Time for Change

How can teachers support their students to be changemakers? As part of the Time for Change initiative, First Book, the largest online community of educators serving young people from low-income communities, and Ashoka have developed a series of four stories from communities that reflect the diversity and economic and social challenges experienced by educators and students across the country.

These stories are part of a toolkit that will help educators create an environment where students believe they can be changemakers, see themselves as powerful, and identify ways that they can make a difference in their classrooms, schools and communities. In the toolkit, each story is accompanied by a discussion question, journal prompt, and changemaking tips and best practices.

Below you will find all four stories in text and video format.

Download the full toolkit here

Seeding Change: When a School Garden Becomes a Lifeline for Healthy Food Access

STAR School is a pre-K through 8th grade public charter school in Leupp, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation. Sustainability is a core principle – and the facility is fully supported by wind turbines and solar – as is empathy, the foundational skill for changemaking. Hannah and Nariah, both 13, are two...

School Libraries as Hubs for Nurturing Changemakers

In Santa Ana, California, one school librarian is shaping a new pathway for his students. At a time when students and educators continue to struggle with a constantly shifting landscape of pandemic impacts, a divisive political arena and strains on student well being, Dustin Alexander is creating a...

Making Financial Education Accessible

Isaac, 16, of Greencastle, Indiana is the founder of Students Teaching Finance (STF), an initiative that equips high schoolers with the tools they need to bring financial instruction to K-8 students in their communities. Isaac piloted STF at Greencastle High School (where he is a student) leading...

Linking STEAM to Changemaking: a powerful combination for girls

Our Sisters School, a middle school for girls in New Bedford, Massachusetts, gives students opportunities to explore their passions while contributing to promote change in their communities. This story follows the changemaker journey of Anyis, as she explores her passion for engineering and opens...