Lesson Plan: Social Justice: Here! There! Now! Then!

Lesson Plan URL: http://learningtogive.org/lessons/unit232/

Grade: 9-12, though can be adapted by teachers for lower grades

Summary: Students will undergo 5 lessons in this unit. Students learn about social injustice, intolerance, and social needs. They will examine past and present situations of social injustice and finally come up with a plan to solve a social need. Lesson 1 examines social injustice in South Africa, Lesson 2 discusses the Jim Crow laws, Lesson 3 Civil rights leaders, Lesson 4 social justice rhetoric, and Lesson 5 identifying and acting upon a social need.

Positives: Students are given many different opportunities to study social injustice, and teachers can chose the parts of the lesson that they want to use. Different mediums are used, such as video, group discussion, writing, and actual community involvement.

Negatives: Differentiation is not discussed – changing the lesson based on student needs, and there are limited uses of assessments.

Score: 14.75/18, 3 Stars

Inclusivity of multiple perspectives: 2.25

Link to real world problems: 3

Differentiation: 1.75

Agents of change: 2.5

Connections to students’ lives: 2.25

Lesson assessment: 3