Differences across the curriculum: Part 1

Part of a set of lessons offering an integrated approach to exploring diversity with eighth graders, this lesson serves as a pre-reading activity for the drama version of "The Diary of Anne Frank." Students will learn how diversity creates bias which leads to conflict, where students confront their bias and practice tolerance.

A lesson plan for grade 8 Social Studies

By Lynn Carter

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• Differences across the curriculum: Part 2 This set of lessons can be used with "Differences across the curriculum: Part 1" as an integrated approach to exploring diversity with eighth graders. The unit will revolve around the use of the drama version of "The Diary of Anne Frank." Students will learn how diversity creates bias, which leads to conflict, where students confront their bias and practice tolerance. These parts reflect the four core curricula in an interwoven approach to teaching students to confront their biases, learn tolerance, and infer the impact of these on today's society. This activity, Part 2, is meant to augment the pre-reading activities completed in Part 1 in a Social Studies class.

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• Live-at-Home in North Carolina: In this lesson students will examine pictures and documents relating to the Live at Home program started in North Carolina by Governor O. Max Gardner to help North Carolina farmers refocus on food crops rather than cash crops during the Depression. These photographs, from the Green 'N' Growing collection at the North Carolina State University, will help students draw conclusions about the culture of North Carolina in the early 1930s and understand how they overcame the hardships of the Depression.
• And justice for all: The Trail of Tears, Mexican deportation, and Japanese internment: Many textbooks mention the Trail of Tears, but fail to mention that this early displacement of an ethnic minority is only the one of many legally-sanctioned forced relocations. This lesson will address the displacement of American Indians through the Trail of Tears, the forced deportation of Mexican Americans during the Great Depression, and the internment of Japanese American citizens during WWII.

Related topics

• Learn more about Anne Frank, Europe, Germany, North Carolina, World War II, diversity, history, plays, social studies, and tolerance.

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This set of lessons can be used with “Differences Across the Curriculum: Part 2″ as an integrated approach to exploring diversity with eighth graders. The unit will revolve around the use of the drama version of “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Students will learn how diversity creates bias which leads to conflict, where students confront their bias and practice tolerance. These parts reflect the four core curricula in an interwoven approach to teaching students to confront their biases, learn tolerance, and infer the impact of these on today’s society. This activity, Part 1, is meant to serve as a pre-reading activity to the reading of the play form of “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

Learning outcomes

In addition to the course of study objectives, students should learn to practice tolerance and acceptance through exploring these issues in a variety of subject areas.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

4 hours

Materials/resources

• copies of “The Diary of Anne Frank” play
• various readings about tolerance
• information on North Carolina, Germany, and the world prior to and during WWII

Technology resources

Internet access (optional)

Pre-activities

Several basic assumptions are made about the knowledge of the students prior to this unit. They will have studied NC History up to the pre-World War II era. Also, they will be able to use the Internet or print sources for research and have these types of material available.

Activities

1. The teacher should assess the prior knowledge of students by having the students brainstorm what they know about Germany, North Carolina, and the world prior to World War II. This would work well as a KWL activity.
2. Following this, the students should be assigned to reseach a particular topic of interest to them. They could do this research in groups or individually as determined by the teacher. The topics that usually arise are Nazis, Hitler, Depression in Post World War I Germany, concentration camps, the Holocaust, Pearl Harbor, D-Day, Iwo Jima, etc. See attachment of World War II sites if there is not enough time for students to surf the web or to ensure that students are reviewing appropriate sites.
3. Allow students sufficient time to research these topics. You may want students to use Inspiration software to help them organize their research. (See attachment for unit map created on Inspiration software for this Diversity unit.) Discuss with them the way this information should be presented: they can develop a rubric for this, the teacher can give them a rubric for this presentation, or the teacher can establish the parameters for the presentation. Usually, two days is plenty of time for this. If time permits, reserve the school’s media center or computer lab and use class time for this research.
4. Decide on the presentation order and have students present the information to the class.
5. If time permits, a Socratic Seminar would be a great culminating activity for discussing the information gathered during this time and relate this information to current events that reflect intolerance. Discuss how these could be settled before conflict arises from these situations.

Assessment

The teacher can assess this activity in several ways. Using a class developed rubric would be an easy way of assessment. Also, using a teacher developed rubric that the class understands would work (see rubric web sites). The teacher can also use any other method of assessment that works for her. Just listening to the information and using it in class discussions could be sufficient. Also, students could write their reactions to knowledge gained, complete a new KWL chart, or add to the original chart using a colored pencil.

Supplemental information

Attachments:

• Diversity Map
• WWII websites

Comments

An additional activity could be to read the story “The Home Front” as found in McDougal Littell Literature and Language. As students listen to the story being read, or as they read it, they could respond, by raising their hand perhaps, each time something is mentioned that they read about or heard about in the research presentations.

Teachers may also be interested in the drama/guidance unit, “Respecting Differences”, created by Daryl Walker and Judy Peele.