An Introduction to
Facing History's English Language Arts Collections
START
Facing History's English Language Arts resources are designed to help middle and high school educators create learning environments where students know that they belong and that their voices matter.
Here's how we do it ...
Our Approach
For 50 years, Facing History's approach to humanities education has balanced the mind, heart, and conscience. Our ELA materials apply this approach to the study of literature and writing, integrating literacy skills development with social-emotional learning and civics education practices.
Facing History offers uniquely curated English Language Arts collections for grades 7–12 aligned to core Facing History themes.
We Know It Works
of students in Facing History partner schools have observed ways that Facing History positively impacts their school community.
95%
of Facing History students agreed that it is important to work for positive social change.
93%
of students in a Facing History classroom were more likely than their peers to report that the class motivated them to learn.
94%
Here's what teachers are saying about Facing History ELA resources ...
"The resources made me feel seen and have empowered me to move beyond the fear of the unknown that comes with any politically charged text ... and teach my students about their power and how they can impact the world and stand up for others with their voice and writing. Thank you for this gift!"
"As always, all of the resources are extremely valuable and I'm very, very grateful to [Facing History] for providing teachers, who are often limited on time and energy, what they need to engage students with meaningful content."
"I have been cobbling resources together, but now I have so many resources that are sequenced and intentionally created. I appreciate it so much!!!"
You can use a collection to ...
Select each number to learn more about the key features of Facing History's ELA collections.
Prioritize Agency
Foster Empathy
Develop Identity
Make Connections
Center Adolescence
Diversify Stories
Classroom-Ready Resources
Our thematic collections include:
A back-to-school toolkit to help you build community with your students
Introductory lessons to build conceptual understanding of collection themes
Multi-genre text sets for grades 7–8, 9–10, and 11–12
Teaching guides and mini-guides for specific works of literature
An ELA Unit Planning Guide to help you design a unit for a book of your choosing
A book club guide with the tools to launch student-centered book clubs
A whole-school read planning guide
On-demand professional learning
The Collections
Coming of Age in a Complex World
Collection Highlights:
What Does It Mean to Come of Age? | Introductory Lesson
This collection invites students to explore the complexity of identity and develop a sense of agency as they reflect on what it means to grow up in today's complex, interconnected world.
Being Seen: Becoming Who You Want to Be | Text Set for Grades 7–8
Identity and Storytelling | Text Set for Grades 9–10
Power, Agency, and Voice | Text Set for Grades 11–12
Teaching Brown Girl Dreaming | Book Guide
The Collections
Collection Highlights:
Borders and Belonging
How Do Borders Shape Belonging? | Introductory Lesson (1 of 2)
From Fitting In to Belonging: Understanding the Forces That Shape Belonging | Text Set for Grades 7–8
This collection invites students to explore the complicated world of belonging and the tangible and intangible borders that shape it.
Crossing Borders: Building Empathy Through Storytelling | Text Set for Grades 9–10
Reimagining Home | Text Set for Grades 11–12
Teaching Everything Sad Is Untrue | Book Guide
6 Mini-Guides for Popular Young Adult Titles
The Collections
Teaching Holocaust Literature
Collection Highlights:
Teaching Holocaust Literature: A Facing History Resource Guide
This collection supports planning and implementing a Holocaust literature unit that engages the head, heart, and conscience.
Historical Context Mini-Lessons for Teaching Holocaust Literature
Teaching Night | Book Guide
Teaching Somewhere There Is Still a Sun | Book Guide
Teaching with Holocaust Diaries: A Guide to Salvaged Pages
The Collections
Additional collections will be released on a rolling basis.
Implementation Support
Each collection also includes a downloadable collection overview with suggested pathways through the content based on different classroom contexts and available class time.
See Examples
Resource Spotlight
Explore some of the classroom-ready resources available in the collections by selecting the items below.
An Introductory Lesson from Borders and Belonging
A Text Set from the Coming of Age Collection
The ELA Unit Planning Guide
Strategies for Inclusive Classrooms
Want to Learn More?
Learn more about Facing History's approach to English Language Arts and the collections with the resources listed below:
These links will open in a new window.
English Language Arts at Facing History
Coming of Age in a Complex World Collection
Borders & Belonging Collection
Teaching Holocaust Literature Collection
Professional Learning for ELA Educators
What's the Word?
