Learning Outcome #11: Foster Understanding of and Respect for Individuals’ Abilities, Disabilities and Diversity of Variations of Ethnicity, Culture, Language, Gender, Age, Class, and Sexual Orientation
In order to teach students about becoming empowered and knowledgeable citizens, teachers must look at the importance of multicultural awareness and stereotypes, stigmas, and prejudices that exist in society with their students. To be successful and well-rounded, people need to be aware of pre-conceived notions that they hold in regards to people who are different from themselves, and they need to confront and work through these issues. With the world becoming more globalized and diverse due to the expansion of companies internationally, and with Web 2.0, students are going to need more exposure and reflections about their feelings towards different ethnicities, cultures, languages, sexual orientations, gender, age, and class. Dr. James A. Banks, author of Educating Citizens in a Multicultural Society, says that multicultural education will "help us create a society where more people will participate in our democratic institutions and in working to make it a more harmonious society." Once students acknowledge and work on who they are and how they feel, they will be able to accept other people for who they are; this will lead to more citizens participating in democratic institutions because minorities will recognize that their voice will be heard, not smothered by the white majority.
Theodore Sizer said that "The measure of the worth of a society is how it treats its weakest and most
vulnerable citizens." We need to teach our students to not only tolerate people who are different from themselves, but to have enough background knowledge to accept and appreciate the diversity of other Americans. Students need to gain an understanding of the history and context of people from other cultures, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, classes, ages, and disabilities so that they can gain an appreciation for the hardships that they have endured, and we can work at not recreating the detrimental past.
As classrooms become more inclusive, students need to learn to respect peers who have disabilities. Intolerance has led to sterilization, discrimination, and hate; we need to teach our students that they need to be model citizens and stand up for what is right, even if it does not coincide with their own opinions. I teach my students that saying the word "retard" and "gay" are inappropriate things to say - it makes the person saying the words appear insensitive and uneducated. We go into depth with how these words originated and came to have the negative connotation that they have today. When students are provided knowledge and a reason for not doing something, they are left with the decision of making a right decision based on facts, or choosing to make a wrong decision even though they are aware of why their decision is inappropriate. It is one thing to be ignorant and another to be insensitive.
Thematic units are a great way to introduce many new ideas about social injustices and prejudices to students; they are able to see how these themes are pertinent to their own lives through many different types of literature such as books, poems, and songs, and they are able to reflect on their own pre-conceived notions and attitudes.
Thematic Unit:
A Thematic Unit Plan on Youth Activism within the Local Community
Lesson plans:
Human Rights 101
Theodore Sizer said that "The measure of the worth of a society is how it treats its weakest and most
vulnerable citizens." We need to teach our students to not only tolerate people who are different from themselves, but to have enough background knowledge to accept and appreciate the diversity of other Americans. Students need to gain an understanding of the history and context of people from other cultures, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, classes, ages, and disabilities so that they can gain an appreciation for the hardships that they have endured, and we can work at not recreating the detrimental past.
As classrooms become more inclusive, students need to learn to respect peers who have disabilities. Intolerance has led to sterilization, discrimination, and hate; we need to teach our students that they need to be model citizens and stand up for what is right, even if it does not coincide with their own opinions. I teach my students that saying the word "retard" and "gay" are inappropriate things to say - it makes the person saying the words appear insensitive and uneducated. We go into depth with how these words originated and came to have the negative connotation that they have today. When students are provided knowledge and a reason for not doing something, they are left with the decision of making a right decision based on facts, or choosing to make a wrong decision even though they are aware of why their decision is inappropriate. It is one thing to be ignorant and another to be insensitive.
Thematic units are a great way to introduce many new ideas about social injustices and prejudices to students; they are able to see how these themes are pertinent to their own lives through many different types of literature such as books, poems, and songs, and they are able to reflect on their own pre-conceived notions and attitudes.
Thematic Unit:
A Thematic Unit Plan on Youth Activism within the Local Community
Lesson plans:
Human Rights 101