Teachers and students draw maps showing where they think social divisions exist at school, and compare views of the community as a whole.
Materials
- Art supplies
- Poster paper
Instructions
For one week, observe your school's hallways, common areas and seating arrangements in classrooms and the cafeteria, paying attention to how students are grouped.
Teachers should first sketch the school's social boundaries, identifying where social cliques hang out. Then students will sketch the school. Compare the viewpoints.
- Did you map the school differently?
- How were groups labeled? Did the labels vary? Why?
- What did the students notice that the teacher didn't? Why might this be?
- Did individual students notice different things? Why might this be?
- What did the teacher notice that the students didn't notice? Why might this be?
- What have you learned about labels and your perspective?
- Does this information challenge any assumptions you may have had?
- What can you change in your classroom and school to reflect this new information?
