High School Diversity
Activities
Great
Immigrants
Students "interview" famous immigrants
from American history and present oral and written reports. (from
SuccessLink)
Kansas City Graffiti
This lesson is a study in cultural diversity
and community awareness -- illustration, mural art. (from SuccessLink)
The
ABCs of Whiteness and Anti-Racism
These activities help students think about what
it means to be white in a multicultural society and what white
people can do to work against racism. (from Teaching Tolerance)
The Depth and Breadth of "Multicultural"
The Depth and Breadth of "Multicultural" is
designed to engage students in a process of defining "culture" and
examining its complexity. Often, especially in a class about multiculturalism
or diversity, "culture" becomes synonymous with "race" or "ethnicity." This
activity reveals the limitations of such a conceptualization and
challenges the assumptions that are often made by educators about
what students identify as the important strands of the "cultural" in "multicultural." (from
the Multicultural Pavilion)
Sharing Stories: Prejudice Activity
This activity helps individuals explore how they
first became concious of prejudice and discrimination and the feelings
associated with it and makes participants aware that everyone
has experienced prejudice and discrimination and that it comes
in a variety of forms (not just racial). from the Multicultural
Pavilion)
Exploring Language: Definitions Activity
Considers language as a vital aspect of multicultural
education and awareness. Participants discuss how they define words
such as prejudice, discrimination, racism, sexism, classism and
homophobia. Issues of power and institutional discrimination emerge. (from
the Multicultural Pavilion)
Boy/Girl Stories
Participants write and share short pieces about
how their gender identities were affected through childhood messages
about what it meant to be a boy or a girl. This activity maintains
a focus on talking about issues from one's own experience instead
of their perceptions of the experiences of "those people." (Adaptible
for race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, religion, and
other identifiers.) (from the Multicultural Pavilion)
Circles of My Multicultural Self
The Circles activity engages participants in
a process of identifying what they consider to be the most important
dimensions of their own identity, concurrently developing a deeper
understanding of stereotypes as participants share stories about
when they were proud to be part of a particular group and when
it was especially hurtful to be associated with a particular group. (from
the Multicultural Pavilion)
Multicultural Awareness Quiz
Critical thinking about all media and information
is an essential aspect of multicultural learning. Test your and
your students' or participants' understanding of race, gender,
and socioeconomic class with this activity, leading seamlessly
into a dialogue on stereotypes, misinformation, and prejudices
and how they inform teaching and learning. (from the Multicultural
Pavilion)
Confronting the -isms
Students keep a record of first impressions throughout
a semester and use it to examine their own unconscious biases. (from
Teaching Tolerance)
Juliette Hampton Morgan: Becoming an Ally
Students learn the importance of being an ally
through the story of Juliette Hampton Morgan, a white woman who
lived in Montgomery, Alabama, during segregation. (from Teaching
Tolerance)
What
do Halloween costumes say?
This activity, adaptable across grades, is designed
to help students look critically at the Halloween costumes and
examine them for bias and stereotypes. (from Teaching Tolerance)
Latino Heritage Month: Mexican American Labor
This lesson encourages students to explore
policies and attitudes about Mexican and Mexican American laborers
in the U.S. and develop informed personal perspectives of the United
States-Mexico border and undocumented Mexican immigrants. (Grades
10-12) (from Teaching Tolerance)
Incorporating
Culture/Heritage in Mathematics
Mathematics lesson plan format which incorporates
the contributions of a vast diversity of cultures and people into
regular mathematics instruction. Includes examples such as Viking
navigation, astronomy, athletes, Egyptian pyramids. (from
Learning Point Associates)
Cinderella Folk Tales
This lesson plan compares the plot and setting
characteristics of several versions of the Cinderella tale to teach
students about universal and culturally specific literary elements. (from
EDSITEment)
Fables & Trickster Tales around the World
The following lesson introduces children to
folk tales through a literary approach that emphasizes genre categories
and definitions. In this unit, students will become familiar with
fables and trickster tales from different cultural traditions and
will see how stories change when transferred orally between generations
and cultures. (from EDSITEment)
Family & Friendship in Quilts
The lessons in this unit are designed to help
your students recognize how people of different cultures and time
periods have used cloth-based art forms to pass down their traditions
and history. (from EDSITEment)
Puerto
Rican Folktales
Lesson plans that teach about the role of myth
and oral tradition, and also explores the complex culture of Puerto
Rico which combines elements of native Tainos people, Spaniards,
and Africans. (from the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute)
Study
of Japanese Internment
Classroom activities examine newspaper articles
for stereotypes and prejudice, student groups 'pack' for internment,
journal exercise and literature review.
