Whether incorporating lessons from a text or movie, or beginning with a singular lecture supplemented by a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation, teachers of middle school and high school students can find an array of historical lessons on civil disobedience. They might discuss women’s suffrage or the labor movement. From the civil rights movement, they can point to the actions of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks or Medgar Evers. Or they can choose to outline the nonviolent activism of the '60s that helped to stop the Vietnam War.
With such a trove of world citizens who have blazed the path of civil disobedience, students can choose among hundreds to find books about actions and lives that made a difference. They can be instructed to write traditional book reports or create projects that reflect the mission of the individual. For example, students working from the life of Henry David Thoreau might journal contemporary observations in emulation of the author. Timelines can be used to follow the life of a hero or of a movement. Students can create PowerPoint projects, posters or videos to teach their classmates what they have learned.
Effective teaching brings real-world relevance to conceptual lessons. Twenty-first century learners can look at broad examples of civil disobedience such as the Arab Spring or individual people such as the mayor of a small town in Spain who led the raid of a grocery store to feed the poor. As teachers introduce Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, they can ask about the merit of his means. By introducing such an intractable issue as poverty and asking students to consider Sanchez’s actions, teachers can also prompt critical thinking and urge students to come up with some solutions of their own.
In 2012, students at a Chicago high school staged a sit-in to demand the ouster of the principal. According to the students, when Shontae Higginbottom took over she severely restricted student access to the school. Also in 2012, two sisters organized a protest of their Connecticut school’s dress code by encouraging students to wear T-shirts that called Greenwich High School’s policy “body shaming.” Laying a foundation with contemporary examples, teachers can then prompt students to consider where they see inequity and whether they would be willing to risk the consequences of civil disobedience to effect a change.