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Exploring Our Identities, Building Beloved Youth Community, Taking Action for Inclusion and Justice

By WildflowerUUadvisor
Grade Level
3-5 6-8
private
LEARNING PLAN
Essential Question
  • What are group identities and how do they describe me? Others?
  • What has happened throughout history to people like me?
  • How do I get to know others and allow others to get to know all of me?
  • What does it mean to feel good about myself and how can I express that I like who I am?
  • How can I be proud of who I am and celebrate others?
  • What privileges do I have that others don’t?
  • How can I describe and compare my group identities with those of other people?
  • Can words about identity hurt people?
  • How can I ask people about their lives and experiences in a respectful, kind and understanding way?
  • Why is history important? Does it affect how people live today?
  • How can I live, work and play with others when we have differences?
  • What does it mean to be human?
  • How are we members of groups but also individuals?
  • What clues help me know when and how people are being treated unfairly?
  • What privileges are available for certain groups of people but not for others?
  • What contributions have people made to justice and fairness historically?
  • When is a person’s humanity denied?
  • What advantages or disadvantages do I notice because of identity groups?
  • How is my life easier or more difficult based on who I am and where I was born?
Texts
Literature

Rose Blanche

During World War II, a young German girl, Rose Blanche, inadvertently discovers a concentration camp not far from her town. She travels there frequently, taking food to the children on the other side of the barbed wire and meets a haunted fate the day she discovers the camp is gone.
by
Roberto Innocenti and Christophe Gallaz
Grade Level
3-5
Subject
Civics
History
Geography
Topic
Race & Ethnicity Religion
Social Justice Domain
Justice Action
July 2, 2014
Literature

Shoulders

In this poem, the speaker sees a man carrying his son across the street and is struck by the tenderness the man displays for the child. The speaker realizes that humanity must cloak itself in this same caring nature.
by
Naomi Shihab Nye
Grade Level
3-5 6-8
Subject
Civics
Topic
Bullying & Bias
Social Justice Domain
Diversity Action
July 2, 2014
Literature

Eat, My Fine Coat!

Which are you more likely to notice: a person’s character or his or her clothing? Hoca has a witty response when the latter is true at a dinner he attends after a day of hard work.
by
Barbara Walker
Grade Level
K-2 3-5
Topic
Class
Social Justice Domain
Justice Action
July 3, 2014
Literature

The Breadwinner

After spending months talking to women in Afghan refugee camps, Deborah Ellis penned this timely novel about life under Taliban rule. Living in Afghanistan with her family, Parvana is a rarity—a girl who can read and experiences life, even for just a few hours, outside the four walls of her home.
by
Deborah Ellis
Grade Level
3-5 6-8
Subject
Civics
Geography
Topic
Gender & Sexual Identity
Social Justice Domain
Justice
July 3, 2014
Literature

The Skin I'm In (Chapter 3)

Maleeka gets made fun of at school about her clothes, her grades, even the color of her skin. In this chapter, she talks about getting teased on a school trip and how even her friend Char was ashamed to be seen with her because of her clothes.
by
Sharon Flake
Grade Level
3-5 6-8
Topic
Race & Ethnicity
Social Justice Domain
Justice
July 3, 2014
Informational

Facing the School Dropout Dilemma: The interaction of sexual orientation with school dropout rates

The American Psychological Association (APA) published “Facing the School Dropout Dilemma: The interaction of sexual orientation with school dropout rates” on its website in 2012. The APA is widely regarded as the most prominent professional organization for psychologists in the United States.
by
American Psychological Association
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
Topic
Gender & Sexual Identity
Social Justice Domain
Justice Action
July 5, 2014
Informational

Danger on my Doorstep

Linda Schubert recounts the fear that consumed her Jewish family living in Nazi-Germany in the late 1930s. Each family member endured individual stress and anxiety, but each also contributed to the family's greater good of the family.
by
Linda Schubert
Grade Level
6-8
Subject
History
Geography
Topic
Race & Ethnicity Religion
Social Justice Domain
Identity Justice
July 7, 2014
Literature

Only One Me

This poem's speaker describes being bullied and feeling depressed and skipping school to avoid the harassment. Spiraling downhill emotionally, the speaker ultimately comes to accept and appreciate his/her unique identities.
by
Sean Mauricette (aka SUBLIMINAL)
Grade Level
6-8
Topic
Bullying & Bias
Social Justice Domain
Identity Justice
July 8, 2014
Literature

A War on the Peaceful

This story, illustrated by Don Kilpatrick, describes a group of people who immigrated from Germany to the United States in order to seek religious asylum and practice their way of life in peace, but were met by continued persecution, which only escalated when World War I broke out.
by
Story Corner
Grade Level
3-5
Subject
History
Geography
Topic
Religion
Social Justice Domain
Diversity Justice Action
January 5, 2015
Literature

