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...

Colorful drawing of students with trash bags and brooms

From Trash to Triumph: Students Turning Waste into Change

Hartran's journey as an educator spans over two decades and currently embraces the diversity of grades from second to fifth in a school of a thousand students. It's in this environment that she has discovered the profound potential of changemaking even within the youngest students. Hartran believes...

Colorful drawing of children holding books and reading

Changemaking in action: from the classroom to the school and beyond

Alyssa’s commitment to education has always been connected to changemaking. Now working at a Title I school as a special education teacher for grades 3 to 5, she navigates the unique needs of students residing in shelters, temporary housing, and grappling with diverse disabilities. As she started in...

Colorful drawing of children inside books

Changemaking starts with changing the inside

A friendly smile framed by long, curly hair, with pinkish tips matching an intense purple wall in her background. That was the image we saw while talking to Victoria, a teacher to 7th and 8th graders at a school in Wyoming, New York, and an ambassador to the Time for Change program. Victoria works...

Colorful drawing of a black boy holding a camera and showing his photos

Empowering Lives: Heidi and Cory's educational path with Time for Change and mental wellness

This story is about two educators from a Title I school district in the US and their experiences implementing the Time for Change program in their state along with their current mental health program. Heidi works in a state level department of public instruction developing and implementing a program...

Colorful drawing of kids assembling a puzzle together

Changing relationship narratives: Sasha and her students's journey with changemaking

In the challenging landscape of a diverse Title I school district, Sasha, a dedicated general education teacher, has discovered the power of integrating changemaking skills into her second-grade classroom. As part of the school’s and district’s equity team, she saw an opportunity to connect the dots...