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A teacher engaging with a diverse group of attentive middle school students around a table

Minnesota Ethnic Studies · Grades 5–8

Whose Story?
Whose Future?

A free, openly licensed ethnic studies course for Minnesota grades 5–8. Lessons and materials that center the histories, resistance, and ways of knowing of Indigenous peoples and communities of color.

Education is liberation.

Select Your Grade Level

Find age-appropriate resources aligned with Minnesota ethnic studies standards

Start Here

New to ethnic studies? These eight topics will orient you to the course before you start browsing.

Middle school students observing and discussing a large artwork on the classroom wall

Visual Thinking Strategies

The core protocol behind every lesson in this course.

Three students weaving colorful threads together in a hands-on identity activity

The Three Strands

Identity, Resistance, and Ways of Knowing — what they mean in practice.

A teacher diagramming a connected curriculum framework on a whiteboard

LESMC & the 7 Cs

The framework from the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium.

Diverse students in an engaged classroom discussion with hands raised

Critical Consciousness

The double helix of holistic humanization and critical awareness.

A teacher supporting a multilingual student one-on-one with reading materials

EL Scaffolding

How every lesson supports multilingual learners from the ground up.

Students studying a large map of Minnesota with community photos pinned to it

Minnesota Context

The communities at the center of this course.

A teacher reflecting thoughtfully at a desk with lesson materials

Teacher Positionality

Teaching content about communities you may not belong to.

An organized classroom with a teacher holding a lesson plan binder

How Lessons Work

Structure, timing, and what to expect in each unit.