Free Lesson Plans on Racial Understanding
By SLJ News -- School Library Journal, 8/24/2007 10:33:00 AM
If you’re planning a lesson on race relations, you may want to consider this: RaceBridges.net, a nonprofit organization that seeks to promote racial harmony in schools, is offering a set of four lesson plans to high school teachers and librarians.
The free, downloadable units were tested with Chicago teens and helped “open up constructive dialogue among students,” says RaceBridges. Teachers have also reported that the activities promote a sense of community and encourage students to recognize and respect difference in the classroom.
Each of the four lessons can easily be completed during a 45-minute class period. They include: “Claim It! Creating a Climate of Inclusion,” a lesson that helps students examine issues of identity, and then they commit to making personal changes in behavior; “A Thanksgiving Reflection: Who is Missing from Our Table?,” which incorporates personal stories to examine America’s acceptance of different races; “African-American Heritage Month—We All Have a Race: Addressing Race and Racism,” which helps students explore the meaning of race and racism and consider how they might personally work to overcome their own biases; and “Sticking Together: Sharing Our Stories, Our Differences, and Our Similarities,” a unit that creates a sense of community in the classroom, while promoting a broader sense of community outside of school.
During the school year, RaceBridges will have four additional free, Web-based lesson plans focusing on Latino, Native American, and African-American themes, as well as people who have “made a difference.”
To view or download materials, visit www.racebridges.net/schools?mw1.
