Students learn about civil disobedience and social responsibility throughout their school years, and the life of Mahatma Gandhi is a great introduction to this topic. To begin this unit, I first read the informational text “How Salt Shook an Empire“ by Sara Wilson Etienne, which brings a complex topic down to younger readers’ levels. After reading the text, I would introduce the Benjamin Franklin conversation and ask students to identify the ways that Gandhi and his followers lived by Franklin’s advice.
Level: Elementary Social Studies or English/Language Arts
Subject Area: World History
Author: Tiffany Heitman