Diversity and Stereotypes

Kharma Banks, Elementary, JM Morehead

Unit (PDF)

Diversity and Stereotypes

Kharma Banks

 

Introduction/Objectives

Have you ever worked with a student that decided they were not going to excel at their own level because others were working on different levels than they were?  I have had so many experiences where students compare themselves to others in order to determine how they will learn.  For example, I have had students that are reading at a kindergarten level decide that they need to read chapter books because their friends are reading them and they have difficulty reading simple CVC words such as:  cat, hat, bat, and rat.  I have also had the children that are working on multi-syllable words and reading and comprehending in chapter books and working on enriching assignments that decide that they do not want to participate in their challenge work because they see that I am giving praise and supporting other children that are working on basic sight words and they do not have to read longer books, etc.  Each year I have to sit down and discuss how teachers need to help children learn exactly where they are ready and it is not fair to them if they are not challenged appropriately at their level.  I have decided to create this unit to tackle that subject of educational fairness and diversity in a constructive way that promotes the children demonstrating good citizenship towards their peers.

 

In addition to my previous personal reason for writing this unit, I was also inspired by reading a book entitled, Savage Inequalities (1).  This book is a “must-read” for educators in my opinion and is basically about inequity in public schools of America.  The book has a copyright date of 1991, so, this book has been written some years ago.  However, there is still inequity that is evident today.  After reading that book, I became so inspired and felt as if I could do something to change our entire educational system.  Of course, I am one person and cannot change the world, but I can work to change the thinking of students when it comes to understanding what is acceptable and fair when it comes to their learning in their personal classroom environment. I can be sure that in my classroom and in anyone else’s classroom that chooses to use this unit that those children learn about respect, diversity, and fairness no matter the poverty level in that area/district.  All activities in this unit are able to be used by anyone.  There is technology included in this unit, but those activities are not necessary if an interactive white board or laptop and projector are unavailable.  There are also photographs that are included in this unit and they can easily be replaced by pictures from magazines if that is what the teacher can access.  Children that realize what is respectful versus what is not, what is fair and equitable and not in education will grow up and have the potential to affect social or educational change positively in our country based upon the experiences they are provided in school.

 

I am currently in my seventh year of teaching school and have been in second grade each year.  I teach at David Cox Road Elementary School in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, a large, urban school district in North Carolina.  The school embraces the Basic School philosophy.  This means that we are a “community for learning,” and have four priorities:  community, curriculum with coherence, climate, and character.[i]  Teachers are encouraged to be leaders and accept ownership and empowerment in the overall direction of the school, in addition to individual classrooms.  We have the freedom to be the professionals we have been trained to be and are allowed to use creative liberties in order to deliver our curriculum to our students in the way that is best for them based on data and best practices.  The school has approximately 950 students consisting of several different subgroups, including African-American, Asian, Hispanic, Multi-Racial, Native American, White, Female, Male, Economically Disadvantaged, Non Economically Disadvantaged, Students with Disabilities, Limited English Proficient, and non-Limited English proficient.

 

The class for which I am writing this unit is quite diverse.  This group includes 20 students:  two English Language Learners, one student with a learning disability in reading, nine children below grade level in reading, four children above grade level in reading, and seven children that are average grade level readers.  My class consists of 11 girls and nine boys, one Asian student, one Haitian-American student, six Latino students, four Caucasian students, two multi-racial students, and six African-Americans.  Most of these children have entered second grade with competence when it comes to mathematical problem-solving, but they need explicit instruction and practice when it comes to social problem-solving. They are quite excited about learning about science and conducting experiments this year in school.  These students and parents are inquisitive and they all want to know how to work together to help show improvement academically.

 

