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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)

 

If you come across other diversity related lessons or activities online, email us the link. We'd love to add them to our list.

 

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