Printer-friendly versionActivities will help students:
- identify acts of discrimination
- explore ways to stand up against discrimination
- encourage others to take action against discrimination
Objectives
Activities will help students:
- identify acts of discrimination
- explore ways to stand up against discrimination
- encourage others to take action against discrimination
Essential Questions
- What does it mean to be discriminated against?
- Why do people discriminate?
- What can we do to stand up against discrimination?
- How can we stop acts of discrimination at our school?
Materials
- Internet Access
- Constance McMillen
- Graeme Taylor and Graeme Taylor’s Remarks
- Rochelle Hamilton
- Abby Brammer
- Samantha Elauf
- Not In Our Town and Not In Our School
- HERO Teens
- Gay-Straight Alliance
- Youth for Human Rights
Activities
- How would you feel if you weren’t allowed to play a sport, go to a dance or get a job because of how you looked or what you believed in? Would you accept being discriminated against, or would you stand up for yourself? Freewrite your response.
- (Note: Facilitate the following jigsaw activity.) Form a group of five (this is your “home” group). Each person chooses one of the following five real-life people who has stood up against discrimination: Constance McMillen, Graeme Taylor, Rochelle Hamilton, Abby Brammer or Samantha Elauf (see web resources above). Make sure all five teens are accounted for within your group; no one should have the same person. You are going to become the expert on the person you chose. As you read, think about who was being discriminated against and why, as well as how people responded to the discrimination.
- Now regroup into expert teams (e.g., everyone who has Constance McMillen groups together, and likewise for the other people). Read online about your person. As you read, think about who was being discriminated against and why, as well as how people responded to the discrimination. With your fellow experts, discuss the teen you read about, answering the following questions:
- Who was being discriminated against?
- Why was this person being discriminated against?
- What did he/she and/or others do to stand up against this discrimination?
It is a good idea to take notes since you are responsible for teaching members in your “home” group about this person and his/her experience.
- Return to your “home” group. Take turns sharing what you learned about your teen.
- Discuss the following as a class: Based on your reading and the summaries you heard from your group members, what do these teens who stood up against discrimination have in common? (Note: Consider capturing student responses on the board or chart paper.) Which actions of theirs can you emulate to stand up against discrimination in your own school or community?
- Now have each member of your “home” group read online about a different organization: Not In Our Town, Not In Our School, HERO Teens, Gay-Straight Alliance, and Youth For Human Rights (see web resources above). Share what you learn with your group members. During your discussion, make two-column notes. In the first column, write the names of each organization. In the second column, use details from the texts to record the following information about each group:
- What is the purpose of this organization?
- How do they take action against discrimination?
- Does your school have a group like this?
- What is the importance of a group like this in our country?
- Based on what you read about these organizations and what you learned about teens who have stood up against discrimination, write a proposal for how your group thinks your school should deal with acts of discrimination (you may wish to assign each group member a different section of the proposal):
- Define what constitutes an act of discrimination.
- Recommend how the school can prevent discrimination.
- Identify how students can safely—and anonymously, should they choose—report discrimination.
- Outline actions the school should take to stop instances of discrimination that are reported.
Extension Activity
Research how to start a school chapter of one of the organizations you read about.
Comments
Excellent, but difficult lesson to teach to high schoolers
When I posed the following question to my seniors, I got an interesting response:
"Explain what you think causes discrimination and prejudice."
One student, in particular, responded by saying that "Talking about discrimination causes it. We should have to talk about it in school. If we just stopped talking about the whole issue, it would go away." Although I pointed out the various flaws in his argument, he was insistent that I should not be addressing the issue in the classroom.
Obviously disheartened and concerned, I sought out lesson plans that would perhaps help me to bring the issue home to this student and perhaps prove to him that discrimination is something that many people face and that it cannot be ignored. Thank you for the excellent resources provided in this lesson. I plan to use a few of the articles as points of discussion in my class.
Julia Thompson
Causes of discrimination and prejudice
Ms. Thompson,
I think that discrimination and prejudice is initially caused by our upbringing. Our families and communitities teach us from the very beginning what is acceptable. If a child is brought up thinking that homosexuals are the work of the devil, that is what they will believe unless soembody steps in and gives them factual reasons why that is not the case. Some parents are very strict, religious, laid back, liberal, and some children do not have parents to teach them and therefore they learn from their community and environment.
When children are small, so is their environment. As they grow up their environment expands and depending on what they have been exposed to and who has influenced their desisions will directly reflect in how they treat other people. The best thing a parent or caregiver can do for a child is expose them to multiple cultures, languages, and allow them to explore the posibilities of being different. Diversity is a good thing. It is what makes up our children's world and they deserve the right to live anywhere they want in that world. As a teacher-in-training I know that I will be presented with these challenges and it is sad to think that so many children go through school and have to deal with discrimination and prejudice everyday.
Mrs. Davis
To discrimminate is to say
To discrimminate is to say that you don't beleive in the world. If you don't beleive in the world then world will not work. The world needs to work or you will not surive.