In schools, there are a lot of children with identifiable differences as they make up an entire class.  Some are English Language Learners (ELL’s), some have learning disabilities, some have talent developments, some have speech/language problems, some have autism, and some have physical disabilities.  They all bring wonderful ideas to the group and they all need to be challenged, but, not in the same way.  My classroom is always quite diverse and I believe that differentiation for students is necessary and challenges students appropriately.  All students are different and can do different levels of work.  If a student needs to be challenged, they deserve to have a challenge and it is the teacher’s responsibility to provide higher level work or harder assignments to promote thinking.  It is also the teacher’s responsibility to meet students where they are if they are below grade level and help them make academic growth.  Typically, as the school year begins, students have high expectations of themselves, their friends, and their classroom experience.  Then, over the course of the year, sometimes those expectations go down when they witness differentiation of instruction for other students.  For example, some children in my classroom are in the Talent Development (TD) program which is comparable to the Academically Gifted program when I was growing up and in school.  Others do not place into the program, but, are higher students who need more than the average student to demonstrate growth.  When they become friends with students in the class that are lower performing and realize that their work is different, even if they enjoy their challenge assignments, they sometimes decide that if so-and-so does not have to read a chapter book, answer questions, and create a project, they should not have to do that either.  It becomes more of a “fairness” issue for them.  I have seen students (higher level) learn how to choose “just right” books for their reading level, but, because they see someone else read a book focused on phonics and phonemic awareness, then, they want to read it instead of choosing a chapter book on their level because it doesn’t seem like they should have to do work at their level while others are sounding out words phonetically and reading sight words.  This comes from students observing each other in class and during reading times.  I, as the teacher, never discuss levels with students.  I simply give them their individual learning goals and support them.  Generally, I have to have a conversation with these students when I begin observing this trend and readdress the issue of my higher expectations of them.  I have to tell them that since they already  know how to read, sound out, and comprehend, that it is helping them grow if I provide them with opportunities for them to do higher-level harder work.  Usually this talk works after having to have it.  However, I am putting together this unit to address the fact that “fairness and equity” are different things so that I will not have to have that conversation with certain students after they lower their own expectations based on observation, but, they will hopefully remember this unit and worry about their own learning throughout the year with perhaps a few reminders of this unit.  This unit will be applicable to any elementary teacher that is looking to teach about diversity, fairness, justice, and equity to their students.  It will integrate language arts and social studies subject areas.

 

Strategies

 

In this unit, I will provide the students with several opportunities to demonstrate their learning by using different strategies so many types of learners will have meaningful experiences.  In the first lesson, I will be using a song (“Respect”) in order to open the unit and integrate with literacy.  Reading fluency incorporates the speed at which children can read as well as the expression and phrasing they are able to demonstrate in order to make the words more comprehensible to them.  Typically, children need to be fluent readers prior to focusing on comprehension strategies at their level.  Students who consistently sing for fluency practice are more likely to make larger amounts of growth when given fluency assessments.  “Repeated reading is a process in which a student

reads a particular passage daily over several days to enhance his or her reading fluency.

Repeated reading has been used for many years to help the nonfluent reader become more fluent.  Both the normal reader and the below-average reader have shown improvement over time from repeated reading” (3). Second grade students focus on their reading fluency all year.  Throughout the year I use songs (one per week) for students to practice reading the words, phrasing, finding rhymes, sight words they are working on, etc.  They read the song and then sing the song while tracking the words with their fingers.  For students, they have a wonderful time while getting to integrate music into their literacy instruction.  As I am using the song, Respect by Aretha Franklin to introduce our social studies/life skills unit, I will also be using it for the entire week as the fluency song for the students to practice their reading speed, accuracy, phrasing, and expression.  I will introduce the song by showing the students a clip on YouTube that shows the lyrics for children to read along with the music.  As I introduce the song, we will watch and sing from the following site as I model the expectations on the board:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMxZIJStfBU&feature=fvst and then I will hand the children their own set of lyrics where they will be expected to follow along and track the words as they read and sing.

 

Also, I will provide the students with technology experiences.  I am fortunate enough to be in a classroom with a Smart Board (interactive whiteboard), laptop, projector, and senteos (hand-held remote controls for students to choose answers to questions that will log responses into the teacher’s computer by number) where students can have a hands-on experience with technology as they are 21st Century learners and I want to provide a relevant learning experience for members of their generation.  When their responses show up on my computer, I will be able to assess and see how each student would answer the question and address those that did not understand or choose the correct answer without singling anyone out or I will know who to pull for further discussion at a later time.  I am also able to assess whether I need to address a topic again or re-teach it because of a quick assessment of student knowledge that gives me that data on the spot.  According to an article about Smart Board technologies in the T.H.E. Journal, “…Hazzard, now an educational consultant, says teachers, seeing their students more engaged than ever, are clamoring for more. Grades have gone up; suspensions have gone down. At one point, Devine Street Public School, where Hazzard used to teach, actually had more suspensions than students. But this past year, it had only 20” (4).

