"peo ples" © 1997 Zoe Levenglick-Volpe (age 11)

 

"'Cause They Don't Look Like You":

A Study of Intolerance in America

For Fourth and Fifth Grade Students

Created by: Heather Lynch

 

Introduction	Process
Goals	Evaluation
Task	Conclusion
Activities	Extensions
Resources	Teacher Notes

 

Introduction

Read this Story of Intolerance

Questions to think about and discuss:

• How were Mr. and Mrs. Stanford treated at Harvard?
• Why did the secretary and the President treat them this way?
• What is your personal reaction to the story?
• Have you ever been treated differently or treated someone else differently based on the way they looked or dressed?

Mr. and Mrs. Stanford are not unique in their experience. Throughout American history and every day in every part of our country, people have been and continue to be mistreated because they are different. It can be the way they dress, the color of their skin, their religion, the way they talk or walk, because they are thought to be not smart enough or too smart, because they're too fat or too thin, too tall or too short....for any reason that may cause others to view them as different.

You are about to embark on a very important journey. Our class will be investigating several incidences of intolerance, discrimination, and prejudice in America, past and present. The President has appointed us as leaders of the Committee to End Intolerance in America. Our job will be to research examples of intolerance in American history, celebrate individuals in history who have fought for justice and equality for all people, and develop ideas for promoting tolerance and acceptance of others.

• Explore and research examples of intolerance in American History through the Internet, and other electronic and non-electronic sources
• Explore and research leaders in the Civil Rights movement
• Explore incidences of intolerance in America today
• Explore incidences of discrimination in our everyday lives
• Reflect on and recognize own individual prejudices
• Develop tolerance and appreciation for the differences and uniqueness of others
• Cooperatively work with teammates to gather and share knowledge
• Create a presentation to teach others how to be more tolerant

As members of the Committee to End Intolerance in America, we have an important and challenging mission. Our journey will be broken down into three different areas: The Past, The Present, and the Future. We will have different tasks to accomplish for each area. In this WebQuest, you will:

1. Use Internet resources to research and investigate examples of intolerance, injustice, prejudice, and discrimination in American history and today's world.

2. Visit the school's media center or public library to find books dealing with the issues of prejudice and intolerance.

3. Interview other people (other students, adults, family members) about when they may have been victims, witnesses, or offenders of discrimination.

4. Explore software such as Grolier's Encyclopedia, Encarta Encyclopedia, Great Moments in History to gather information.

5. Develop an understanding of prejudice, discrimination, and intolerance, the reasons why these feelings and behaviors exist in our country, and the affect they have on people.

6. Keep a reflection journal to describe your feelings, reactions, impressions, questions, and comments.

7. Examine and compare how attitudes of prejudice and intolerance have changed, improved, or not improved through the years.

8. Create a multimedia presentation about an example of intolerance and discrimination in American History.

9. Create a project that helps to teach others how to be more tolerant and accepting of others.

Mission #1: The Past

Your first mission is to choose a time of intolerance and discrimination in American history. You will research the people and events of this time and demonstrate your understanding of this part of American history through a slide show presentation. You will use this slide show to help teach others about this part of history at our First Committee Forum.

Your slide show will contain:

• Navigable buttons, appropriate backgrounds, graphics, and readable, edited text.
• Title slide which contains name of slide show.
• Five to six content slides which describe the events of this time and the people involved
• A concluding slide which sums up the group's reaction/impressions of the events and people of that time and why you think it should still be remembered today.

Mission #2: The Present

Your second mission is to examine intolerance in today's world.

A. Your group will interview at least six people about where and when they've personally encountered prejudice in their own lives. Find a variety of different people to interview(adults, children, males, females, people of different cultures). Include the following questions:

• Tell about a time in your life when you personally encountered prejudice or intolerance, either as a victim or witness.
• What happened? When and where did it happen? How old were you? How did you feel?
• Do you feel intolerance and prejudice are a problem in our America today?
• What do you think can be done to help encourage tolerance and acceptance of others?

B. Your group will examine at least two current events of discrimination and intolerance in America today. Your group will research newspaper and magazine articles in print form and on the Web, and verbally summarize these events to the class at our Second Committee Forum.

Mission #3: The Future

Your third and final mission for your group is to create a project to educate others about the harm of discrimination and prejudice and help encourage tolerance and acceptance of others. These will be presented at our Final Committee Forum. Project ideas may include, but are not limited to:

1. A book or story

2. A collection of poems

3. A play

4. A multimedia presentation or slide show

5. A radio or television ad or series of ads

6. An informational pamphlet for students or adults

7. A web page

8. A series of magazine or newspaper ads

Click on the following to find internet resources to use to gather information for your missions:

Resources for Events of the Past

Resources for Current Events

• It Starts With Prejudice: Read this article about the issue of prejudice in our nation today
• Then and Now: How has the world changed since the days of the Civil Rights Movement?
• "I Am" Poems and "What Tolerance Means To Me" Essays written by children
• Prejudice and Discrimination: Class web page which includes student thoughts about prejudice and discrimination as well as links to web sites about these issues

Introduction

• Read the Intolerance story together, as a class. Students will respond to the questions in their reflection journal. Discuss questions and story together. Introduce students to mission that they have been given.
• Students will be divided into six groups of about five students. Groups will be working together throughout the entire WebQuest.
• Missions will be completed one after another and should not be done simultaneously.
• Students will keep a daily reflection journal in which they will write impressions/feelings/reactions to what they are studying, how well their group is working, hopes for the future, thoughts on or experiences with prejudice and discrimination.

