1

in Our World

Grade 6

Julie Anne Parisi

2

• General Diversity 3

• Resources 6

• Age 8

• Religion 11

• Class 14

• Exceptionalities 16

• Disabilities 19

• Gender 22

• Language 25

• Race & Ethnicity 28

• Sexual Orientation 31

3

Activities

1. Why is it important to celebrate our diverse society?

~ Draw a car on the board.

~ Label all of the parts, such as the steering wheel, the tires, the engine, and the brakes.

~ What would happen if one of these parts was not present?

~ How does this car represent America?

2. Research different countries using books and the internet.

~ What differences do you find between them and the U.S. (religions, foods, sports)?

~ Despite all of these differences, can you find similarities that exist between them and the U.S.

4

3. Find examples of tolerance and intolerance occurring today.

~ Using newspapers, magazines, and the internet, find news reports discussing issues of tolerance and intolerance.

~ Why are these events occurring?

~ What can you do to help prevent intolerance and to promote tolerance?

4. Compare the cultures and backgrounds of your friends and classmates.

~ It may seem that you and your classmates are very similar. However, each of you have many unique characteristics and qualities.

~ Talk in small groups about your cultural background and family traditions. What do each of you have in common? What is unique to you?

5. As a class or school, plan a cultural day.

~ Bring in foods from different cultures and countries.

~ Dress in clothing from different cultures. Play music unique to other cultures.

~ Learn games or dances which are a part of other cultures.

5

Web Sites

• http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/teched/projects/web/tolerance/ This web site helps teachers in teaching tolerance to middle school social studies students. It encompasses many areas of diversity.

• http://www.splcenter.org/cgi-bin/goframe.pl?refname=/teachingtolerance/tt-9.html Has many links to important historical and current issues that discuss diversity.

• http://www.familyeducation.com/topic/front/0,1156,1-3374,00.html?relinks Activities to encourage kids to learn about diversity in their world.

• http://kidshealth.org/kid/grow/tough_topics/diversity.html Explains diversity and prejudice to kids.

• http://pbskids.org/arthur/grownups/activities/culturalsocial.html Activities to further illustrate diversity in our society.

6

Activities

1. Introduce students to diversity using age-appropriate literature, such as America Street, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Acorn People, or other books representing diverse societies.

2. Begin a discussion to gauge the students’ general viewpoints regarding diversity. Ask them to discuss areas in their lives where they interact with diversity.

3. Have students watch news reports, asking them to look for areas of today’s world that show diversity, prejudices, discrimination, segregation, integration, or inclusion.

4. Assign groups of students to an area discussed in this presentation, having them research the category and report to the class their findings.

5. Have students research the history of the diversity categories in this presentation, followed by a discussion of how these areas have changed since the founding of the U.S.

7

Web Sites

• http://www.tolerance.org This web site provides educators with current events relating to diversity issues, and includes activities for teachers, parents, teens, and kids.

• http://www.splcenter.org/cgi-bin/goframe.pl?refname=/teachingtolerance/tt-9.html Numerous lesson plans for integrating diversity into classes for elementary through college-age students.

• http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/ A collection of sources for teachers teaching diversity. Includes multicultural films, songs, lessons, quizzes, and discussion topics.

• http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/culturematters/Explains culture and how it plays a role in the workplace and society, as well as how to adjust to a new culture.

• http://www.youthepeople.com/ Interactive lesson plans for incorporating diversity with democracy.

8

Activities

1. Host a grandparent tea party at school.

~ Write poems and stories to share with them.

~ Ask the grandparents to talk about their childhood.

2. Read about the Great Depression and its impact on society.

~ Can you see areas of your grandparents’ lives today that have been affected by living in the Depression?

~ What events in the world today might affect how you will behave in 50 years?

9

3. With a group of senior citizens, discuss the meanings of values such as honesty, integrity, compassion, and charity.

~ How do the answers differ with respect to the different age groups?

~ Look up each word in a dictionary and discuss how your answers relate to their dictionary definitions.

4. Think of how you might be prejudiced against as a result of your age. How would be treated differently if you were older? If you were younger? How does society view infants, toddlers, young children, teenagers, adults, and senior citizens? Are opportunities limited for each age group?