 

Another strategy that I will use is bringing in community members to share experiences and differences with us.  Students learn from all types of experiences and people.  I believe it is a teacher’s responsibility to bring in members of the community to support and enrich the learning happening in the classroom.  If students are exposed to real people and real situations that happen in the world, they have had a more meaningful interaction than just reading about it in a textbook.  I am a firm believer in creating hands-on, real activities and opportunities for all students.  This opportunity also brings in a reason for the students to connect with the community via literacy time because they will write letters to thank those who came into our classroom to share their knowledge and experiences.  Children will be learning manners when it comes to interacting with adults and they will be held accountable for showing respect, and part of that includes thanking those that help us.  We will thank them verbally and in writing.

 

We will also be using a Venn diagram in order to compare and contrast.  “When Jon Venn first envisioned his new diagram’s future, he surely couldn’t have expected it to be popular more than a century after he created it. However, it has stood the test of time and has remained a popular diagram for showing correlations between different aspect of a subject or even different subjects entirely” (5).  The students will be assigned another student with whom they will compare themselves and record.  Comparing and contrasting is also a literacy comprehension skill that students will work on throughout the school year and it is never too early to start them on noticing similarities and differences.  We will use a Venn diagram that I created using Smart Notebook Software for the Smart Board.  If an interactive whiteboard is not available, then a large pocket Venn diagram will suffice.  We will be able to do an example of how to use the Venn diagram to compare people as a class prior to the partner activity.  A Venn diagram is a graphic organizer that is used to compare and contrast two objects, items, ideas, people, etc. (See the Resources section of this document in order to view an example of a Venn diagram.  Please see the Smart Board lessons if you are interested in the actual interactive page I created for your class.)  Then the students will have the chance to share their findings with others so they can notice similarities and differences in other students as well.  It will be important for students to observe and identify these differences so that they will be able to see concretely that there are differences with everyone and no one will be treated exactly the same because they are not exactly the same as people.

 

Another strategy that I will use in this unit is the Socratic Seminar.  After researching this, I have learned that it is an excellent way to get students discussing concerns and issues while treating each other with respect and this type of seminar teaches them how to interact with others when you agree and when you disagree.  According to the National Paideia Center, Socratic seminar is a “…structured, formal discussion that requires critical thinking, and focuses on texts related to ambiguous issues and values.” (6)  Students must have some sort of text that they are addressing with this dialogue.  The classroom must be set up in a way that all children can see each other because they must be able to look at each other in the eye when speaking to each other.  For example, they should sit with desks in a circle or chairs should be arranged in a circle.  There should also be norms in place so that all students know the expected respectful behaviors that they will need to display in order to participate.  Lastly, the teacher must have at least one guiding question for the children to discuss.  As they discuss, the teacher should guide discussion if it needs guidance, but the purpose is for students to critically think and lead the discussion They learn how to ask relevant questions and participate within a whole group without much guidance and facilitation from the teacher.  There is a video on You Tube that describes this type of seminar and gives clips of examples with labels of how that seminar follows the criteria of being a Socratic seminar.  It can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxZMGK6IdEs.  The video lasts about six minutes and is an excellent way to observe how a seminar should run.  There are older children in this particular group, but, all components are able to be used with elementary students.

 

The last strategy that I will focus on is the use of “role-play” scenarios.  Students are quite concrete learners and there is a great benefit of giving students real life scenarios to act out (integrating movement which helps with retention) and then to also practice acting out the solution to the problem or situation.  When they have a chance to practice, they will be more likely to know how to respond if they are ever faced with a similar situation with ease.  “Role play has the ability to develop and enhance content skills as well as skills needed for future success by incorporating realistic, or real-world problems. Those involved in role play are also actively involved in the construction of their learning which has also been  shown to enhance student’s critical thinking skills, especially when used in conjunction with good facilitator questioning techniques” (7).

 

