Teaching about Palestine

"Still Without End" by Giuliana Roviello; Courtesy of the Palestine Poster Project. — “Still Without End” by Giuliana Roviello; Courtesy of the Palestine Poster Project.

Finding objective teaching materials about Palestine can be challenging, especially when addressing both current events and their historical roots. To support educators in leading informed, balanced discussions in their classrooms, CCAS offers teacher workshops covering Palestinian history and culture, public lectures on contemporary events, and community teach-ins on topics such as the war in Gaza. Below you will find videos and resources from some of these events, which place ongoing developments in Palestine—past and present—within broader regional and global contexts.

Palestinian Voices in Children’s Literature

Lesson Plans to accompany children’s books

Developed by Dr. Monica Eraqi, these children’s and youth literature lesson plans align with Common Core and C3 Standards and help bring Palestinian voices into the classroom. They were introduced at a hybrid professional-development workshop led by the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI) in partnership with CCAS and the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University and with support from a Title VI U.S. Department of Education grant funding Georgetown’s National Resource Center on the Middle East and North Africa. For more resources on children’s and youth literature, click here.

Lesson Plan for We Are Palestinian by Reem Kassis
Helps students explore key Palestinian cultural symbols and traditions—tatreez embroidery, Dabke, cuisine, poetry, and geography—and understand their significance. Includes grade-level differentiation. Grades 4–6.
Lesson Plan for Lana Makes Purple Pizza by Amanda Najib
Introduces students to Palestinian culture and culinary traditions through the story and a simple Msakhan-inspired cooking activity. Includes written prompts and hands-on options for Grades 3–5.

Gaza In Context Teach-Ins

Video Series

CCAS has supported and contributed to the Gaza in Context Teach-In Series, which is part of the Palestine in Context Project, an initiative led by the Arab Studies Institute and supported by 21 partner organizations. The project convenes weekly conversations, teach-ins, and other activities that introduce our university communities, educators, researchers, and students, as well as the general public, to a host of issues related to the ongoing war on Gaza. This project has hosted prominent speakers such as Diana Buttu, a Palestinian-Canadian lawyer and analyst based in Haifa; Rana Barakat, an associate professor of history at Birzeit University in Palestine; and Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. You can watch videos from the events here.

CCAS Public Events on Palestine

YouTube Playlist

CCAS has held numerous public lectures, workshops, and teach-ins on Palestine over the years, including many held in response to the 2023 war in Gaza. You can find videos from these events on the CCAS YouTube Palestine playlist.

Please see the Additional Resources page for recommendation teaching and background resources on Palestine and on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.