Teaching Tolerance
Collage of Concerns
A picture can speak louder than words. An interesting lesson introduces the themes of social justice and diversity to young learners by having them create artwork. Scholars create collages from a variety of sources to showcase what...
Teaching Tolerance
Act Up! Drama for Justice
A lesson turns young historians into playwrights to understand and speak out against social injustice. Pupils work individually or in groups to write and perform monologues that deliver personal messages on social justice. Writers then...
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Belonging
Middle schoolers examine their personal feelings regarding exclusive groups. In this character education lesson, students conduct mini-debates as they discuss how they relate to one another regarding exclusive social groups.
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Protest Music Video
Students use iMovie to express the meaning and context of a protest song from the '60s or '70s. They explore different views of the protest movement and gain an understanding of the emotional and political overtones of the times.
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War Stories
Students explore their feelings about the United States' invasion of Iraq. Using newspaper headlines and articles as a starting point, students express their emotions through creative writing.
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The Language of Deception
Learners explore informative, expressive, directive and performative languages and discuss examples of each. In groups, students research the types of languages, their effectiveness in communicating truth, needs and desires. Learners...
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Songs of the Civil War
Students investigate music of the Civil War era and explore how music can be used to arouse and express emotion. They identify a rhythmical musical pattern and match lyrics to it.
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How Are My Social Skills?
An outstanding activity on social skills is here for you. This four-page activity poses 25 skills for learners to consider, and rate themselves on using a 1 - 5 scale. At the bottom of the sheet, they must choose five skills they feel...
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War Poetry, Journals and Letters: Viet Nam
Examine letters written during war-time. In this cross curricular history and English lesson, middle and high school scholars read letters and poems written by soldiers in the Vietnam war. They will examine the perspective and emotions...
Bully Free Systems
Bully Free Lesson Plans—Eighth Grade
Middle schoolers are likely very familiar with the concept of bullying and cliques. Discuss their experiences and brainstorm ways to handle peer conflict and feelings of exclusion with a poem that focuses on bullying, and a second lesson...
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Anger Management
High schoolers identify at least three feelings or emotions. They identify the difference between negative ("bad") emotions and negative behavior. Students make a list of as many emotions as possible. They identify different situations...
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Friendship Masks
Pupils investigate the concept of friendship and how it is developed and based upon some different emotions. They examine samples of masks that display emotional responses. Then students have class discussion about emotions and the...
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INTRODUCTORY LESSON for the beginning of each new year
Students study and express the five values of truth, love, peace, right conduct, and non-violence. The lesson focuses on the beginning of the year, introducing the values. Through games, singing, and reading--students become familiar...
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September 11-How Do You Feel?: Terrorism, US History
Pupils have the opportunity to express their feelings and discuss their perceptions of the events of September 11, 2001. This could also be adapted to other crisis and disasters.
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Lesson: Text Messages
Can a neon sign be considered art? Kids consider two different works that use neon text as the basis for conveying artistic social messages. They then analyze a truism from Jenny Holzer's web site that holds meaning to them personally....
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Comparing and Contrasting Images of Child Labor
Young scholars study child labor in the 19th century through one painting and multiple photographs. In discussion and writing, they consider the differences between photography and painting as mediums for expressing these attitudes.
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Angry Words: What Goes Around Comes Around
Students examine how angry words can effect the people and environment around them and identify ways to cope with angry feelings. They listen to the book Andrew's Angry Words by Dorothea Lachner, and participate in a simulation of how...
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Protest Music Video
Students create an iMovie that expresses the meaning of a protest song from the 1960's or 1970's. They investigate the emotional and political overtones of the times and use images to interpret the song's meaning.
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EXPRESSIONIST ART LESSON
Sixth graders design and compose a picture that conveys a specific emotion or feeling, and recognize the use of emotion in a variety of artworks using crayons and/or pastels. They experiment and manipulate elements of art including, line...
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The Window
Students read a story entitled, "The Window," and discover how some cultures are rejected by others. Students write a letter expressing feelings of rejection and keep a journal of significant events in the story. Using a graphic...
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Japanese Noh Masks
Students examine Japanese theatre and create their own face masks which display certain emotions, props, costumes and perform in improvisational theatrical games.
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You Have to Live in Somebody Else's Country to Understand
Students reflect on emotions commonly expressed by outsiders. They identify feelings of people who have just arrived in America. They read and analyze a poem about immigration.
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What is Canadian?
Learners explore how artworks can become symbols of national identity. They examine and analyze Song of the Nations, a site specific sculpture by Quebecois artist Armand Vaillancourt that expresses his views of Quebec's position...
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DEVELOPING A MONOLOGUE OR JOURNAL ENTRY BASED ON PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DUST BOWL
Students infer the emotions of various individuals portrayed in the photographs and depict these feelings in a monologue or journal entry. Students explore the verisimilitude of art to reality, sharing ideas and observations in class...