Classroom Activities

For the first activity, I have entitled it, “What is Respect?”  Before telling students what they will be learning about, show the YouTube website playing and showing the lyrics for the song, “Respect” by Aretha Franklin.  The site can be found in the strategies section of this document.  Ask the students what the main idea of the song is.  Tell them that is what we will be discussing.  Students share what they already know about respect.  The teacher should record the responses on chart paper, on the board, or in a place where children can see them.  Read Being Respectful:  A Book About Respectfulness and discuss how characters demonstrate respect.  Then, read a book entitled, The Sandwich Swap.  Make a class list about other ways that they can show respect and challenge the students to try some of those ideas to be respectful.  Have two large hearts cut out and posted for the class to see.  One heart should be labeled, “Respectful Behaviors” and the other should be labeled, “Disrespectful Behaviors.”  I will ask the children to come up with behaviors for each heart and I will record their responses on the appropriate heart.  We will discuss how disrespectful behaviors make us feel and how they can hurt our hearts if people are disrespectful towards us.  I will crumple up the heart to demonstrate what happens to our actual hearts when people are not showing us respect.  Then, I will try to flatten the heart back out.  I will discuss with the class how the heart will not completely flatten back out and that represents how people always remember how they felt when someone was disrespectful.  You can try to make them feel better but they never fully forget.  Then, we will discuss how the heart with the respectful behaviors on it is not crumpled and that particular heart represents that people do not have negative wrinkles on their own hearts when people are showing respect. (8)  After this discussion, I will give my students each their own heart to make their own example of the “Respect” heart so they can take it home as a reminder of respectful ways to treat their friends and classmates.  Play a Respect (yes or no) game with the Smartboard and Senteos for individual student responses.  If no Senteos are available, then, students could either write their responses or use the thumbs up or thumbs down technique to demonstrate their answer choice.  Put up different scenarios included in the attached file to read chorally as a class.  Then students each click their answer choice—which logs into the computer data-base for assessment purposes.  (See the Resources section of this document in order to obtain the Smart Board lesson.) Students then should journal about why we should show respect to others and one way they will show respect today.  Share.  Have students compliment someone when they see someone showing respect throughout the day.

 

The second activity is called, “What is Diversity?”  Review respect.  Go over the class responses created during the previous lesson on ways they can show respect.  Have students share how they observed their classmates showing respect since the last lesson.  Encourage students to continue showing and complimenting respectful behaviors.  Give the students a new term to think about.  Ask them to discuss anything they know about the word, “diversity” as you take them through a KWL chart.  This chart is a three-section T-chart where each section is labeled as follows:  What I Know, What I Want to Know, and What I Learned.  “The K-W-L strategy allows students to take inventory of what they already know and what they want to know. Students can categorize information about the topic that they expect to use.” (9)  Fill in the first two columns and then tell students that today we will be learning about diversity and how to respect those diversities.  Hold up a sentence strip that says “Diversity = Differences.”  Ask students what they think that means.  Be sure to direct the conversation in the direction of defining the equal sign and how both terms are “equal” or “alike.”  Have students brainstorm observations about what types of differences there are among people.  Make sure that if no one mentions learning or academic differences that gets mentioned.  Most students think of physical traits when determining differences, but it also includes religion, language, ancestry, etc.  Show photographs that depict differences between people and record similarities and differences in a class Venn diagram. (See the Resources section of this document for photos.)  Students complete a Venn diagram with one other classmate comparing similarities and differences between themselves or another photograph that was displayed.  They may choose which they would like to compare.  Students then should share data with the class.  Invite parents and community members in (work with their schedules) to share positive aspects of their differences:  cultures (food, games, books, handicaps, languages, learning styles, etc.)  Students will then journal about why we should respect diversities and how exciting they are.  Share journal entries with the class.

 

The third activity continues to address diversities. Review respect and diversity from previous lessons by rolling or bouncing a ball around a circle of students and each person that touches the ball must tell something they  know about one of the terms (respect or diversity) and then pass the ball to someone else.  Then, provide students with experiences to learn what it is like to have a difference other than their own.  For example, play “Marco Polo” where a student is blindfolded and has to try to tag a classmate by using their sense of hearing rather than sight and call out “Marco” and the classmates respond by calling out “Polo.”  Try a few rounds where many students have a chance to be “Marco” and then discuss their experiences with what it was like to be blind.  Then, have students get out a piece of paper, fold it in half and write their name on one side with their dominant hand and write their name on the other side with the non-dominant hand and compare the two.  Discuss which was easier and neater.  Guide students to conclude that it was more difficult when trying something out of the comfort zone.  Then, I will incorporate a group sorting activity from http://whatsrace.org.   According to the website, “This exercise can be used as both an icebreaker and a lesson on how we can be divided into different biological groups depending on the criteria we use. NOTE: this exercise is not meant to demonstrate that we are all the same or that races don’t matter. The point is that racial differences are not biologically based but socially constructed.” (10)  I will have the class divide into different groups several different times.  We will sort ourselves according to hair color, whether your tongue curls or not, whether you are left-handed or right-handed, whether your fingerprints loop, whorl, arch, or have a tented arch, and skin color (by comparing the inside of the upper arms).    Show the You Tube video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OltKoLyxh7U pointing out the different types of diversities viewed in the video.  It lasts about four minutes and shows cultural diversities and learning diversities.  The theme is that “We Are Not Robots.”  All people are different.  Then, I will conduct a Socratic Seminar about what it is like to be “different” or to have needs that are not the same as others.  This seminar will not be based from a text, but rather from experiences that have been provided and the video that has been watched.  Also, have students share what they think needs to happen if they are learning about a topic and there is a difference:  some people understand and some people do not understand.  Students should share what they think the teacher should do for the two groups of people.  Then, pose the question that some students already know about shapes and can teach their classmates about shapes, but there are some people that still need help.  What should the teacher do to help all of the students?  Be sure that the students give reasonable suggestions for the students that already understand.  For example, they could do some type of project using shapes or learn harder shapes.  The point of this seminar is to guide students to understand that students do not need to always learn the same exact thing in the exact same way.  Get them to use the term “fair” when it comes to students learning at different paces.  No one is better or worse, just different and it is fair to teach them what they need to know while at school.  Finish out this lesson by sharing a book called, Be Good to Eddie Lee.  It goes through a situation where children get to know a student better that has a disability.  They may journal about their reaction to the story and share at this time or share at another time.