Explore
African Culture
This lesson plan encourages students
to explore oral traditions in Africa. Includes interviewing and
storytelling. (from PBS)
Understanding Stereotypes
Students will understand
that assumptions can lead to stereotypes and unfair judgments
about individuals and groups and how stereotypes and biases
affect our lives. (from Discovery Education)
How Race is Lived
in America
Articles, lesson plans,
teen discussion, crossword puzzles, books, and more. (from the
New York Times)
The
Intolerance Project
The Intolerance Project examines issues surrounding
intolerance and racism and their impact on international, national,
community, and school levels. (from Microsoft)
Matthew Shepard
An investigation of American
attitudes toward homosexuality, using the death of Matthew Shepard
as a focal point. (from TIELab)
The Laramie Project
This site accompanies the film, "The
Laramie Project," the story of the hate crime murder of homosexual,
Matthew Shepard. The site provides links and downloadable guidelines
to help teachers and students develop projects to combat prejudice
against groups and individuals because of their race, religion,
disability, sexual orientation or other differences. (from HBO)
Cultural Awareness: Sharing Traditions
In a multicultural secondary school setting
many students have built walls around their ethnicity, and they
form small cliques, along with prejudices, and stereotypes of others
who are different than themselves. The purpose of the activity
is to have students within a small team get to know each other
by sharing cultural traditions which make their families unique. (from
the Educator's Reference Desk)
Civil Rights Video Essay
In this lesson, students
investigate a decade of American history when the civil rights
movement was a focus of national attention. They create a video
essay about a person or event that played an important role in
shaping the civil rights movement. They learn why and how that
person or event had an impact and present their research in an
iMovie project. (from Apple Learning Interchange)
The New Americans
A site that addresses both historical
and contemporary immigration issues in the United States, this
interactive Web site/online learning adventure engages users in
the immigrant experience in a way that builds empathy and understanding
for the subjects of the documentary and countless other newcomers
to America. (from PBS)
Developing
Perspective Consciousness with Pictures
These activities provide an alternative approach
for the students to learn about the cultural differences. With
the aids of pictures and photographs, students will be able to
recognize all people share the same needs, but the difference in
environments promote the development of different cultures. Students
will learn how to deal with cultural perceptions, ethnocentrism,
prejudice and stereotypes with a more objective approach. (from
Ask Asia)
Does the Criminal Justice System Discriminate
Against African Americans?
This article examines racial inequalities in
our criminal justice system with a special focus on some cases
involving African-Americans. Discussion questions, links to related
resources, and an activity are also included. (from the Constitutional
Rights Foundation)
Whites, Blacks, and the Blues
By thinking about the intersections of whites,
blacks, and others around the blues, students will deepen their
understanding of discrimination and prejudice. They will also come
to understand the ways in which music can, or cannot, create opportunities
for people of different cultures, and with varying degrees of power,
to relate to one another and find common ground. (from PBS)
Word Origins
An activity that exposes
the history and prejudice of many words or expressions commonly
used in the United States. (from Teaching Tolerance)
Anti-Bullying
Activities
a bullying survey for early grades and a bullying
quiz for middle and upper grades, designed to increase awareness
about and decrease instances of bullying. (from Teaching Tolerance)
Power Poetry
Help students break out of "politics is boring" apathy
with this poetry activity. (from Teaching Tolerance)
Tolerance and Genocide
Lesson uses history of genocide to further notions
of personal responsibility. (from Teaching Tolerance)
Breaking the Barrier
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry prompts
look at how students respond to mistreatment of their peers. (from
Teaching Tolerance)
Santa and Stereotypes
What can Santa teach us about stereotypes? In
this lesson, students will explore the way clothing can influence
our perceptions of one another. (from Teaching Tolerance)
American Tapestry
Close the gap between the majority student population
and Second Language Learners through a unit on "The Immigration
Experience, Celebrating Our Differences." (from Teaching
Tolerance)
Mix
It Up: The Discomfort Zone
Students challenge boundary lines in the community. (from
Teaching Tolerance)
And
Maybe I Can Change that Too
A high school teacher helps his students challenge
their own racist beliefs. (from Teaching Tolerance)
The Legacy of the Armenian Genocide
By learning about this often overlooked genocide,
students can reflect on moral responsibility, identity and denial. (from
Teaching Tolerance)
Sexism: From Identification to Activism
Students will identify ways in which sexism
manifests in personal and institutional beliefs, behaviors, use
of language and policies. They then will develop strategies to
challenge sexism in their personal lives, in the school or in the
community. (from
Teaching Tolerance)
We and Thee
Looking at labels and stereotypes and their effects
on students. (from Teaching Tolerance)
Small Steps: A Tolerance Program
Teachers use incremental steps to to guide
students from stereotyping to a true understanding and appreciation
of multiple perspectives. (from Teaching Tolerance)
Who Are the Arab-Americans?
Since the September 11th terrorist attacks,
Arab Americans have been the targets of profound bias, harassment
and hate crimes. Ongoing conflicts in the Middle East only exacerbate
stereotypes about people of Arab descent. This newly updated activity,
originally released in 2000, can help students overcome misperceptions
of this ethnic group. (from Teaching Tolerance)
You
are Free to Exercise
Lesson plan encourages critical thinking about
the first amendment and the free practice of religion. Are
there limits to free exercise? Resources, discussion questions,
activities, essay ideas, and more. (From
the First Amendment Center)
What is the (No) Establishment Clause?
Lesson plan explores the separation of church
and state. Resources, discussion questions, essay ideas, and more. (from
the First Amendment Center)
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