Want to stay up to date? Consider subscribing to our monthly newsletter specifically for ELA educators.
Written by ELA curriculum developers, What's the Word? highlights resources from our new and existing catalog of curriculum resources, teaching strategies, and professional learning offerings. Each edition also features grab-and-go activities and book recommendations for your classroom and your own professional learning.
Read a Past Edition
Subscribe
Thank You
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Facing History's innovative approach to teaching English Language Arts. We hope to have the opportunity to work with you in the future.
Foster empathy, perspective-taking, and other social-emotional competencies
The classroom learning experiences open students’ eyes to new perspectives, challenge their biases, build empathy for a wide range of human experience, and prepare them to become agents of change in their schools and communities.
Nurture the development of reading and writing identities
Students engage with multimodal and multi-genre texts and make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections. Frequent writing opportunities—including reflective, narrative, persuasive, and creative writing—boost retention, deepen students’ conceptual understanding, and prepare them to be creative participants in the world.
Select any image to see a larger version.
Diversify the range of stories students read
Central to our work is the conviction that students should read literature as “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors” (Bishop, 1990). Their reading should affirm their identities and transport them to worlds that they wouldn’t otherwise experience or understand. Our resources center young people’s lived experiences as well as voices that have traditionally been marginalized or excluded from the curriculum.
Invite students to connect literature to history, the contemporary world, and their lives
At their core, Facing History materials invite students into explorations of human behavior and decision-making. Through literature, writing, and discussion, students connect the moral choices, systems of power, and issues of equity represented in a text to issues in the real world.
Prioritize student voice and agency
Materials support teachers in developing classrooms where students grapple with complex ideas in small and large groups, prioritizing dialogue as a tool for community-building and meaning-making.
Anchor instruction in the ethical, social, and emotional concerns of adolescence
Adolescence is a dynamic time of growth and possibility when young people explore their identities and form values, passions, and goals that will shape their futures. The themes and activities of our ELA resources center adolescents’ urgent questions about justice, support their desire for respect and belonging, and nurture their capacity for reflection.
ELA Intro
Online Learning
Created on September 16, 2025
Start designing with a free template
Discover more than 1500 professional designs like these:
View
Smart Presentation
View
Practical Presentation
View
Essential Presentation
View
Akihabara Presentation
View
Flow Presentation
View
Terrazzo Presentation
View
Dynamic Visual Presentation
Explore all templates
Transcript
An Introduction to
Facing History's English Language Arts Collections
START
Facing History's English Language Arts resources are designed to help middle and high school educators create learning environments where students know that they belong and that their voices matter.
Here's how we do it ...
Our Approach
For 50 years, Facing History's approach to humanities education has balanced the mind, heart, and conscience. Our ELA materials apply this approach to the study of literature and writing, integrating literacy skills development with social-emotional learning and civics education practices.
Facing History offers uniquely curated English Language Arts collections for grades 7–12 aligned to core Facing History themes.
We Know It Works
of students in Facing History partner schools have observed ways that Facing History positively impacts their school community.
95%
of Facing History students agreed that it is important to work for positive social change.
93%
of students in a Facing History classroom were more likely than their peers to report that the class motivated them to learn.
94%
Here's what teachers are saying about Facing History ELA resources ...
"The resources made me feel seen and have empowered me to move beyond the fear of the unknown that comes with any politically charged text ... and teach my students about their power and how they can impact the world and stand up for others with their voice and writing. Thank you for this gift!"
"As always, all of the resources are extremely valuable and I'm very, very grateful to [Facing History] for providing teachers, who are often limited on time and energy, what they need to engage students with meaningful content."
"I have been cobbling resources together, but now I have so many resources that are sequenced and intentionally created. I appreciate it so much!!!"
You can use a collection to ...
Select each number to learn more about the key features of Facing History's ELA collections.
Prioritize Agency
Foster Empathy
Develop Identity
Make Connections
Center Adolescence
Diversify Stories
Classroom-Ready Resources
Our thematic collections include:
A back-to-school toolkit to help you build community with your students
Introductory lessons to build conceptual understanding of collection themes
Multi-genre text sets for grades 7–8, 9–10, and 11–12
Teaching guides and mini-guides for specific works of literature
An ELA Unit Planning Guide to help you design a unit for a book of your choosing
A book club guide with the tools to launch student-centered book clubs
A whole-school read planning guide
On-demand professional learning
The Collections
Coming of Age in a Complex World
Collection Highlights:
What Does It Mean to Come of Age? | Introductory Lesson
This collection invites students to explore the complexity of identity and develop a sense of agency as they reflect on what it means to grow up in today's complex, interconnected world.