 

The fourth activity is another Socratic Seminar that addresses stereotypes:  Students will contribute to a discussion about groups of people and stereotyping behaviors.  We will begin by reading Disney’s 101 Dalmations.  The character on which the children will need to focus is Cruella De Vil.  She is a complete villain in that story.  The children must describe her physically (tall, skinny, white, wearing a fur coat, etc).  After describing her they way they choose, ask the question:  “What if you are at the grocery store and you see a (insert criteria here) tall, skinny, white lady wearing a fur coat?  Would you think that she is a bad person like the character from the book?  Why?”  Then, read Matilda aloud to the class.  In this story, have the children describe Miss Trunchbull and decide whether all people with her characteristics are bad?  Ask students if they have ever liked or disliked someone because they had a bad experience with someone that was similar to them.  They may share as long as they do not include names.  Ask if people had a good friendship with a red, curly-haired girl, are all red, curly-haired girls good?  No.  Ask the students to explain their reasoning.  Then, give another type of person such as:  What if you have a friend that was being mean by yelling at you and pulling your hair and that friend was a short, blonde-haired boy.  Are all short, blonde-haired boys mean?  Explain their reasoning.  Also, ask if someone was not very nice on the playground at recess and they had a different skin color from you, does that mean that all other people with different skin colors are not going to be nice?  Explain their thinking.  Be sure to steer the conversation to end up with students realizing that we have to treat everyone as an individual and not think of people in groups when we are making judgments about character and personality.  Sometimes it is hard not to think about other people that are like others, but our job is to try.  Divide the class into groups and have each group act out the scenario described for the class.  Quickly have the class discuss each scenario and then have students journal about why it is important to treat people individually.

 

Group Role Play for Suggested Scenarios for Lesson 4:

Some children are playing at recess.  One person (add your own criteria here, such as a person with curly, black hair) tripped another person and made them fall.  The student making the mean choices laughed at the student that fell down.  The student that fell did get up and say that (s)he would never talk to someone with (add criteria here, such as a person with curly, black hair). At lunchtime, some children were sitting at the lunch table.  They were talking and having a good time.  One student brought cookies in their lunch and a child (with your own criteria here) took the cookie off the plate while the first student was not looking and ate it.  When the first student realized that the cookie was gone and who took it, (s)he said she would not ever sit next to someone with (add criteria here) the criteria again.
A group of friends went to a birthday party one weekend.  While they were playing a game, one person (add criteria here) was not playing fairly.  Some other friends pointed out that they thought (s)he was not being fair.  The birthday child said that they never wanted him/her to come back to his house again or anyone else (with the criteria) like the person not being fair. On a class field trip, there was a group of girls that made sure they stayed together because they were friends.  While on the trip, a boy went around and pushed each one of the girls in the group.  He got in trouble with the teacher, but, one girl said that she never wanted to be friends with a boy ever because that one boy was quite mean on the trip.

