Balanced Learning Resources
Lesson Plans

Grade 6-12: Students will learn about the life and legacy of the late U.S. Representative John Lewis, a major leader in the Civil Rights Movement. Through two short videos, discussion, and activities, students will explore leadership, nonviolence, and standing up for justice.

Grade: K-2. Students learn about Ruby Bridges, a young girl who helped change history during desegregation as the first African American student to attend an all-white school in her community. Ruby showed bravery and kindness when she faced unfair treatment at school.

Grades 9-12. Students apply 10 objective criteria to analyze a social justice movement that is widely noted for its non‑violent, dignity‑centered tactics: the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia (Nov–Dec 1989). Using short videos and primary‑source snippets, learners test whether the movement’s goals, methods, and outcomes align with genuine social justice for all, or reveal red flags.

Grades 9-12. Students will examine the civil rights movement through two key films: Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech and The March (1964), a restored documentary on the March on Washington. After viewing, students will use 10 criteria to evaluate whether the movement meets the standards of a true social justice movement.

Grades 8-12. This lesson begins with The Path to Nazi Genocide, a short introductory documentary that examines how the Nazis systematically excluded Jews from society and justified escalating violence. Students are given 10 criteria with which to measure a social movement in order to think critically about how ideology and propaganda can shape collective behavior. The second part of the lesson features The Wave, a dramatization of a real 1967 high school experiment in Califor