Our Offerings for Schools

We're excited to provide our curriculum and professional learning workshops to schools and districts across the country. Email us at info@vocaljustice.org for more information.

Storytelling for Social Change Curriculum

Grounded in research and youth input, our 28-lesson curriculum helps teachers transform their classes into communities where youth learn how to advocate for social justice, while growing academically. Every lesson begins with a community circle and collective breathing, inviting young people to check in with themselves and hold space in community before engaging with the core content.

The curriculum is aligned with Common Core, Social Justice, and SEL standards. Teachers have integrated it into English, History, Advisory, and other classes.

Unit 1: Self-Awareness
Youth explore their personal histories to more deeply understand and define themselves for themselves.

Unit 2: Social Awareness
Youth leverage empathy to understand how oppression impacts different communities and learn how to identify the causes and consequences of injustices.

Unit 3: Storytelling
Youth analyze how different storytelling strategies and mediums can be leveraged to amplify one’s voice.

Unit 4: Social Change
Youth synthesize their learning in a capstone project, an opportunity to craft a compelling story for social change

Curriculum Units:

Professional Learning Workshops

Our interactive workshops help educators build more healing-centered, justice-aligned classrooms that nurture youth voice. The series leverages educators’ inherent wisdom, as well as historical and current pedagogical practices. Each workshop attends to educators’ wellbeing and offers practical tools that they can apply immediately.

Workshop Offerings:

Storytelling as Pedagogy
Educators are introduced to storytelling as pedagogy and learn practical ways they can leverage storytelling to foster youth voice and activism in the classroom.

The Authentic and Strategic Griot
Educators explore using ethos, pathos, & logos to develop authentic and persuasive storytelling techniques.

Critical Reflection for Our Collective Good Educators learn how to honor and account for personal identity and bias when teaching across difference by using intellectual and somatic preparation in lesson planning.

Teaching with Care
Educators shift from trauma-informed teaching to a healing-centered practice and learn how to integrate healing into activities that help youth better understand themselves and the world around them.

Packages

Curriculum License

Our 28-lesson Storytelling for Social Change Curriculum for entire school to use, including worksheets and facilitation instructions

Curriculum Support

Monthly check-ins and coaching sessions with teachers implementing our curriculum

Professional Learning

90 minute, virtual or in-person professional learning workshops for educators

Custom Packages

Combine two or more offerings to meet the needs of your youth and educators

Ready to join the movement? Contact us at info@vocaljustice.org to learn more about our offerings and pricing today!

We offer discounted services to school districts who predominantly serve students that are proximate to injustice.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Unfortunately, we can’t offer clear guidance on whether our curriculum can be taught in your learning environment. Each community has its own legal constraints, and as a small nonprofit, we don’t have the capacity to share legal advice with prospective partners.

    What we can share is that our curriculum does explicitly name race and racism, and structural oppression more broadly. Additionally, our curriculum highlights how groups of people with certain identities and experiences have relatively more economic, political, and social power.

    We do not have any lessons that villainize any particular group, or any language that encourages young people to speak ill of individuals.

    While our curriculum is especially important for young people in areas where race-based content is censored, deciding to use our curriculum there is delicate decision. Final decisions around curriculum adoption should and will be made by each educator / community.

    Please review our sample lesson plan for more context, and share with relevant experts in your school or district for their counsel. If additional information is needed to inform a decision, please reach out to us at info@vocaljustice.org.

  • Our curriculum treats self-awareness and -reflection as the starting point for understanding the world around us. It also prioritizes wellness and healing through the use of somatic exercises in each lesson. Finally, our curriculum focuses on ethical storytelling as the vehicle for social change.

  • Because of our commitment to equity, we offer sliding-scale pricing. We determine pricing based on a partner’s budget, as well as the number of teachers and/or young people who will engage with our offerings. We also offer discounts for partners who purchase multiple offerings. Contact us at info@vocaljustice.og to learn more.

  • Only VJ Teacher Fellows get access to our full curriculum for free. We pay our fellows to share feedback on curriculum implementation, which helps us refine our offerings. Learn more about our fellowship here, and consider applying!

  • Absolutely! We’re flexible and want to respond to the needs of the community.

  • Not yet, but we’re considering it for the future. Sign up for our newsletter to get updates on changes to our offerings.