 

 

 

The fifth activity also addresses diversities.  For the next lesson, I will use a wheelchair idea from www.understandingprejudice.org here.  The purpose of this lesson is to show students as we are studying about student diversities what it feels like to be different from someone else and how it is ok to help others as a part of showing respect to them when appropriate.  I will have students go through an entire day pretending that they are in a wheelchair. Two or three times throughout the day, I will stop them and have them record in their writing journals about their experiences as a person in a wheelchair.  At the end of the day, I will have a class discussion with them where they will discuss the following questions:

  • Which tasks were the hardest to do?
  • Which places were the hardest to go?
  • How did you feel when you couldn’t do something or go somewhere?
  • What can be done to make places more accessible? (11)

The sixth activity brings all the diversities we have learned about together and back to the classroom. All of us are unique and different.  In second grade, we will be learning lots of new information and our goal is to have growth (improve and get better at reading, math, science, and social studies, and social skills).  Do we all know the same things?  Do we all read the same number of words?  Do we all like the same things?  Do we all learn the same way?  Do we all have the same culture?  No.  This year, we will be learning LOTS!!!  Your job is to work where you are asked/told based on the teacher because you are all different in your learning needs and it is the teacher’s job to make sure you learn what you need to learn.  Everyone may need different things when we learn about main idea.  Some may need more practice, some may need less practice, some may need to work in a group, some may need to work by themselves, and some may need a project.  That is part of being fair.  Read the book, Being Fair:  A Book About Fairness.  For each scenario in the book, have students share what is fair about how the characters treat each other.  Discuss that the teacher gives you what you need.  Draw a picture of what it might look like in the classroom where students are learning in a “fair” way.  Share illustrations and have students discuss any differences they drew and why they think their picture is “fair.”

 

The seventh activity deals with students learning that we all have a responsibility.  Tell students that now that they have learned what learning looks like in a “fair” learning environment, we have one more thing to learn.  They must be responsible with their learning since people will be learning differently.  Ask students what responsibility is to them.  Have them share with three people and then choose one great idea they heard (not their own) to share with the class.  Then, read the book, Being Responsible:  A Book About Responsibility.  Discuss what is responsible about each scenario (learning scenarios) described in the book.  Have the class write a journal entry to share one or two ways they can be responsible for their own learning.

 

The eighth and final activity reviews responsibility with the class.  I will give students a cooperative learning task to do with a group.  The task can be viewed in the Resources section of this document and consists of children receiving many different shape pieces that will create squares that are the same size if they put all the pieces together correctly.  There should be four children in a group and each child should receive pieces based upon the letter.  One child should receive all the letter a pieces, another child should receive all the letter b pieces, one should receive all the letter c pieces and one should receive all letter d pieces.  They must use all pieces and figure out which ones go together in order to create all possible squares.  I will have five groups and each group should work in a different area of the classroom.  It is their responsibility to complete the task without conversation.  It is also their responsibility to work with their own group and not to worry about another group’s task.  When finished, allow the groups to share what they worked on and how they solved their problem.  Discuss how easy or hard it was to ignore the other groups.  Brainstorm strategies for being responsible and not getting distracted by others.  Record this on a chart and post in the classroom for the remainder of the year.  Then, read the students a book entitled, No Excuses:  How What You Say Can Get In Your Way.  After reading this book, ask students why the boy in the story got to be what he wanted to be when he grew up rather than what other people thought he should be.  Make sure that students point out that he had to work hard and learn and do what was right for him and not other people.  Connect that to the classroom and let the students know that the teacher is there to help them reach their goals in life by helping them learn more and more throughout the year in a “fair” way.  Tell them that you would like to know what their big goals are for the future (when they grow up) and they should illustrate and write a few sentences so that you will know what goal you are helping them reach as you are instructing them in a “fair” way throughout the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resources for the Lessons

 

Double-click on the PowerPoint Presentation above (yellow slide) to see the slides I have created or you may click on the blue icon above to get the slides as the Smart Notebook file to use with the Senteos in lesson one.

 

 

Double-click on the blue icon above for the Smart Board Venn diagram I created to use during lesson two.  The photos can be moved and placed into the Venn diagram.  There is an opportunity to compare lots of different types of people and to reset the labels for each circle and you do not have to use all pictures each time.  After one Venn diagram has been done, then, you can put the pictures back and do another comparison with the students.

Example of Venn Diagram to be used in Lesson 2.

 

Image comes from http://www.nataliedee.com/102305/venn-diagram.jpg

 

 

Photos Depicting Types of Diversities from Lesson 2

 

 

Image comes from http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/mmostamandy/c_conclusion.html

 

 

 

 

Image comes from http://tedsonline.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=27_1_12

 

Image comes from http://www.si.edu/oeema/DivInitiatives.htm

 

 

Image comes from http://www.acu.edu.au/about_acu/news_events/update/2008/issue_18_-_thursday_18_september/

 

 

 

Image comes from http://www.mauriclick.com/mauritius/information.htm

 

 

 

Image comes from http://www.perfectmemorials.com/blog/funeral-homes-embrace-cultural-religious-diversity/

 

 

Image comes from http://tedsonline.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=27_1_12

 

 

 

Image comes from http://gurdarshan.instablogs.com/entry/preparing-for-an-inclusive-classroom-through-ict-application/

 

 

Image comes from http://multiculturaltoybox.com/page/4/

 

 

 

 

Image comes from http://redplatter.com/node/3

 

 

 

Cooperative Learning Activity from lesson 8:

 

Double-click on the icon above to see how the squares and pieces look for the cooperative learning activity.