Being Seen: Becoming Who You Want to Be | Text Set for Grades 7–8
Identity and Storytelling | Text Set for Grades 9–10
Power, Agency, and Voice | Text Set for Grades 11–12
Teaching Brown Girl Dreaming | Book Guide
The Collections
Collection Highlights:
Borders and Belonging
How Do Borders Shape Belonging? | Introductory Lesson (1 of 2)
From Fitting In to Belonging: Understanding the Forces That Shape Belonging | Text Set for Grades 7–8
This collection invites students to explore the complicated world of belonging and the tangible and intangible borders that shape it.
Crossing Borders: Building Empathy Through Storytelling | Text Set for Grades 9–10
Reimagining Home | Text Set for Grades 11–12
Teaching Everything Sad Is Untrue | Book Guide
6 Mini-Guides for Popular Young Adult Titles
The Collections
Teaching Holocaust Literature
Collection Highlights:
Teaching Holocaust Literature: A Facing History Resource Guide
This collection supports planning and implementing a Holocaust literature unit that engages the head, heart, and conscience.
Historical Context Mini-Lessons for Teaching Holocaust Literature
Teaching Night | Book Guide
Teaching Somewhere There Is Still a Sun | Book Guide
Teaching with Holocaust Diaries: A Guide to Salvaged Pages
The Collections
Additional collections will be released on a rolling basis.
Implementation Support
Each collection also includes a downloadable collection overview with suggested pathways through the content based on different classroom contexts and available class time.
See Examples
Resource Spotlight
Explore some of the classroom-ready resources available in the collections by selecting the items below.
An Introductory Lesson from Borders and Belonging
A Text Set from the Coming of Age Collection
The ELA Unit Planning Guide
Strategies for Inclusive Classrooms
Want to Learn More?
Learn more about Facing History's approach to English Language Arts and the collections with the resources listed below:
These links will open in a new window.
English Language Arts at Facing History
Coming of Age in a Complex World Collection
Borders & Belonging Collection
Teaching Holocaust Literature Collection
Professional Learning for ELA Educators
What's the Word?
Want to stay up to date? Consider subscribing to our monthly newsletter specifically for ELA educators.
Written by ELA curriculum developers, What's the Word? highlights resources from our new and existing catalog of curriculum resources, teaching strategies, and professional learning offerings. Each edition also features grab-and-go activities and book recommendations for your classroom and your own professional learning.
Read a Past Edition
Subscribe
Thank You
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Facing History's innovative approach to teaching English Language Arts. We hope to have the opportunity to work with you in the future.
Foster empathy, perspective-taking, and other social-emotional competencies
The classroom learning experiences open students’ eyes to new perspectives, challenge their biases, build empathy for a wide range of human experience, and prepare them to become agents of change in their schools and communities.
Nurture the development of reading and writing identities
Students engage with multimodal and multi-genre texts and make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections. Frequent writing opportunities—including reflective, narrative, persuasive, and creative writing—boost retention, deepen students’ conceptual understanding, and prepare them to be creative participants in the world.
Select any image to see a larger version.
Diversify the range of stories students read
Central to our work is the conviction that students should read literature as “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors” (Bishop, 1990). Their reading should affirm their identities and transport them to worlds that they wouldn’t otherwise experience or understand. Our resources center young people’s lived experiences as well as voices that have traditionally been marginalized or excluded from the curriculum.
Invite students to connect literature to history, the contemporary world, and their lives
At their core, Facing History materials invite students into explorations of human behavior and decision-making. Through literature, writing, and discussion, students connect the moral choices, systems of power, and issues of equity represented in a text to issues in the real world.
Prioritize student voice and agency
Materials support teachers in developing classrooms where students grapple with complex ideas in small and large groups, prioritizing dialogue as a tool for community-building and meaning-making.
Anchor instruction in the ethical, social, and emotional concerns of adolescence
Adolescence is a dynamic time of growth and possibility when young people explore their identities and form values, passions, and goals that will shape their futures. The themes and activities of our ELA resources center adolescents’ urgent questions about justice, support their desire for respect and belonging, and nurture their capacity for reflection.