Election 2016 Resources from Teaching Tolerance

This set of Election 2016 resources from Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, grew out of the responses of 2,000 teachers who took to a survey Teaching Tolerance conducted in late March 2016. Teachers indicated that the current campaign is: eliciting fear and anxiety among children of color, immigrants and Muslims; emboldening students to mimic the words and tone of the campaign; making it hard for teachers to remain impartial in the face of ugly rhetoric; and disrupting opportunities to teach effectively about political campaigns and civic engagement.

Through the survey, teachers also told Teaching Tolerance what types of resources they need to overcome these obstacles. They asked for help protecting and reassuring targeted students, ideas for engaging young people in the election process, ways to encourage civil discourse in school, guides to help teachers address controversial issues, and links to the best election-related websites for students. You’ll find all of the above collected at the link.