 

Notes


  1.       Jonathan Kozol, Savage Inequalities:  Children In America’s Schools. (New York, NY:  Harper Perennial, 1991)
  1.      Ernest L. Boyer, The Basic School:  A Community for Learning (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995), 3-12

 

  1.      Sherri Faver. “Repeated Reading of Poetry Can Enhance Reading Fluency.” Reading Teacher 62 (2008):  350-52

 

  1.      Neal Starkman,  “The Wonders of the Interactive Whiteboard.”  T.H.E. Journal 33 (2006):  36-38

 

  1.      Venn Diagram.  Accessed November 27, 2010, http://www.venndiagram.net

 

  1.      Donna J. Robinson, “The Paideia Seminar: Moving Reading Comprehension from Transaction to Transformation.”  PhD diss., University of Massachusetts, 2006. Accessed November 27, 2010, http://www.paideia.org/content.php/results/resmain.htm

 

  1.      Timothy C. Clapper, . “Role Play and Simulation:  Returning to Teaching for Understanding.”  Education Digest:  Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review 75 (2010):  40

 

  1. Michelle A. Polselli, . A Wrinkled Heart Activity, http://polsellikindergarten.tripod.com/Beginning%20of%20Year/A%20Wrinkled%20Heart.htm

 

  1. Saskatoon Public Schools. Instructional Strategies Online. http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/kwl

 

  1. California Newsreel. What’s Race Got to Do with It?  Accessed October 31, 2010, http://whatsrace.org/pages/games.html

 

  1. Wesleyan University Dept. of Psychology. “Teacher’s Corner:  Elementary School Student Assignments.” http://www.understandingprejudice.org/teach/elemstud.htm

 

 

 

Resources for Teachers

 

Australian Catholic University. “ACU Update 2008.”  Last Modified August 11, 2010, http://www.acu.edu/au/about_acu/news_events/update/2008/issue_18_-_thursday_18_september

 

Boyer, Ernest L., The Basic School:  A Community for Learning (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995), 3-12

 

This book discusses the pieces of the Basic School Philosophy.

 

California Newsreel. What’s Race Got to Do with It?  Accessed October 31, 2010, http://whatsrace.org/pages/games.html

 

This site contains a human sorting activity.

 

Clapper, Timothy C. “Role Play and Simulation:  Returning to Teaching for Understanding.”  Education Digest:  Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review 75 (2010):  39-43

 

This article discusses the importance of role play and simulated experiences in the conceptual understanding of a topic.

 

Dahl, Roald, and Quentin Blake. Matilda . New York, N.Y.: Viking Kestrel, 1988.

 

This book is used for a character that needs to be used to discuss stereotyping behaviors—Ms. Trunchbull.

 

Faver, Sherri.  “Repeated Reading of Poetry Can Enhance Reading Fluency.” Reading Teacher 62 (2008):  350-52

 

This article discusses the importance of repeated readings for poetry and songs are a form of poetry.        .

 

Fleming, Virginia, and Floyd Cooper. Be good to Eddie Lee. New York: Putnam & Grosset Group, 1993.

 

This book is about a little boy with a disability and how his peers come to respect and accept him despite his differences.

 

Franklin, Aretha. “Respect.” Accessed on October 30, 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMxZIJStfBU&feature=fvst

 

This video contains the lyrics and music for the song used in lesson one.

 

Instablogs.  “Preparing for an Inclusive Classroom through ICT Application.”  Accessed October 30, 2010, http://gurdarshan.instablogs.com/entry/preparing-for-an-inclusive-classroom-through-ict-application/

 

This site contains a photograph that is used in the resources for lesson two.

 

Kozol, Jonathan. Savage inequalities: children in America’s schools. New York: Crown

Pub., 1991.

 

This book explores public schools in America and how children are treated based upon the politics of the area.

 

Mann, P. Z., and Dodie Smith. 101 Dalmations . Racine, Wis.: Golden Books, 1996.

