For Teachers

At SPI, we believe the best learning starts where students already are. Our Curriculum and Pedagogy Development team reimagines familiar lessons in history, English Language Arts, social studies, and civics—creating powerful opportunities for young people to dive into philosophical reflection alongside their peers. Along the way, students not only deepen their understanding of key content and underlying values, but also build essential skills in civil discourse, reading comprehension, persuasive speaking and writing, and metacognition.

Lesson Plans

  • A hand-drawn sketch of scales of justice, with two pans hanging from a central beam.

    Justice

    This lesson can integrated into history lessons that focus on (in)justice: Consider lessons on antebellum America, the Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Movement. In English classes, consider books such as George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird.

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  • A cartoon showing a large, judge-like figure holding a gavel and a gavel, with an umbrella labeled 'Equal Protection' shielding a line of diverse people standing in front of a building labeled 'U.S. Corporations.' The cartoon suggests the idea of legal protection for corporations versus individuals.

    Equal Protection

    This lesson can be tied into history lessons that focus on constitutional law and American civil rights; consider lessons on the Civil War, Jim Crow Laws, Japanese Internment, and anti-miscegination laws.

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  • A black and white drawing of a tram, a man holding a string, a person with a cone, and seven children all with repeating facial expressions, last four with striped shirts, on a curved track.

    Utilitarianism

    This lesson can be tied into history lessons that focus on democracy and governance principles as a central concept; consider lessons on Jim Crow Laws, Japanese Internment, The Civil Rights Act, and vaccination (and other considerations of personal liberty vs. majoritarianism).

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  • Democracy

    This lesson can be integrated into history lessons that focus on democracy as a central concept; consider lessons on federalism,  the founding of the U.S., voting laws and poll taxes, and educational reform.

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  • Tragedy of the Commons

    This lesson can be tied into lessons that focus on environmental stewardship and resource management; consider lessons on the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Colonial America, and the Amazon Rainforest.

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  • Due Process

    This lesson can be tied into lessons that focus on constitutional law, history, and discrimination; consider lessons on Japanese Internment, McCarthyism, and Jim Crow Laws.

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  • Environmental Ethics

    This lesson can be integrated into history lessons that focus on environmental ethics as a central concept; consider lessons on climate change, deforestation, energy resource extraction, urban planning, and ecology.

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  • Control and Surveillance

    This lesson can be integrated into history lessons that focus on governmental or social control as a central concept; consider lessons on policing, Jim Crow laws, the Civil Rights Act, The PATRIOT Act, and Social Media surveillance. 

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