Additional Resources

Ackland Art Museum

For more than 20 years, the Ackland has supported K-12 classroom teachers with a wide range of educational opportunities, both in the Museum and in the classroom. The Ackland’s goal is to engage students with experiences that directly support teachers’ objectives in visual arts, language arts, social studies, and other subjects outlined within the North Carolina Essential Standards. In the Museum galleries, guided tours engage students in interactive, fun activities that reinforce the academic skills and subject matter they are learning in the classroom. In addition, the Ackland offers outreach programs and materials that teachers can use in the classroom before and after a trip to the Museum which encourage lively discussions and include activities for all  learners. The Ackland also provides teacher  workshops for  incorporating art into the K-12 classroom. For more information, click here.

African American Heritage Commission of NC

The Commission seeks to preserve, protect, and promote North Carolina’s African American history, arts, and culture for all people. Their projects include Oasis Spaces, Africa to Carolina, and Freedom Roads. In 2020 Carolina K-12 began working with the Commission to create curriculum and professional development for teachers that elevates the incredible history of African Americans across the state.

The Center for Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education for North Carolina

The Center for Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education for North Carolina (formerly the Holocaust Speakers Bureau) assists local educators and organizations deal with the challenging topics of Holocaust, genocide, tolerance, and human rights. In 2014, Carolina K-12 partnered with the Center to develop lesson plans to accompany the Center’s short documentaries of Holocaust survivors living in North Carolina. These lessons can be accessed in Carolina K-12’s Database of K-12 Resources; links to view each film online are contained within the lesson.

Center for the Study of the Middle East at UNC-CH

The Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies promotes understanding of the Middle East through teaching, research, and community outreach. Carolina K-12 parents with the Center on offering programming to support K-12 teachers in gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the Middle East, through programs such as the Global Islam & the Arts Teaching Fellows Learn more about the Center’s outreach here and to join their listserv, contact Outreach Director Emma Harver at harver@email.unc.edu.

Constitutional Rights Foundation

Carolina K-12 has partnered with the Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) on various initiatives since 2011, including the Civic Action Project (CAP), Deliberating in a Democracy Americas,and the Civil Conversation method. Through these projects and more, as well as free curriculum resources, CRF (a non-profit, non-partisan, community-based organization) supports teachers in ensuring America’s young people learn about the importance of civic participation in a democratic society.

The National Humanities Center

The National Humanities Center provides teachers with materials and instructional strategies to make them more effective in the classroom and rekindle their enthusiasm for the subjects they teach. Their online lesson plans include key questions, essential understandings, and primary sources with context, background, and discussion excerpts for classroom teaching. History and literature teachers can also sign up to participate in live, interactive professional development webinars, conducted by leading scholars. (North Carolina teachers can enter the code HHV15 to waive the webinar fee!) Over 100 on demand webinars are also archived on their site. Additional resources such as collections of historical documents, literary texts, and works of art thematically organized with notes and discussion questions, annotated and excerpted for classroom use can be found on their site.

North Carolina Council for the Social Studies (NCCSS)

NCCSS provides support to social studies educators across North Carolina, promoting the importance of the social studies in the curriculum, and striving to ensure that all North Carolina students develop skills and appreciations of social studies from the global to local perspective in order to become productive citizens in today’s changing world. For more information about NCCSS’s annual social studies conference, their awards and small grants programs, membership, and more, click here.

North Carolina Museum of History

In 2014, Carolina K-12 and the North Carolina Museum of History launched a collaborative professional development series, Hidden Histories: What Your History Textbook Left Out (funded by the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust) and followed this up in 2018 with the launch of our Teaching Hard History series. Learn more about upcoming programs and view recordings of past virtual programming here.

North Carolina Science Festival

The North Carolina Science Festival is a multi-day celebration showcasing science and technology. The Festival highlights the educational, cultural and financial impact of science in our state. Through hands-on activities, science talks, lab tours, nature experiences, exhibits and performances, the Festival engages a wide range of public audiences while inspiring future generations.  As supporters of tomorrow’s scientists, educators are critical to the Festival’s mission. Educators can visit the Festival’s website (ncsciencefestival.org) to apply for K-12 programs offered for afterschool, elementary, middle and high school classes, and learn more about the many public events that take place across the state during the Festival.

The North Carolina City & County Management Association

The North Carolina City & County Management Association’s (NCCCMA) Civic Education Project (broken link. in the process of fixing) works to educate youth and adults about local government in North Carolina. The Project’s Local Government Seminars for teachers and Citizens Academy Guide ensure that all of our communities’ citizens have the opportunity to learn about local government and become involved in civic life.

The NCCCMA provides excellent resources for teachers, such as an online local government textbook, which educates the reader about how counties, cities, towns, and villages affect our lives. Explore the online textbook by clicking here. Further, Carolina K-12 partners with the NCCCMA to offer Local Government Seminars each year, innovative and engaging trainings for teachers, after school providers, and other education stakeholders on teaching about North Carolina local government.

For more information about the NCCCMA, click here. For inquiries about upcoming Local Government Seminars, check our Upcoming Trainings page or contact Paul Bonnici at bonnici@unc.edu.

Talking “The Talk” with Dr. Sonny Kelly

Dr. Sonny Kelly is an acclaimed performance artist, writer and director of incredible live theatre, including his one man show called “The Talk,” which dramatizes the difficult conversation he had with his own son about race and specifically racial violence in America, after the 2015 murder of Freddie Gray. As one of Carolina K-12’s most popular presenters, Dr. Kelly is skilled at helping teachers build equitable, inclusive, and loving classroom communities that can effectively engage in discussing controversial topics. Learn more about Dr. Kelly’s work and his own workshop offerings here.

Mike Wiley Productions

Acclaimed actor and playwright Mike Wiley introduces students and communities to the legacies of Emmett Till, Henry “Box” Brown, the Freedom Riders, and more through his unique and interactive performances, many of which are one-man-shows in which he plays multiple characters. Each work in the company’s repertoire is designed to inspire young audiences to examine America’s racial history, teach the lessons of the past and encourage the application of these truths to the present. Learn more about Mike Wiley’s work, and how you can arrange for a performance at your school, here. For accompanying lesson plans on various topics of African American history from Carolina K-12, click here.