5. Many times we wish that we could be older than we are today. However, you can be an influential role model for kids younger than you. Be a good role model and tutor a younger student, such as helping them learn to read. Then help the student read to a senior citizen. All three of you can appreciate your age differences and have fun!

10

Web Sites

• http://clem.mscd.edu/~steinhas/ At this web site, you can learn about age discrimination in the work place and how to reduce it.

• http://www.youthwork.com/ Discover ways teenagers can help others, as well as resources that explain how teenagers feel about themselves.

• http://webhome.idirect.com/~mccann/index.html At this web site, you can gain an understanding of issues faced by many teenagers. The challenges of immigration and the benefits of volunteering are discussed.

• http://website.lineone.net/~caade/dtypes.htm Learn about the different age discrimination practices and actions taken to inhibit them.

• http://www.storiesbywomen.net/ Read the stories and memories of women who were active in World War II. Learning about the activities of older generations helps the younger generations to better understand them.

11

Activities

1. Learn about Louis Brandeis, the first Jew appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. ~ How did society discriminate against him?

~ Explore anti-Semitism in American society, both today and in the past.

2. At the Teaching Tolerance web site, go to the “Peace Be With You” Activity.

~ Participate in the mock trial to learn about the issue of school prayer.

~ How can we practice religious toleration in our lives, in our schools, and in our communities?

12

3. At the Teaching Tolerance web site, go to the “In the City of Brotherly Love” Activity.

~ How did Philadelphia establish itself as an example of religious tolerance in the new colonies?

~ Have the ideals of Philadelphia in the past held up in today’s society? Why or why not?

4. Research different religious groups that have excluded themselves from American society, such as the Mormons or the Amish.

~ Why have these groups maintained separate identities from the rest of Americans?

~ How does their separation affect their lives? What are some of the struggles these religions are facing today?

5. As a class, discuss how your lives would be different if you were a believer in a different faith.

~ Would your life be easier or harder? Why or why not?

~ Does religious toleration exist in other countries? Research another country and learn about their religion and toleration of different faiths.

13

Web Sites

• http://www.splcenter.org/cgi-bin/goto.pl?address=http://www.au.org/godsch.htm This web site advocates a separation of church and state, and discusses many current legal issues.

• http://www.splcenter.org/cgi-bin/goto.pl?address=http://www.aclu.org/students/slrelig.html Discusses the issue of religion in public schools and the constitutionality of prayer and religious holidays.

• http://www.forf.org/ Focuses on religious discrimination, new religious movements, and hate crimes.

• http://www.pbs.org/pioneerliving/guests/digh4.htm Looks at religious toleration in the workplace and promotes efforts to accommodate.

• http://www.humanrightsandtolerance.org.uk/ Here you can learn about religious toleration in Europe and compare it to religious toleration in the United States.

14

Activities

1. Visit a soup kitchen and experience first hand the effects of poverty and homelessness on individuals.

2. Hold a food drive in your school, collecting cans and boxes of food to give to a local food shelter. You could also hold a clothing drive.

3. Look at photographs take during the Great Depression.

~ What effects do these pictures have on you?

4. Talk to your grandparents or another person who lived through the Great Depression.

~ How did their lives change as a result of the Depression?

~ What differences in society could they identify?

5. Come to school one day without having eaten breakfast. Don’t eat lunch - how does not eating make it difficult to concentrate on schoolwork? Now, imagine having to do this everyday because you don’t have enough money to buy food to fill your stomach.

15

Web Sites

• http://www.worldhunger.org/ Provides links to organizations active in fighting worldwide hunger.

• http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edu/guides/pg12.html

Explains ways to provide education to families living in poverty. • http://www.abbeyclock.com/cecil/index.html Provides a history of social classes throughout world history.

• http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/depression/ Provides a history of the Great Depression and the New Deal. Discusses the causes of the Depression and how the New Deal helped to heal society.

• http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html This is an index of Depression-era photographs, demonstrating poverty in the lives of Americans.

16

Activities

1. Despite learning differences, everyone has a gift to be shared. Read Ruthie’s Gift by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and find the gifts of your classmates.

2. Research some famous people who had learning disabilities. How did these people overcome them? What can you learn from their success?

~ Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Hans Christian Anderson

~ Find some others!!

17

3. In groups, research on the internet different learning disabilities.

~ How do learning disabilities affect a student’s performance in school?

~ How can a student with a learning disability learn to overcome it and succeed?

4. Even though you might not be in a gifted class, that does not mean that you should not seek academic challenges. A good way to make your brain think is to play chess. If you don’t already know, learn! It is both fun and challenging. Then hold a chess tournament in you class.

5. Read “Go Take Your Retalin…” by Charlotte. This is a personal narrative by a girl who suffers from ADD.

~ How would you feel in Charlotte’s position?

18

Web Sites

• http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/gt_ld/gifted_ld.html Allows students to interact with the challenges of learning disabled students.

• http://www.audiblox2000.com/dyslexia_dyslexic/dyslexia.htm Discusses the challenges of dyslexia: what it is, its causes, and how to overcome it.

• http://www.cache.k12.ut.us/htmlfiles/millville/tag/funstuff.html Challenging activities to stimulate your brain!!

• http://www.kidprov.com/ Explore different challenging activities that will make you think!

• http://www.nfgcc.org/69.htm Learn about what it means to be gifted and how being gifted differs among students.

19

Activities

1. Blind students face many challenges. Take turns blind folding each other, and then help each other “feel” your way around the school.

~ How did not being able to see make you feel?

~ Read The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. How was she able to overcome her handicaps?

2. Read “Through Different Eyes” and learn about Louis Braille. Now try reading, using Braille.

~ What are some of the challenges faced by visually impaired students?

20

3. Look through a magazine. How many advertisements photograph disabled people?

~ How does this make you feel?

~ How would you feel if you were a disabled person?

4. Write “Kids with disabilities are more like us than different from us” with your non-writing hand. Now write this sentence without the use of your thumb.

~ How can creative adaptations help disabled individuals become more independent?

5. Complete this writing activity, which causes you to imagine yourself as a disabled individual.

~ How did this activity make you more aware of the difficulties faced by disabled individuals?

21

Web Sites

• http://www.nyise.org/braille.htm Provides a history of the Braille system as well as new technological developments that help the visually impaired.

• http://www.cec.sped.org/ Through simulation, this site helps students better understand what it is like to be disabled.

• http://www.kidstogether.org/ Provides information to students with disabilities, as well as inclusion acts and legislation.

• http://www.deafblind.com/ Explores deafblindness and has poetry written by deafblind people.

• http://www.kidsource.com/NICHCY/autism.html Helps students understand autism, including its characteristics and educational implications. Also has links to other disabilities.

22

Activities

1. Draw a scientist.

~ Compare your drawing with those of your classmates. Are they male or female? What other characteristics are present?

~ How does this activity demonstrate gender stereotypes?

2. Research the history of Women’s Suffrage and the Women’s Rights Movement.

~ How did these movements evolve?

~ How has American society changed as a result of them?

23

3. Create a list that describes differences between boys and girls.

~ How do their differences affect their performance in school?

~ How do their differences promote differences in treatment towards boys and girls?

4. Imagine if you had been born the opposite sex.

~ How would this change your life?

~ Would you have different opportunities or limitations?

5. Respond to the phrase “Men are smarter that women”.

~ How would you feel if someone said this to you?

~ Compare the girls’ responses with those of the boys’. How do they differ?

24

Web Sites

• http://www.nwhp.org Provides an extensive history of women in the United States; also recognizes their accomplishments.

• http://www.equalrights.orgSite of one of the oldest women’s civil rights organizations in the U.S. Information on sex discrimination and legislation to improve the rights of women.

• http://www.enc.org/topics/equity/stories/stories/document.shtm?input=FOC-001764-index,00.shtm Encourages middle school girls to seek educations in mathematical and science related fields.

• http://www.tolerance.org/teach/expand/act/activity.jsp?cid=159Explores sexism in the Civil Rights movement.

• http://www.singlesexschools.org/Explores the issue of single-sex schools and includes discussions of the learning differences between boys and girls.

25

Web Sites

1. Examine different languages.

~ What similarities do languages have? What differences?

~ How would these help (or hurt) a person learning a new language?

