Race and ethnicity

Results for Race and ethnicity

Issues of Poverty

Activity

“Lessons in Poverty” is comprised of four lessons with two overarching goals.
Race and Poverty

Activity

In this lesson, students will learn that race is a factor often connected to poverty and that institutions can create obstacles for the poor—and for people of color who live in poverty—that block participation and achievement.

Join Tucson’s Fight for Desegregation

Blog post

Mention school desegregation, and most people envision the Little Rock Nine—not the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD). But Tucson is exactly where the battle for desegregation is being fought today.
Tech Links Build Better Global Citizens

Blog post

Thanks to technology, the world is virtually at our fingertips. Global awareness has new meaning for the teachers. According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, our students need to go beyond understanding global issues and be able to learn from and work with “individuals representing diverse cultures, religions and lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect and open dialogue in personal, work and community contexts.” Using the “new and improved” nonfiction books on the market today is one way to get our students to this understanding.
The Cycle of Poverty

Activity

This lesson is the third in a series called “Issues of Poverty.” Students explore the causes of poverty in the United States and the structural factors that perpetuate it. Students will examine the ways poverty is closely related to economic and political policy, and will work to discover why it disproportionately affects members of nondominant groups—that is, groups that have historically been oppressed.

Postcards from the Past

Activity

This activity is to accompany the Teaching Tolerance article "Civil Rights Road Trip."

Postcards from the Past

Activity

It’s important for students learning about civil rights history to put themselves in the shoes of those who were there. Have them commemorate their own civil rights road trip by writing postcards from the past. This activity helps students imagine being in another place and time by writing about a moment on the path to equality.
Portfolio Activity for “Civil Rights Road Trip”

Activity

This activity is to accompany the Teaching Tolerance article "Civil Rights Road Trip."

Portfolio Activity for “Suspending Hope”

Activity

This activity is to accompany the Teaching Tolerance article "Suspending Hope."

Portfolio Activity for “Identity"

Activity

This activity is to accompany the Teaching Tolerance article "Identity."

Portfolio Activity for “From Awareness to Action”

Activity

This activity is to accompany the Teaching Tolerance article "From Awareness to Action."

Portfolio Activity for “Give Bigotry No Sanction”

Activity

This activity is to accompany the Teaching Tolerance article "Give Bigotry No Sanction."

Portfolio Activity for “Out of Bounds”

Activity

This activity is to accompany the Teaching Tolerance article "Out of Bounds."

Poverty and Unemployment: Exploring the Connections

Activity

This lesson is the second in a series of lessons called “Issues of Poverty.” Students explore the causes of poverty in the United States and the structural factors that perpetuate it. Students will examine the ways poverty is closely related to economic and political policy, and will work to discover why it disproportionately affects members of non-dominant groups—that is, groups that have historically oppressed groups.

Civil Rights Road Trip

Magazine Article

Number 41: Spring 2012

By tracing the footsteps of those who fought for civil rights, you may begin to think about how you can use your own voice to make positive changes.
Identity

Magazine Article

Number 41: Spring 2012

Spanish classes are the perfect place to help students develop cultural competence.
What Is Poverty?

Activity

This lesson is the first in a series of lessons called “Issues of Poverty.” Students explore the causes of poverty in the United States and the factors that perpetuate it. The four lessons aim to challenge the idea that poverty is simply the result of individual shortcomings. Students will examine the ways poverty is closely related to economic and political policy, and will work to discover why it disproportionately affects members of non-dominant groups—that is, groups that have historically been oppressed.

Making Time for a Lasting History Lesson

Blog post

Bryan had anger issues in sixth grade. One day another boy in my class called him “gay” and he flung his desk across the room and chased the boy all the way to the main office where he ended up in a heap of trouble...again. Despite all of the impulsive and often violent behavior, deep down underneath the tough-guy façade, Bryan had many likable qualities. But he still ended up being moved to our school’s alternative program for students with behavioral issues.
Stitching It Together

Activity

This lesson is the fourth and final in a series called “Family Tapestry.” One goal of these lessons is to help students recognize and accept differences among themselves and within the larger community. Another is to recognize how each student’s unique family contributes to a richer society. As students begin to understand themselves better, learning opportunities to explore biases and prejudices will likely emerge. In this lesson, students will synthesize everything they’ve learned throughout the series to create a quilt that tells the story of their families and how those families contribute to their overall classroom community.

