Teaching Resources

Resources to help faculty, particularly within the American Cultures curriculum, develop course assignments, lesson plans, and syllabi, among other things.

High School Ethnic Studies Initiative Resource Hub

About

Welcome to the UC Berkeley HSESI Resource Hub, a curated collection of materials designed to support students and instructors in preparation for the rollout of California’s high school Ethnic Studies graduation requirement. Our hub aims to foster a deep understanding of oppression, liberation, and the intricate tapestry of social movements that shape society. Whether you’re seeking to enrich your teaching practices, expand your knowledge...

Teaching in Summer Workshop Series

Every year we host workshops that focus on some of the best approaches to teaching an intensive six- or ten-week summer course at UC Berkeley. Among the topics discussed include strategies for managing extended summer class time, what to expect from summer student enrollment, the specifics of the American Cultures curriculum requirement, and teaching to issues of racial and economic justice in diverse classrooms.

Teaching Tools

About

Explore our curated resources to support your Ethnic Studies teaching! Discover media clips libraries, oral histories, and our HSESI Teaching Resource Hub. Please note that our resource hub is currently in development, but is available for early preview, especially for feedback and suggestions on how to best develop it. For any questions, please email hsesi@berkeley.edu.

Oral Histories

Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving, and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. As a method, it involves an interview that is recorded and made available to the public. Oral histories become primary sources that supplement and enrich our collective understanding of places, communities, and events in the past.

ACES Publications

About

The following articles have been published on the American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program, including links where you can read them. For any questions, please email americancultures@berkeley.edu.

ACES Love, Study, Struggle: Community-Grounded Learning Lab

About

We are excited to welcome Dr. Michael Schulze-Oechtering as the facilitator for a new spring 2023 American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) seminar entitled “Love, Study, Struggle: Community-Grounded Learning Lab.” The seminar will meet three times a month for students enrolled in ACES courses and Ethnic Studies students engaged in community-field courses. During this seminar, Dr. Schulze-Oechtering will frame the historical role that community-engaged pedagogy played in the early development of Ethnic Studies and facilitate seminar discussions allowing students to...

Student Guide for Community Organizing

Written Itzel Calvo Medina Author's Statement:

"I wrote this guide as a collection of anecdotes and lessons I have learned from being an undocumented, working-class woman of color who is also an organizer and a student. I want this guide to inspire people to organize in their communities and develop the tools they need in the ongoing fight for liberation and freedom.

This guide is not a step by step manual for you to join a movement and be successful, but rather a testimony to the many things you can and will face when you’re starting to organize." -...

AC Course and Assignment Support (Summer 2020)

We hope that everyone is safe and well! The waves of change keep breaking across our teaching plans, and as the largest curriculum at UC Berkeley (16,000 students enrolled across 49 departments each year) we know that the 'lift' in an AC course is heavy. The innovation of the AC community, centered on equity and social justice, has supported the challenges and opportunities of this unique curriculum, and we wanted to reflect some of that back at you. Here are a few ideas that might be useful this semester as you consider how to face the online...

Language Guide for Communicating About Those Involved In The Carceral System

About

Language is not merely descriptive, it is creative. For too long we have borne the burden of having to recreate our humanity in the eyes of those who would have us permanently defined by a system that grew directly out of the institution of American slavery, an institution that depended on the dehumanization of the people it enslaved. It is in this spirit that we, the formerly incarcerated and system-impacted academics who identify as the Underground Scholars Initiative (USI) at the University of California, Berkeley, call on the media, students, and public to...

Race - The Power of an Illusion Website

Race—The Power of an Illusion, one of the most widely-used documentary series ever in formal and non-formal education in the US, can now take advantage of a new companion website at www.racepowerofanillusion.org

The companion website was created by the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, the American Cultures Center, and the Media Resource Center at the University of California, Berkeley in partnership with the series...