Thinking about teaching a social justice unit in your class? These three social justice activities for high school students will engage your students with the material!

Whether you’re teaching a social justice novel, hoping for students to research an issue of their choice, or just offering enrichment, social justice units can be a great way to boost student engagement while challenging them to up their ELA skills.

How I Became Interested In Social Justice Literature Units

In my first few years of teaching, I struggled to engage my students. The curriculum I was given just wasn’t pulling them in. The material didn’t feel relevant.

But I did see that my students had a strong sense of justice. They cared deeply about what was fair and what wasn’t.

So, I tried something new. I brought in a brand-new (at the time) novel that dealt with a problem that felt real and immediate.

You can read more about my experience teaching The Hate U Give right here, but I’ll skip to the ending: everything changed.

My students were immediately engaged. And for the first time ever, they had a lot to say. Discussions were no longer pulling teeth.

They were learning. And I was looking forward to teaching every day.

About These Social Justice Activities For High School Students

While the social justice activities included in this blog post are designed with high school students in mind, most, if not all, can be adapted for middle school students. 

If you’re adapting for younger students and worried about what their parents may think of your unit, consider limiting students to studying a social issue from the past.

The Civil Rights Movement is a relatively “safe topic” to study while introducing young students to complex topics like human rights, civic participation, and other social justice concepts. They can study the social justice actions of figures like Martin Luther King, Jr. or the Freedom Riders. 

For older students, you can introduce more divisive topics like mass incarceration and police brutality.

Social change is a topic that all young people should study!

I also created these social justice activities with the ELA teacher in mind, but social studies teachers are more than welcome to use them, too! (Anyone else feel like there is a ton of overlap in our content areas?!)

Regardless of your content area, these activities provide an opportunity to apply those English language arts skills.

Social Justice Activities for High School Students #1: Analyze a Social Injustice

Whether you’re studying one injustice as a whole class or students are focusing on injustices of their choosing, step one will always be to analyze it.

Easier said than done, though, right?

Every social justice issue is complex and layered. How do you get students to start thinking about them critically?

One way is to have students identify the key players in the social justice issue.

Every injustice has victims. But don’t overlook the importance of identifying who in society benefits from the injustice.

Identifying who wins if an injustice continues is often enlightening for students (and adults!). 

There are a number of different ways to do this. If you’re teaching about a specific issue as part of a social justice unit, you could always present this information to your students. Even a slideshow can get students feeling passionate if you’re studying the right injustice.

Alternatively, students can do their own research individually or with a small group. This works well if you’re teaching a broad social justice unit or want students to choose their own topic to dive into.

Use A Graphic Organizer To Help Students Break Down Issues

I like to use this graphic organizer to help students really break down a social justice issue. This graphic organizer consists of four boxes labeled “Target,” “Perpetrator,” “Bystander,” and “Ally.” Students must identify each type of person for a social injustice.

The beauty of this worksheet is its flexibility. You can use it to talk to students about a single, fictional issue in a book you’ve read. Or, students can fill it out based on a real-world social problem. 

But it helps students to understand the complexity of an issue to get this all on paper before diving deeper. Plus, filling out the graphic organizer as a class allows for discussions to begin and questions to surface. 

You can grab this graphic organizer for free by signing up for my email list below!

Social Justice Activities for High School Students #2: The Social Justice Speech Project

If studying one particular social justice issue is the focal point of your unit, then presentation-style projects are probably unnecessary. 

But there’s no shortage of social justice issues in the world. Having students choose their own (or choose from a predetermined list of current issues) can help with student buy-in and engagement. 

Once they have their topics, utilize all the resources available to you to help students learn. If you’re lucky to still have a librarian in your school, this is where they shine. My librarian has put together research presentations and gathered materials for me. 

But for those of you without librarians (or, sadly, school libraries at all), the internet will suffice. 

With this new research, students can then write a social justice speech–complete with next-step solutions for their audience–and present it to the class.

If you’d like to assign a speech like this, but don’t have time for the prep work, you can grab my Social Justice Speech Project right here. 

Not only will students learn about a social issue of their choosing, but they’ll further develop their speaking and listening skills!

Social Justice Activities for High School Students #3: The Social Justice Leaflet Project

Another assessment option is to have students create a Social Justice Leaflet.

This social justice project is a great option if you don’t have a lot of class time to devote to a project, or if you’d rather have students work on writing skills. 

Many activists have used leaflets to inform and inspire before. Why not your students, too?

My Social Justice Research Project uses the leaflets of The White Rose Nazi-resistance group as inspiration. You can get it here. 

Students will read through and analyze one of The White Rose group’s leaflets as a mentor text. Then, they’ll create their own leaflet about a social justice issue of their choosing (or your assigning).

Social Justice Activities for High School Students #4: Read a Social Justice Novel

Ok, this is my jam!

The last decade has given us tons of new young adult literature with social justice themes. Find one that relates to your topic or unit and assign it to your students. 

If social justice literature is your unit, you could even consider doing a social justice literature circle!

(You can find my blog post on running literature circles here.)

If this idea is appealing to you, I have a Black Lives Matter-inspired social justice literature circle unit you can grab right here!

Once you’ve chosen your novel(s), create discussion questions that tie into the important issues in the novel. Discussions are crucial for helping students process a difficult topic, develop critical thinking skills, and further practice their social skills.

Not sure where to start? I have several units available for social justice novel units. You can find them here:

• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• Dear Martin by Nic Stone
• All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
• Internment by Samira Ahmed

Social Justice Activities #5: Make Social Justice Feel Real

Ok. Vague title for this section. 

But here’s what I mean: do whatever you can to show students that social justice goes beyond the classroom. These ideas will be harder to implement and take more planning (and possibly funding), but they’ll also have a huge impact. 

If possible, see if you can take a field trip to somewhere like a civil rights museum.

Or, you could bring in a guest speaker (or have one Zoom in live with your class). Guest speakers could be from local organizations that can explain the group’s cause and how they seek to make a change. You could also contact nonprofit organizations near you whose members could come in and explain how they seek social change.

Maybe you have students conduct a service project (if your students require service hours for graduation, this could be a double-whammy!). Consider partnering with a member of the school staff (like a social worker or guidance counselor) who helps make volunteer or community connections to make this happen.

You could even have students analyze the social media platforms of a social justice movement or different organizations to show them how simple–and powerful–social justice action can be. 

Look around, reach out, and get creative. Show students that social justice isn’t just a school unit–it’s a personal responsibility outside of the classroom.

I highly recommend partnering up with another staff member for organizing things like this! See if your librarian, school counselors, or social workers have any helpful connections.

Conclusion

Any social justice unit should consist of deeply analyzing the injustice, researching it, and trying to create change. This can be done on a small or large scale, depending on the time and resources you have, but students should feel empowered at the end.

If you’re brave enough to take on controversial topics in your classroom, I think you’ll be excited to see how much buy-in you get from students. Our students believe in things being “fair,” and when the world isn’t, they get vocal. Use that to engage them in practicing these essential skills.

Done right, your social justice unit will be your students’ favorite of the school year!