A Slave Auction

Solomon Northup was kidnapped and sold into slavery for 12 years before he was freed. This excerpt from his memoir of those years, Twelve Years A Slave, details a New Orleans slave auction.
by
Solomon Northup
Grade Level
6-8
Subject
History
Economics
Topic
Race & Ethnicity
Social Justice Domain
Justice
April 27, 2016
Informational

I Am the Blood of the Conqueror; I Am the Blood of the Conquered

In this blog post, the author details the internal struggle she feels when coming to terms with the bloody heritage she shares with conquistadors like Christopher Columbus and the pride she takes in remembering, embracing and living out her cultural history.
by
Christina Torres
Grade Level
6-8
Subject
History
Geography
Topic
Race & Ethnicity
Social Justice Domain
Identity Diversity Justice Action
August 22, 2016
Informational

Brothers In Hope: The Story of The Lost Boys of Sudan

In this excerpt, Garang tells his story of how he became a lost boy when war destroyed his village. Walking with thousands of other orphaned boys, Garang travels thousands of dangerous miles from southern Sudan to a refugee camp in Ethiopia.
by
Mary Williams and R. Gregory Christie (illustrator)
Grade Level
K-2 3-5
Subject
History
Topic
Race & Ethnicity
Social Justice Domain
Identity Diversity Justice
September 30, 2016
Informational

The Power of Language

In this essay, the author identifies vague terminology used by the United States government during World War II to describe their actions toward Japanese Americans and outlines terms that would more appropriately describe the government's actions.
by
Learning for Justice Staff
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
Subject
Civics
History
Topic
Race & Ethnicity
Social Justice Domain
Diversity Justice
April 28, 2016
Teaching Strategies
Community Inquiry

Affirmation Interview

During Affirmation Interview, students practice verbal and non-verbal communication in the roles of “interviewer” and “interviewee.”
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, SL.3-5.1
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Artifact Add-ons

Artifact Add-on asks students to select and share real-life objects that illustrate concepts and ideas from the central text.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, RL.3-5.2, RI.3-5.2, RL.3-5.3, RI.3-5.3, SL.3-5.1, SL.3-5.2 SL.3-5.4, SL.3-5.5, SL.3-5.6
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Brain Share

During Brain Share, small groups of students rotate through stations, discussing and recording concepts from central texts. This strategy is a modified combination of gallery walks and jigsaw.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RF.3-5.4, RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, RL.3-5.2, RI.3-5.2, SL.3-5.1, SL.3-5.2
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Critical Listening Guide

A guide to help students interpret, analyze and evaluate information encountered in a variety of media formats. Use this guide with the spoken and performed texts included in the Perspectives anthology.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.4, RL.6-12.6, RL.6-12.7, RL.6-12.8, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.4, RI.6-12.6, RI.6-12.7, RI.6-12.8, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.2, SL.6-12.3
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Fishbowl

Fishbowl is a strategy for organizing medium- to large-group discussions. Students are separated into an inner and outer circle. In the inner circle, or fishbowl, students have a discussion; students in the outer circle listen to the discussion and take notes.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, SL.3-5.1, SL.3-5.2, SL.3-5.6
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Four Perspectives

A strategy to introduce the anti-bias framework into group discussion and textual analysis. Students respond to and pose questions from the four anti-bias domains: identity, diversity, justice and action.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.4, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Lifting the Text

Students choose an important sentence or phrase from the central text and participate in a structured class discussion about the “lifted” text.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, SL.3-5.1, SL.3-5.4, SL.3-5.6
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Readers' Theater

During a readers’ theater, two or more students dramatize a text by reading expressively.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RF.3-5.4, RL.3-5.3, RI.3-5.3, SL.3-5.6
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Save the Last Word for Me (6-8, 9-12)

A comprehension strategy that builds speaking and listening skills through structured text-based discussion. Students record sentences from a text and then discuss their responses in small groups.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.4, RL.6-12.6, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.4, RI.6-12.6, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.2, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Socratic Seminar

A structured discussion in which students examine issues and respond to open-ended questions about a text. Students use dialogue rather than debate to communicate with each other.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.3, SL.6-12.4, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Text-based Fishbowl

A strategy for organizing medium- to large-group discussions. Students are separated into an inner and outer circle. In the inner circle, or fishbowl, students have a text-based discussion; students in the outer circle listen to the discussion and take notes.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.3, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.3, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Value Lines

Students take a stance on a topic related to the central text and listen while classmates explain their stances.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, SL.3-5.1, SL.3-5.3, SL.3-5.6
July 13, 2014
Word Work

Concept Sort

A concept sort is a comprehension strategy in which students sort new vocabulary into categories.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
L.3-5.4, L.3-5.5, L.3-5.6
July 19, 2014
Word Work

Guess the Covered Word

Guess the Covered Word challenges students’ vocabularies and reading comprehension by requiring them to deduce words redacted from a text.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.4, RI.3-5.4, RF.3-5.4, L.3-5.4
July 19, 2014
Word Work

Making Words

Making Words is a hands-on activity in which students learn how adding and moving letters can create new words.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.4, RI.3-5.4, L.3-5.4
July 19, 2014
Word Work

