women’s History Month.
We hope you will find that page, and the following additional activities, useful for weaving women into your curriculum during the coming month. As always, we are eager to hear how you teach women’s history, so please comment below!
International Women’s Rights
Read “The Women’s Crusade”, an excerpt from Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s 2009 book “Half the Sky,” a manifesto on “how changing the lives of women and girls in the developing world can change everything.” Then, pick one of the women whose success story is featured in the article and write a first-person diary entry or series of entries from the point of view of that woman.
Consider columnist Nicholas Kristof’s “Half the Sky” contest and the contest winners, which feature efforts to empower and support women around the world, along with “A Women’s World,” a collection of reader-submitted photos depicting “the importance of educating girls and empowering women.” Then research and nominate organizations, individuals, or projects working toward the education of girls or empowerment of women, or take and display photographs of local efforts.
Explore women’s rights in such countries as Iran, Saudi Arabia, India,Cambodia and Afghanistan, and then write a 21st-century women’s rights declaration, modeled on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or write to the United Nations suggesting priorities for its new agency dedicated to women’s rights.
Create a survey about women’s issues around the world based on Multimedia: The Female Factor: Conversations. Read other articles from the related seriesas background. Then canvass family, community members, and school mates for their thoughts about the most recent shifts in women’s power, prominence and impact on societies around the world. Discuss and/or illustrate these findings in your classroom.
U.S. Social Studies and History
Research and write biographies of Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburgand Sandra Day O’Connor and the impact they have had on the Supreme Court.
