Project Look Sharp
Project Look Sharp is a nonprofit outreach program of Ithaca College. Their goal is to help educators enhance students’ critical thinking, metacognition, and civic engagement through media literacy materials and professional development.
Choose between 2 lessons at the elementary level:
- Sculptures of Dr. King - Reading the Message
- Students will analyze 4 sculptures of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for messages about his life and legacy.
- Decoding the Twenty
- Students will analyze images related to the twenty dollar bill for messages about US history and historical context.
Use in conjunction with their handouts and worksheets on media analysis
Choose from 3 lessons for middle grades:
- Black Identity
- Students will analyze excerpts from 4 songs to reflect on the meaning of Black identity in the Black freedom and Civil Rights movement.
- Youth Activism Black Identity
- Students will analyze 4 short film excerpts to reflect on the role of young activists in the Black freedom and Civil Rights movement.
- A Media Chronology
- Students will analyze diverse visual media representations of Dr. Martin Luther King's public accomplishments.
Choose between 6 high school to college level lessons:
- Critical Race Theory
- Students will analyze clips from a variety of video sources for messages about the teaching of US history, critical race theory, and the power of media to persuade.
- Polling on Structural Racism
- Students will analyze charts and graphs showing polling data on how different groups view structural racism in the US.
- Miles Davis: Inspiration to a Masterpiece
- Students will analyze video clips from a feature film and a documentary film for messages about musical inspiration and collaborative creativity.
- Race and Perspective
- Students will compare 2 opinion pieces, a TV news commentary, and a print article about the police response to Black Lives Matter protest and to the Capitol insurrection on January 6th, 2021, analyzing media construction and how our identity influences our views.
- Covering Black Lives Matter
- Students will analyze newspaper front pages for messages about media representation of nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd.
- Representing Enslavement
- Students will analyze primary and secondary texts from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries for messages about African slavery in South Carolina.
NYS Parks
Learn about Harriet Tubman and her residence in Fleming, NY:
- Her history
- Her home
- Other people, places, and stories related to her work with the Underground Railroad
- Activities
- Travel with Tubman to explore the places Tubman traveled for the Underground Railroad, during the Civil War, and while fighting for suffrage
- Auburn NY brochure/map
Learn about the Underground Railroad and plan classroom activities through the National Parks Service. Use their lesson plans based on specific sites on the Underground Railroad.
Use the above Network to Freedom map to explore the NYS sites important to the Underground Railroad including the Cuyler house in Pultneyville, the Howland house in Sherwood, and various other homes and meeting places of abolitionists.
Take a virtual tour of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's childhood home in Georgia.
Browse the register of historic places in New York State including parks dedicated to famous Black Americans. Learn about segregation and how it affected travel, vacationing, and access to the outdoors.
Smithsonian
Try The North Star: A Digital Journey of African American History through the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. Use the museum's digital resources to explore how art and objects can represent and provide insight into a community throughout history. Themes for activities include:
- Art and Cultural Expressions
- Community Building
- Freedom Movements
- Historical Documents
- Historical Thinking Skills
- Slavery
Review reading resources and book lists that correspond to the Museum's collections. For grades 3 - 12.
- Slavery and Freedom 1400 - 1877
- Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom 1876 - 1968
- A Changing America 1968 -
- We Return Fighting: The African American Experience in World War I
- Making a Way Out of No Way
- Sports: Leveling the Playing Field
- Connect with streaming video from ClickView and museum objects from the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Double Victory: The African American Military Experience
- Explore the experience of an African American soldier through the Sora title Infinite Hope
- The Power of Place
- Taking the Stage
- Musical Crossroads
- Explore influential musical genres and artists through biographies on PebbleGo, PebbleGo Next, and Britannica
- Visual Art and the American Experience
- Cultural Expressions
Share interviews with contemporary STEM professionals. Speakers discuss their experiences as professionals and their greatest accomplishments to inform and inspire students. Good for older students exploring college, careers, and trades.
Attend a virtual event on a variety of topics including:
- Beekeeping with Detroit Hives
- Diving with Black Girls Dive
- Meditation Mondays
- Rockclimbing with Brown Girls Climb