Diversity Technology Project

Diversity Technology Project Stephanie J. Moore Adelaide A. Shultz Benjamin I. Towe

General Diversity Slides 4-6 Teaching Resources Slides 7-9 Ageism Slides 10-11 Belief System/ Religion Slides 12-16 Class Slides 17-20 Exceptionalities Slides 20-24 Disabilities Slides 25-29 Gender Slides 30-35 Language Slides 36-39 Race/Ethnicity Slides 40-43 Sexual Orientation Slides 44-46 Table of Contents

Multicultural Education • Grades 9-12 • Diversity Unit • ED 301-02

General Diversity Activities • Go to an Art Museum to view works by artists from various backgrounds • Have class discussion about oppressions faced by those who lived during different times, cultures, classes • Watch Schindler’s List • Discuss cultural, religious, ethnic, racial prejudices portrayed in movie

General Diversity Activities (cont.) • Have groups do research and present on HMOs and how different “isms” are present • Have discussion on diversity in the workplace and how it will effect students in their future • Have students switch schools with a local district that has a different culture

General Diversity Websites • Diversity • OSMA • General Diversity Resources • CCC:UCSD Links • The Center for Diversity Education

Teaching Resources Activities • Have students complete a multicultural word search and discuss terms. • Have students read a book of their choosing on an “ism” and have them write an essay on the book and the feelings they encountered. • Research genealogy and write a paper on oppressions faced by our ancestors.

Teaching Resources Activities (cont.) • Read a biased essay and write critique over the essay and write about their own opinion • Have students take a biased ability test and discuss how the test was biased as a class

Teaching Resources Websites • Promoting Recognition Of Diversity • SPLCENTER.ORG • Racism • American Family Immigration History Center • Northwest Regional Educational Library

Ageism Activities • Have students interview their grandparents and ask them about the discrimination they faced or saw. • Discuss age discrimination in the workplace. • Study insurance costs for teens, seniors, adults, and ask why they differ. • View movies/TV shows and discuss the age of people shown. • Have a lesson on politics and age.

Ageism Websites • Types of Age Discrimination • Sheldon Steinhouse • Berkeley • What is Ageism? • To Hell and Back: Ageism in Hollywood

Belief System/Religion Activities • Visit two or more of the following and discuss major similarities and differences: • Synagogue • Mosque • Temple • orthodox church

Religion Activities Continued • Have a speaker (a rabbi/priest/spiritual leader) from a different religious background than that of the houses of worship visited. Have the speaker discuss the history of the given religion and the oppression faced by the practitioners in different cultures and societies.

Religion Activities Continued • Watch the movie Keeping The Faith and discuss how the characters were able to be friends despite religious differences. Ask the class if they believe it is important for friends to have similar beliefs.

Religion Activities Continued • Have students do group presentations on religions that are not common in the United States. • Have students debate the issue of prayer in public schools.

Religion Hyperlinks • Virtual Religion Index • Facts About Religious Discrimination • American Civil Liberties Union • Islam World • The Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief

Classism Activities • Divide the students into two groups (one group larger than the other). Give one group lots of money to build a city. Give the large group little money to build the same city. Discuss the difficulties that arose and why there is a difference between suburbs and ghettos.

Classism Activities • Have students write down what class they think they belong to and why (religion, income, belongings, etc). Have a class discussion on how classes are categorized and why they are unfair. • Watch the movie Titanic and discuss the class differences on the boat. How many poor survived compared to the rich?

Classism Activities • Have students take a field trip to a richer school and a poorer school. Note the differences in facilities, treatment, etc. • Divide the class into groups. Give each group an article relating to class differences. Have them critique the article and present it to the class.

Classism Links • Cultural Diversity Classism website • Workforce Development • Classism website • Race and Culture Classism • Classism: the unspoken “ism”

Exceptionalities Activities • Watch the movie Little Man Tate and look for interactions between Tate and others. How does Tate’s giftedness isolate him socially? • Take a field trip to a “gifted school” to see the differences between “normal” education and education for gifted children.

Exceptionalities Activities Continued • Have students take a “fun” IQ Test. Ask students about the validity of such testing and what they believe scores really mean. • Have a discussion of what it mean to be “gifted.” Should students who excel in school have more privileges than the average student?

Exceptionalities Activities Continued • Discuss famous “gifted” people who had learning disabilities or who were considered slow. What makes these people gifted? What does this mean for the average person?

