Lesson by Julie Conca
Grade level: Kindergarten
Summary: In this lesson, students review alike and different characteristics by looking at their own bodies as well as their peers. They draw outlines of one another outside on the playground and discuss the idea of a body outline versus a detailed picture.
Score: 14/18
Inclusivity of Multiple Perspectives: 3
Link to Real World Problems: 2
Differentiation: 3
Agents of Change: 1
Connections to Students’ Lives: 2
Lesson Assessment: 3
Lesson Plan: Classroom Footprint
Summary: Through this lesson, students examine their individual ‘global footprint.’ In other words, students discover how much land and water is necessary to sustain what they use as well as discard. In doing so, students also discuss the quality of life, particularly how their quality of life compares to that of others, as well as what factors affect quality of life. This lesson includes various activities, specifically discussions which obtain data from the Earth Day Network Site, and graphing the ‘global footprint’ of the class, to be completed individually, in pairs, and as a whole class.
Advantages: This lesson effectively embeds social justice themes overall, and allows for singular as well as group work.
Disadvantages: Although the lesson differentiates instruction, provides a link to global issues related to the quality of life, and incorporates contributions from each student, the assessments do not fully evaluate students’ attainment of the lesson objectives.
Scores: 13.75/18, 3 stars
Inclusivity of multiple perspectives: 2.5
Link to real world problems: 2
Differentiation: 2
Agents of change: 2
Connections to students’ lives: 3
Lesson assessment: 2.25
A Day in the Life of a Child
Summary: For this lesson, the teacher will have students share how they spend their days and chart their activities. Afterwards, the teacher will ask students share how they spend their days and chart their activities. After, the teacher will ask students how these activities influence their lives and discuss their ideas. The teacher will then have students decide which activities are necessary for survival and which are not necessary for survival but still impact their quality of life. After this distinction has been established, the teacher will ask students to make a 24 hour time clock to determine their daily activities. Students will then do further examination of these activities to help them understand how they affect their geography, history and culture.
Advantages: The lesson incorporates different teaching styles, links to the real world, and connects to student’s lives directly.
Disadvantages: There are not many options for assessment, and the lesson does not stress being an agent of change.
Scores: 14/18, 2 stars
Inclusivity of multiple perspectives: 2/5
Link to real world problems: 2
Differentiation: 2.25
Agents of change: 2
Connects to students’ lives: 3
Lesson assessment: 2.25
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
Lesson Plan: Families: Different and the Same
Link URL: http://www.kqed.org/w/mosaic/gaylesbian/lp02.html
Summary: This lesson plan is targeted towards students in grades 4-6, and focuses on the concept of family. Many students these days come from a variety of family backgrounds so it’s very important for children to expand their horizons to see that families come in all shapes and sizes. This lesson allows children to explore various family structures that are different than their own as well as have a discussion with their classmates about their own families. Through a variety of activities, students will be able to see that each and every family is unique and special in their own way.
Positives: The lesson should help students become accepting towards differences in family systems, as well as more aware of what these differences are. Different media such as film, group work, book writing or interviews can be adapted for different classroom settings.
Negatives: It may be difficult to group students according to their family system. There is not much students can do to be ‘agents of change’ for this activity.
Score:
16.5/18 Points – 3 stars
Inclusivity: 3
Link to Real World: 2.25
Differentiation: 2.75
Agents of Change: 2.5
Connections to Student’s Lives: 3
Assessment: 3