Boundary Crossing

This lesson plan is excerpted from the 2007-2008 Mix It Up Planner. Learn more about national Mix It Up at Lunch Day.

Objectives

• Students will draw conclusions about boundary crossing from history and literature.
• Students will identify boundaries in their classroom or school, cross those boundaries, report back and reflect on what they learned.

Background Information
To set the stage for the activity, teachers should read or story-tell this background information with students, allowing them to ask questions:

In May 1954, the U. S. Supreme Court issued its famous Brown v. Board of Education decision that was to end segregation in schools. A civil rights organization called the NAACP attempted to register black students in previously all-white schools throughout the South. One of those schools was Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

In September 1957, nine black students showed up at Central High's doors and were met by white protestors. The governor even sent the Arkansas National Guard to keep the black children out. The sight of a line of soldiers blocking the teenagers from going to school made national headlines. After President Dwight Eisenhower intervened, the governor removed the soldiers.

The nine students still had to face hundreds of protestors, mostly parents of white students who didn't want the black students to attend the school. Federal troops were sent in to protect the black teenagers, but they still encountered physical and verbal violence throughout the year.

The next year, the governor closed all the public schools rather than allow integration to continue. The Supreme Court ultimately made Arkansas reopen Little Rock's schools to all children.

EARLY GRADES ACTIVITY
Time and Materials

• One or more class periods
• Download and copy Papalotzin and the Monarchs/Papalotzin y las Monarcas for students
• Colored paper, pipe-cleaners, scissors, glitter and glue for butterflies; poster paper and pens for posters

After sharing the story of the Little Rock Nine with students, read Papalotzin and the Monarchs/Papalotzin y las Monarcas with them.

Ask students to make butterflies using colored construction paper, glitter and glue. Assign students to small groups, and ask the group to choose a special color that all of their butterflies will be. (i.e. one group has all red butterflies, the next has all green, etc.) Make sure that no two groups of friends have the same color choice. For the rest of the school day, allow students to play and study only with their butterfly group.

The next day, tell them that the rest of the week they'll need to "Mix It Up" and do classroom activities with a different colored butterfly every day.

As a follow-up activity, students can cut their butterfly wings into four equal parts and then trade with each other so that all the butterflies are multicolored, representing how they have "Mixed It Up."

Discussion or Writing Prompts

• What was fun about being with your first group and choosing a color that only your group would have?
• How did you feel when you were asked to do things with different colored butterflies?
• How did it feel at the end of the day (or week) when you had done things with classmates whom you didn't usually work?
• What do you like about the new and more colorful butterflies made of all the different colors?

MIDDLE/UPPER GRADES ACTIVITY
Time and Materials

• One or more class periods
• Poster paper and pens for student-created maps

After sharing the background information, ask students if they think we've improved since the fifties. Why?

In small groups of four, ask student to draw a map of your school's lunchroom, noting who the different groups are and where they eat and spend lunchtime. Why do they think students self-segregate?

Hang the maps in the classroom for at least a week and ask students to venture out of their own lunchtime comfort zone and move into a different group's area. (They can do it in pairs to feel more comfortable.) As they practice moving out of their comfort zones, invite students to draw arrows on their maps, showing how they moved from their group to other groups. Keep track of this for as long as students remain engaged with the activity.

Discussion or Writing Prompts

• What are ways society segregates us? Why does this happen?
• What are ways we segregate ourselves? Why do we do this?
• How did it feel to move to a different group? Was it fun, or were you nervous?
• How were you received in the different group? Are there ways that you could make it positive for everyone? What are they?
• Will you remain in your own group from now on, or will you venture into other groups from time to time? Why?