Every Family Is the Same. Every Family Is Different.

Activity

This lesson is the third in a series called “Family Tapestry.” One goal of these lessons is to help students recognize and accept differences among themselves and within the larger community. Another is to recognize how each student’s unique family contributes to a richer society. As students begin to understand themselves better, learning opportunities to explore biases and prejudices will likely emerge. In this lesson, students learn the concepts of “same” and “different,” read and answer questions about two types of families, and create a “same and different” graphic organizer that reflects similarities and differences between their family and a classmate’s family.

My Family Journey!

Activity

This lesson is the second in the series “Family Tapestry.” One goal of these lessons is to help students recognize and accept differences among themselves and within the larger community. Another is to recognize how each student’s unique family contributes to a richer society. As students begin to understand themselves better, learning opportunities will likely emerge to explore biases and prejudices. In this lesson, students explore how their family’s ethnic and cultural journey contributes to their lives and to their community.

Why Our Students Need ‘Equity Literacy’

Blog post

Several stacks of fake dollar bills enclosed in a Plexiglas case sit at the center of an exhibit entitled “RACE: Are We So Different?” at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. One stack towers over the others. This teetering pile of bills represents the average net worth of “white” people’s assets in relation to those of other racialized groups based upon data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau from 1997 to 2000. While the “Asian” stack is almost as high, the “black” stack can hardly be called a stack at all; the “Latino” stack is almost as low.
My Family Rocks!

Activity

This lesson is the first in the series “Family Tapestry.” One goal of these lessons is to help students recognize and accept differences among themselves and within the larger community. Another is to recognize how each student’s unique family contributes to a richer society. As students begin to understand themselves better, learning opportunities will likely emerge to explore biases and prejudices. In this introductory lesson, students explore the definition of family, learn about different kinds of family structures and explore what makes their own family unique.

Family Tapestry

Activity

The overall goal of these lessons is to help students recognize and accept differences among each other and within the larger community and how their own unique family contributes to a richer society. As they begin to understand themselves more thoroughly, learning opportunities likely will open up to explore their own biases and prejudices. The series consists of the following four lessons.
Sorting People and Sorting Out Students

Blog post

I asked my sixth-graders a loaded question at the beginning of my Holocaust unit. “What is race?” I hoped to help students comprehend the flaws in Nazi ideology regarding Jewish people and race science. When they stared blankly at me for a few moments before responding with answers that covered everything from nationality and religion to skin color, I knew my lesson plans for the day were about to change.
Cultural Sensitivity Keeps Students Engaged

Blog post

A young language arts student teacher directed her class to “close your eyes and imagine what your characters might look like.” I was observing her second-ever presentation to one of the classes where she would practice-teach for the next few weeks. “Details are very important in descriptions,” she continued, “but you can’t write about them if you can’t see them. Maybe you want to write about a beautiful young girl. Think about the details. She’d have big blue eyes and long blond hair, and her hands would be slender and delicate.” As she spoke, I watched her seventh-grade students. They represented the lower-middle-class school’s racial and ethnic mix pretty well: About half of them appeared to be Hispanic, almost a third could be considered African-American and the rest looked Caucasian. I didn’t see a blond hair or a blue eye among them. Most also had round, soft bodies.
Literature Breaks the Silence of Privilege

Blog post

Silence. It can be one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome during a discussion of racism. This time the silence in the room follows a difficult question. Perhaps my students don’t feel like talking. Maybe they didn’t do their reading of Walter Dean Myers’ Monster. Or, maybe they just don’t see it.
Get Past Group Mentality, See People First

Blog post

When I began teaching classes of primarily black students in Oakland, Calif., many of my white friends started to see me as something of an expert on African-American culture. While I understand that I could not possibly be an expert, I have been privy to some interesting conversations. I represent a comfort level that can lead to more cross-cultural discussions.
Appreciate the Diversity in Rural Places

Blog post

I felt myself straighten in my chair. I quickly shook off the tiredness of a long day of teaching when our professor explained most of us found it difficult to understand multicultural education “because our viewpoint was that of the white, upper middle class.”
Durham Schools Agree to End Discriminatory Policies

Blog post

We were encouraged to see that the school system in Durham, N.C., last week agreed to end discriminatory practices that prevent Latino students from receiving an adequate public education.
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