Girl Rising asks students to explore the profound barriers faced by girls around the world to their education and their independence. Girl Rising also encourages students to look within themselves, at their own communities, and at the challenges that exist closer to home. This resource is designed to help educators and students – primarily those living in the United States – do just that.
This resource is not meant to be a comprehensive review. The goal is to provide a scaffold to extend the Girl Rising conversation, to inspire meaningful discussions about the very real inequities that exist in the US, including those around gender, race and class, to guide students in making connections to their own experiences and – as always – to encourage young people to use their voices and agency for change.The lessons in this resource can be presented through open-ended discussion, student-led research, and real-world application.
Looking Inward: Issues of Educational Equity in the US is designed to be flexible and can be integrated into Girl Rising lessons or taught as a follow-up lesson(s) at the end of a Girl Rising Unit. The resource is divided into three sections: Where We Live, What We Have, and Who We Are. Each section contains sub-topics with context, relevant statistics, supplementary resources for teachers and students, and discussion questions. An Activity Addendum provides suggestions for general activities, as well as specific activities connected to each topic.