Mission #1(Three weeks to complete)

• Each group will examine the choices of events/people to study and will choose one of the times in American History to study.
• Groups will work cooperatively to explore electronic and non-electronic resources about their chosen time period
• Group will create a slide show using the presentation software of their choice(Hyperstudio, MP Express, PowerPoint) to demonstrate their understanding of the people and events of their time period. Presentations will be shared at the First Committee Forum.
• Reflection Questions: 1. What kinds of qualities does the person(people) that you are studying possess? 2. How did your person(people) react to the way they were treated? 3. How do you feel about they way they were treated?

Slide shows will contain:

• Title slide
• Five to six content slides which tell the who, what, when, where, why, and how of this time in history
• A concluding slide that sums up the groups impressions of these events and why the group thinks it's important for us to remember the people and events today

Mission #2(Two weeks to complete)

• Groups will interview at least six people about when and where they've personally encountered prejudicein their own lives. Suggested interview questions are found under Task. Groups should interview a variety of people.
• Groups will examine two current events of discrimination or intolerance in America. Groups can use internet or print resources. Groups will be able to verbally summarize the articles.
• Interviews and verbal summaries will be share at the Second Committee Forum.
• Reflection Questions: 1. Have you found that most people have encountered prejudice and intolerance in their lives? 2. Have you ever been treated unfairly because you were perceived as different in some way? How did it make you feel? 3. Have you ever treated someone unfairly because someone looked different or was different in some way?

Mission #3(4-6 weeks to complete)

• Groups will have one week to discuss and decide on a final project to teach others how to be more tolerant and accepting of other's differences. Students will write a proprosal detailing their project and how they will complete it.
• Groups will work on their projects and once a week will be required to give an update on how they are coming along on their project.
• Groups will share final projects at the Final Committee Forum.
• Reflection Questions: 1. What can you do to help stop intolerance in your world....at school, in your neighborhood? 2. What do you think are the most important qualities of a person?

Rubrics

To make the evaluation process more meaningful, students should create their own rubrics for their projects. For the last part of the project(Mission #3) where students have a wide variety of project choices, the teacher will meet individually with groups to develop rubrics. The rubrics for Mission#1 and #2 can be made up by the class as a whole.

To see examples of Rubrics:

• Product Rubric
• Process Rubric

You have completed your missions! The President of the United States would like to thank you on behalf of all the citizens in America for your hard work and dedication in trying to make our country a better place to live for all people. Hopefully, you will continue to spread the message of tolerance and acceptance of others and together we can continue to make changes.

Please answer the following questions for your final entry in your Reflection Journal:

• How did this experience help you to better understand prejudice and intolerance?
• Why is it important to respect and accept the differences of others?
• Has this experience changed the way you view or treat others who are different from you? Explain.
• What did you learn from completing this WebQuest?
• What would you change about this WebQuest if you were to do it again?

1. Explore examples of intolerance in the history of the world and present-day times.

2. Share slide show presentations and final projects with other classes in the school.

3. Develop a school-wide Tolerance Program. Students could share final projects at an assembly.

4. Invite guest speakers who have been victims of intolerance or civil rights advocates such as holocaust survivors or were supporters of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's and 1960's.

5. Study and explore other cultures to help students develop an understanding and respect for other cultures.

6. Create a Tolerance Web-site to help teach other kids around the world about tolerance.

7. Study songs of the Civil Rights Movement. Use this great WebQuest for resources.

Lesson Title: 'Cause They Don't Look Like You: A Study of Intolerance in America

Curricular Areas: History-Social Studies, Technology, Language Arts

Grade Levels: 4-6

Length of Lesson: 3 months

Suggestions:

Note: If you have never done a WebQuest before, visit Dr. Alice Christie's Web Page about WebQuests for more information.

1. Anticipate students' need for vocabulary development before or during project by previewing the student component and resources.

2. Go through the Internet resources to make sure that all links are working.

3. Print out project so students can refer back to it when working offline.

4. Online images may take time to load, so have some type of other work available for students to do while they wait.

5. Have class/group discussion after each step in the process. This will help students organize their thoughts and check for understanding.

6. Bring in or have students bring in any kinds of articles or books relating to intolerance, racism, discrimination.

7. Visit a museum or contact a guest speaker to visit your class

8. Bring in children's books and music relating to tolerance and civil rights.

Internet Resources

• Japanese Internment Camps #1
• More links about Japanese Internment Camps
• National Civil RIghts Museum
• Tolerance On-Line Resources
• Tolerance Literature Resources
• Literature Dealing With Hate
• Talking Walls Tolerance Lesson: Language Arts lesson using the picture book, Talking Walls
• More Links about Martin Luther King, Jr.
• More Civil Rights Resources
• African-American Civil Rights
• More on Japanese Internment

This WebQuest follows the NETS technology standards and the Arizona State Technology Standards as well as the Arizona Language Arts Standards of Viewing and Presenting