Ethnic Studies  Teacher Resource 

Why was this created to share our work?

A wealth of ethnic studies curriculum has been developed by past and current district educators that can be a tremendous resource for both those teaching this content for the first time and veteran teachers who wish to improve their practice. 

The development of curriculum that is responsive to our students' experiences, interests and academic needs is a true labor of love. Many educators yearn to share their work, receive feedback on it and see it implemented and adapted in other classrooms. 

How can we better use our time & expertise?

Without a structured way to access each other’s materials, many of us continue to “recreate the wheel,” spending hours writing new lesson plans that could have been better spent adapting already existing materials and learning from our peers.  

By providing teachers with a diversity of materials for addressing content, this crowdsourced curriculum library will allow teachers the time needed to be responsive to the specific passions, interests and experiences of their students, facilitate the teaching of current events, and capitalize on each individual teacher's unique areas of expertise and creativity. 

What topics are covered by this curriculum? 

Materials shared in this online library address the four OUSD Ethnic Studies Framework themes: 

• Identity

• Power, Privilege, and Oppression

• Resistance and Liberation

• Action

There are also materials included that support key ethnic studies practices: restorative justice, cultural celebration, community-based learning, personal reflection, current events analysis, academic discussion, among others.  

What are the agreements that will allow access to this curriculum? 

All OUSD teachers who teach a course aligned with the Ethnic Studies Framework will be offered access to this library. Teachers who have access to this library have agreed to:

• Credit the creators of materials borrowed when presenting curriculum to professional audiences 

• Not share materials created by another teacher without their permission 

We encourage teachers to contact each other to express appreciation for materials you’ve used and share new materials you created that were inspired by others' work. 

BUILDING BLOCKS for Student Development:

To realize our vision of students developing the skills and capacities to analyze, navigate and take action on issues of race, identity and power, Ethnic Studies should be incorporated into each grade level to grow students' understanding of self and community over time.  Throughout the OUSD experience, students can develop their autoethnography and story of self, culminating in their Statement of Purpose for college applications.

Here are the building blocks areas of focus for PreK-8 to set the foundation for students before they enter their 9th grade Ethnic Studies course:

All OUSD teachers who teach a course aligned with the Ethnic Studies Framework will be offered access to this library. 

All teachers who have access to this library have agreed to:

• Credit the creators of materials borrowed when presenting curriculum to professional audiences 

• Not share materials created by other teachers without their permission 

We encourage teachers to contact each other to express appreciation for materials you’ve used and share new materials you created inspired by other's work. 

Teachers who no longer wish to share can easily withdraw their materials from the Google Drive library at any point by changing the sharing settings on their folders.