Exceptionalities Hyperlinks • Centre for Gifted Education • National Association for Gifted Children • Gifted Development Center • Ohio Association for Gifted Children • Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted

Disability Diversity Activities • Have one student start a story with a sentence. No where in the sentence can they use a word that contains the letter “n”. The next person says the next sentence and continues the story. Discuss how thought processes are slower in some people with handicaps.

Disabilities Diversity Activities • Give students an illusion picture. Some will see a cow but most won’t. Act impatient with the ones who don’t see it. Tell the whole class what the picture is and discuss how important it is to have patience with learning disabled students because they may not see the same thing as most people.

Disabilities Diversity Activities • Give a few students blindfolds and a few students huge mittens while other students have nothing. Write notes on the board while reading them. Have students take notes. Compare and contrast the notes kids “with physical handicaps” took and the notes others took.

Disabilities Diversity Activities • Have the special educator come and talk with the students about difficulties students with disabilities have and address common myths. • Have students prepare their own lesson with inclusion. Their lesson must accommodate everyone.

Disability Diversity Links • Gentle Teaching • Tinsnip • Active Inclusion • Inclusion Education • Children’s Special Services

Gender Diversity Activities • Separate students into groups. Give students several textbooks of different concentrations and have them look for gender bias. Then start a classroom discussion on why these book are/aren’t discriminatory.

Gender Diversity Activities • Have students as a class prepare a bulletin board to be displayed in the class with graphics and research data on famous women throughout mathematics/science/history/literature

Gender Diversity Activities • Have students interview members of the opposite sex of varying ages. Ask them how they dress for work, diet habits, household chores, etc. Then, as a class, examine the differences in answers of members of the opposite sex.

Gender Diversity Activities • Have students bring in magazines from home and look for domestic product advertisements (laundry detergent, bathroom cleaner, etc.) and count how many men and women are in the ads. Have a class discussion to analyze the results.

Gender Diversity Activities • Don’t tell students what the lesson is. Give them descriptions of a job and have them give the name of the occupation. Use statistics to see how many answers had gender bias. For example: What do you call the person who delivers your mail?

Gender Diversity Links • Gender Equity in the Classroom • Women in the Classroom • Teacher’s Source • Teacher’s Toolbag • Teacher Resource Center

Language Diversity Activities • Visit an advanced foreign language class and try to understand the lesson. Write a report on how hard it would be to learn if you didn’t understand the language. • Have the ESL teacher come and speak with the class and address struggles and common myths foreign students have.

Language Diversity Activities • Watch a foreign film with no captions paying special attention to body language. Have students write a story correlating to the movie. Tell them the actual plot. Compare and contrast the movie to their stories. • Interview a foreign exchange student.

Language Diversity Activities • Look at a map of the world that shows how many languages are spoken in each country. Discuss why we have different languages and if it’s a good or bad thing to have many different languages.

Language Diversity Websites • Bilingual Education Resources on the Internet • National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition • Lesson Plans and Resources • Game Central Station • Mathline

Race/Ethnicity Diversity Activities • Have students read books from the same time period by one white author and one African American author. Compare and contrast the two books. • Research a lesser known civil rights advocate and present to the class in a creative fashion.

Race/Ethnicity Diversity Activities • Research an American civil rights advocate that is not African American or Caucasian. • Have students interview someone of a different race or culture about their lifestyles and opinions on race relations and politics. Compare their answers to their own life.

Race/Ethnicity Diversity Activities • Have a classroom discussion to brainstorm ways to improve race relation in the United States. Write to their congressperson about their ideas.

Race/Ethnicity Diversity Links • Lesson Plans About Race in America • Social Knowledge System Lesson Plans • Diversity Learning • Tolerance Lesson Plans • Awesome Library

Sexual Orientation Activities • Debate gay adoption issue. (If students feel gay people should not raise children, pose questions like “Do you believe the child would be better off without a home?”) • Watch The Laramie Project and have students write a 2-3 page reaction paper.

Sexual Orientation Activities Continued • Have students do group presentations on famous gays or lesbians. • Lead class discussion on homophobia. • Have students discuss in small groups whether they believe violence against gay people because of their sexual orientation should be considered a hate crime.

Sexual Orientation Hyperlinks • International Gay and Lesbian Rights Commission • Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network • Ohio State University University- Sexual Orientation • University of Toronto- Sexual Orientation • Some Facts Psychologists Know About Sexual Identity

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Diversity Technology Project