 

This book is a picture book used for a character that needs to be discussed for stereotyping—Cruella DeVille

 

MauriClick.com. “Why Visit Mauritius?” Accessed on October 30, 2010, http://www.mauriclick.com/mauritius/information.htm

 

This site contains a photograph that is used in the resources for lesson two.

 

MrMatthewjherbert.  “Socratic Seminar Video.”  Last Modified on June 18, 2009, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxZMGK6IdEs

 

This six-minute video shows students engaging in a successful Socratic seminar.

 

Natalie Dee. “Venn Diagram.” Accessed October 30, 2010, http://www.nataliedee.com/102305/venn-diagram.jpg

 

This site contains an image that is used for lesson two.

 

Nelson, Robin. Respecting Others (First Step Nonfiction). Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 2003.

This is a small book about how children can respect themselves and others in a community.

 

Nelson, Robin. Being Responsible (First Step Nonfiction). Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Classroom, 2003.

This is a small book about how children can be responsible for themselves at school and at home.

 

Nelson, Robin. Being Fair (First Step Nonfiction). Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Classroom, 2003.

This book is a small book about children being fair at school and at home.

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.  Standard Course of Study,   http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum

 

Office of Equal Employment and Minority Affairs. “Diversity Initiatives.” Accessed October 30, 2010, http://www.si.edu/oeema/DivInitiatives.htm

 

This site contains a photograph that is used in the resources for lesson two.

 

Perfect Memorials Funeral and Cremation Blog.  “Funeral Homes Embrace Cultural, Religious Diversity.”  Accessed October 30, 2010, http://www.perfectmemorials.com/blog/funeral-homes-embrace-cultural-religious-diversity/

 

This site contains a photograph that is used in the resources for lesson two.

 

Polselli, Michelle A. A Wrinkled Heart Activity, http://polsellikindergarten.tripod.com/Beginning%20of%20Year/A%20Wrinkled%20Heart.htm

 

This site has directions for an activity that is used in the first lesson about being respectful.

 

Redplatter.com. “Welcome to Home of Food From Around the World.”  Accessed October 30, 2010, http://redplatter.com/node/3

 

This site contains a photograph that is used in the resources for lesson two.

 

Robinson, Donna J. “The Paideia Seminar: Moving Reading Comprehension from Transaction to Transformation.”  PhD diss., University of Massachusetts, 2006. Accessed November 27, 2010, http://www.paideia.org/content.php/results/resmain.htm

This site contains a paper that explains the benefits and positive of Paideia Seminars.

Santa Clara University. “Conclusion.” Accessed October 30, 2010, http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/mmostamandy/c_conclusion.html

This site contains a photograph that is used in the resources for lesson two.

Saskatoon Public Schools. Instructional Strategies Online. http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/kwl/

This website gives information about why KWL charts and this strategy are important.

 

Small, Mary. Being Responsible: A Book About Responsibility (Way to Be!). Minneapolis: Picture Window Books, 2006.

This book depicts several examples of situations where children are acting responsibly.

 

Small, Mary. Being Fair: A Book About Fairness (Way to Be!). Minneapolis: Picture Window Books, 2006.

This book shows several example situations where children are acting in a fair way.

 

Small, Mary. Being Respectful: A Book About Respectfulness (Way to Be!). Minneapolis: Picture Window Books, 2006.

This book shows several example situations of children choosing to be respectful.

Starkman, Neal.  “The Wonders of the Interactive Whiteboard.”  T.H.E. Journal 33 (2006):  36-38.

This journal article explains the benefits of using interactive whiteboards in the classroom.

The Equality and Diversity Shop.  “Diversity Posters.”  Accessed October 30, 2010, http://tedsonline.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=27_1_12

This site contains a photograph that is used in the resources for lesson two.

The Multicultural Toybox.  “Accessories for dolls with disabilities-and some dolls with disabilities.”  Accessed October 30, 2010, http://multiculturaltoybox.com/page/4/

This site contains a photograph that is used in the resources for lesson two.

Venn Diagram.  Accessed November 27, 2010, http://www.venndiagram.net

This website contains information about John Venn and why the strategy of Venn diagrams is important.

Wesleyan University Dept. of Psychology. “Teacher’s Corner:  Elementary School Student Assignments.” http://www.understandingprejudice.org/teach/elemstud.htm

This website contains an idea for a lesson used for the wheelchair lesson.

You Tube. “We Are Not Robots…Diversity in Clark County.” Accessed November 2, 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OltKoLyxh7U

This video shows children understanding and sharing that they are different and they respect those with differences.