2. Obtain some foregin newspapers in different languages, such as French or German.

~ Look thorugh these papers and see if you can guess what the articles are about.

~ What helped you in your guessing? Did you find any words that resemble English words?

26

3. Begin writing a journal entry, pretending you are in a foreign country. In a foreign language dictionary, look up how to say common phrases such as “I am hungry”.

~ What difficulties would people experience while in a foreign country?

4. Ask a foreign language teacher to come to your classroom and teach you some words in a new language. Write these words down.

~ Each time you learn a new word or phrase, write it down.

~ If you were in a foreign country, what would help you learn the language?

5. Learn sign language! Deaf people use this language to speak to other deaf people and those people who can hear.

~ Did you find sign language challenging?

~ How is sign language similar to spoken language? How is it different?

27

Web Sites

• http://www.ethnologue.com/country_index.asp Provides a map of the different languages throughout the world and where they are spoken.

• http://www.ethnicharvest.org/mission/immigratnfacts.htmInformation regarding immigration to the United States and the diversity in the U.S.

• http://www.whatkidscando.org/intheirownwords/whoamiintro.htmlGives insight to the challenges racial and language minority students face at school.

• http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/types/flnews/Read newspapers in a foreign language.

•http://www.cortland.edu/flteach/flteach-res.htmlListen to a radio or T.V. broadcast in a foreign language.

28

Activities

1. Read some stories from America Street.

~ How are the lives of the kids in these stories affected by their race or ethnicity?

~ How is your life affected by your race or ethnicity?

2. Look at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, speech, “I Have a Dream”.

~ What were his wishes for America when he gave the speech?

~ Has America become closer to the society of which King drempt?

~ What still needs to happen in America to bring us closer to his ideal society?

29

3. Complete this sheet about your ethnic identity. Compare your information with other students’.

~ How do your family histories differ?

~ How have your family’s experiences in America differed from the experiences of your classmates’ families?

4. Have a culture day. Bring in foods from different cultures, dress in traditional clothing, and share stories from different cultures. What did you learn from this first-hand experience?

5. Discuss stereotypes that are placed on specific racial or ethinic groups. How do these classifications affect and hurt these individuals? How do stereotypes become ingrained in societies? What are some ways in which you as an individual can reverse the negative impact of stereotypes?

30

Web Sites

• http://www.nativeamericainc.com/events/Welcome%20Events.htmlGives an overview of Native Americans throughout North America, with information on events, culture, and the arts.

• http://www.arts-history.mx/indexn.htmlExplore Mexican culture.

• http://www.tolerance.org/teach/expand/act/activity.jsp?cid=41Examines the integration at a Little Rock, Arkansas, school in 1957.

• http://www.tolerance.org/teach/expand/act/activity.jsp?cid=155Learn about the Arab community and their history.

• http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5253.htmlLearn about the Asian culture, including food, customs, family traditions, and learning implications.

31

Activities

1. Read “An Acceptance of Difference”.

~ How can you make your school more accepting and tolerant of students of different sexual orientations?

2. What stereotypes do you have regarding those of different sexual orientations?

~ Discuss these with your classmates.

~ How can you as an individual become more tolerant of others’ sexual orientation?

3. During the Holocaust, people of different sexual orientation were sent to concentration camps, much like those of the Jewish community.

~ Explore the stories of these people at the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

32

4. Read about the issues gay and lesbian students face at school.

~ Place yourself in their position and discuss how you would feel.

~ For what reasons would a gay or lesbian student feel the way they do, as explained on this web site?

5. Explore the differences in sexual relationships among teens.

~ What is shared among these teens?

~ What is different?

~ How would society treat each of these teens?

33

Web Sites

• http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_stud.htmExplores how gay and lesbian students can be protected against harrassment.

• http://www.glsen.org/templates/index.htmlThis organization focuses on ending sexual orientation biases in schools.

• http://www.affa-sc.org/Focuses on educaiton to promote the elimination of sexual-orientation prejudices.

• http://members.tripod.com/~twood/guide.html#Ten%20suggestions%20for%20reducing%20homophobia%20in%20your%20environment

Suggests ways to reduce homophobia in schools.

• http://discriminationattorney.com/orientat.htmlDiscusses discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

34