Meet New Vocabulary

Meet New Vocabulary uses a graphic organizer to help students acquire new vocabulary while reading. This strategy is most effective when teaching challenging, domain-specific words (Tier Three).
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.4, RI.3-5.4, RF.3-5.4, L.3-5.4, L.3-5.6
July 19, 2014
Word Work

Traits Matrix

In this semantic feature analysis strategy, students use a grid to show how vocabulary words relate to one another and to conceptual frameworks (e.g., masculine versus feminine).
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
L.6-12.4, L.6-12.5, L.6-12.6
July 19, 2014
Word Work

Word Wall

A word wall is an organized display of vocabulary words drawn from the texts students are reading.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
L.6-12.4, L.6-12.5, L.6-12.6
July 19, 2014
Word Work

Word Web

Word webs are mind maps that promote active learning and help students develop higher-order thinking skills. Students map their thinking in a graphic organizer based on a Frayer model.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.4, RI.3-5.4, L.3-5.4, L.3-5.5, L.3-5.6
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

Challenge the Text

Challenge the Text helps students ask and answer their own text-dependent questions by taking multiple perspectives and uncovering assumptions and biases within the text.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.3, RL.6-12.6, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.3, RI.6-12.6
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

Reading Against the Grain

In reading against the grain students analyze the dominant reading of a text and engage in alternative or "resistant" readings. Resistant readings scrutinize the beliefs and attitudes that typically go unexamined in a text, drawing attention to the gaps, silences and contradictions.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.6, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.6
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

Shared Reading

Shared reading combines aspects of guided reading and read-aloud strategies. During shared reading, a teacher or proficient student reads the text aloud, pausing at pre-selected moments to discuss content and analyze the text. This strategy facilitates close reading of a complex text in small or whole group settings.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

Text Graffiti

This strategy exposes students to multiple short pieces of a text before they read it in its entirety. Students read selected quotes out of context and comment on both the selection and the comments of other students. The activity ends with students reflecting on their reactions to and predictions about the text.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1
July 19, 2014
Community Inquiry

What Would They Say

A discussion strategy that asks students to infer how a particular author or character from a text would respond to questions and scenarios. Students must defend their conclusions using evidence from the text.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.3, SL.6-12.4, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014
Student Tasks
Do Something

Be the Change...

Students identify and investigate a community problem and propose a solution. They then plan and implement action directed at solving the problem.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
July 13, 2014
Do Something

Community Mural / Poster Campaign

Students create a large-scale artistic depiction in a community space. As an alternative to the community mural, students can create a set of informational posters that reflect a diversity topic or social justice theme.
Grade Level
3-5
July 13, 2014
Do Something

Identity Portraits

Students interview one another, then draw or paint portraits containing symbols that represent the subject’s identity, beliefs, values or areas of interest.
Grade Level
3-5
July 13, 2014
Do Something

My Voice, My Voter’s Guide

Estimated time Two to three weeks Why? One of the ways young students become invested in the democratic process is by become empowered advocates for civic participation in their local communities. When younger students
Grade Level
3-5 6-8 9-12
Subject
Civics
August 30, 2018
Do Something

Persuasive Letters

Students write to a business, school or community leader to call for action in response to a social justice issue from the central text. Alternatively, students can write open, persuasive letters to their peers or family members.
Grade Level
3-5
July 13, 2014
Do Something

Picture Books

Students work in small groups to write and illustrate an original children's picture book to teach others about a social justice or diversity topic present in the central text.
Grade Level
3-5
July 13, 2014
Do Something

Puppet Show

Students design, create and perform a puppet show to teach others about a diversity, anti-bias or social justice theme from the central text.
Grade Level
3-5
July 13, 2014
Do Something

Spotlight on Change Agents

Students investigate, interview and profile a person working for equity and social change. The person can work on the local, national or international level, with an organization or as an individual. The compiled profiles will form a resource for other students in the future.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
July 13, 2014
Do Something

Voting in Your Town

Students use online resources to analyze current voter registration and turnout rates in their state and local community. They also explore potential roadblocks to the voting process (e.g., felon disenfranchisement and voter fraud).
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
October 3, 2016
Write to the Source

Break It Down

Break it Down asks students to demonstrate their explanatory and descriptive writing skills.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
W.6-12.2, W.6-12.4, W.6-12.9
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

Small Moment

Small Moment asks students to demonstrate their narrative skills when writing about personal experiences.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
W.3-5.3, W.3-5.4
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

So What?

So What? asks students to demonstrate their explanatory and informative skills when writing to gain the understanding of others.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
W.6-12.2, W.6-12.4, W.6-12.9
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

What Do We Share

What do We Share? asks students to demonstrate their argumentative and comparative writing skills.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
W.3-5.1, W.3-5.4, W.4-5.9
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

Where I Stand

Where I Stand asks students to demonstrate their argumentative and analytical writing skills.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
W.6-12.1, W.6-12.4, W.6-12.9
July 19, 2014
Plan Built By
WildflowerUUadvisor

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