|Multiculturalism & Tolerance
Reviewed Resources for Students and teachers
Americana & American History Lesson Plans - American Civil War Lesson Plans - American Presidents Lesson Plans - Ancient China Lesson Plans - Ancient Civilizations/General Resources Lesson Plans - Ancient Egypt Lesson Plans - Ancient Greece Lesson Plans - Ancient Rome Lesson Plans - Anthropology Lesson Plans - Archaeology Lesson Plans - Australia & Australian History Lesson Plans - Australian Aboriginal People Lesson Plans - Canada & Canadian History Lesson Plans - Medieval Civilization Lesson Plans - Multiculturalism & Tolerance Lesson Plans - Native Americans/First Nations Lesson Plans - World Religions Lesson Plans
Please read the following disclaimer.
These lesson plans address multiculturalism & tolerance in an inclusive manner; which covers religion, race, national origin, political views and lifestyle.
"The highest result of education is tolerance." - Helen Keller
Please note that with regard to lesson plans dealing with anthropology, archaeology, indigenous people, ancient civilizations, history, etc, there may be some cross-over and blurring of lines between the topics. For example, a lesson plan dealing with archaeology is automatically dealing with an anthropological subject. A lesson plan dealing with indigenous people is also automatically dealing with anthropology and any of them may, or may not, be dealing with history or ancient civilizations. While every attempt will be made to keep the topic lines as 'clean' as possible, be aware this may not always be possible.
Appropriate grade or age levels are included with the lesson plans.
The number of lesson plans available online for this topic is enormous. This site can not and does not index all lesson resources relating to multiculturalism and tolerance. That would be impossible, as sites appear and disappear with astonishing rapidity. The following provides some idea of what is available and will hopefully be a good starting point.
An Approach to Teaching Religious Tolerance __"Focusing on the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom, students identify those colonies that were founded to protect individuals from religious persecution, and examine the history and beliefs of five major religions in the U.S. today." - Overview, goals, activities and materials. - From Organization for Community Networks - http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/soc/cecsst/cecsst040.html
Boy/Girl Piece __ "This activity continues self-reflective processes as participants write and share short pieces about how their gender identities were affected through childhood messages about what it meant to be a boy or a girl (also adaptible for race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, religion, and other identifiers). This activity can be used to introduce a discussion on gender issues, setting the groundwork for maintining a focus on talking about issues from one's own experience instead of their perceptions of the experiences of "those people." Goals, procedure and materials needed. - From edchange.org - http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/activities/boygirl.html
Canadian Immigration Theme Page __ This is a general information page about Canadian immigration which includes a few lesson plans dedicated to multiculturalism. - from Community Learning Network - http://www.cln.org/themes/immigration.html
Changing Attitudes in America __ "The purpose of this unit on CHANGING ATTITUDES IN AMERICA is to facilitate and foster greater interracial understanding, friendship and cooperation. It will include proactive projects and activities to reduce racism and build a community of citizenry." Goals, procedure and materials needed. - From Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1994/4/94.04.04.x.html
A Chicana Tells Her Story __ "Students will: ·Compose a reflective journal to demonstrate an understanding of the feelings of the young girl in “The House on Mango Street,” and then use this understanding to develop a connection with a person of another culture." Goals, procedure and materials needed. - From lessonplanspage.com - http://tinyurl.com/649vr
Class Culture __ "This lesson is not for the faint of heart. Although this is a level I lesson, there must be a level of trust in the group so that gut level discussion can take place. Be prepared issues such as capital punishment, abortion, and religion to come up. After doing this lesson, it is much easier to talk about different cultures and value systems with compassion and empathy." Goals, procedure and needed materials. - From Sue Fischer - http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/soc/cecsst/cecsst178.html
Commonality in Diversity __ You will find a WebQuest for the secondary grades along with procedure and materials needed. - From lifestreamcenter.net - http://drb.lifestreamcenter.net/Lessons/Inter-culture/index.htm .
Cultures of our Nation__ "The purpose of this activity is to build self-esteem and allow students to become more aware of their rich cultures. It also allows for students to realize how their cultures have contributed to making America what it is today." Goals, procedure and needed materials. - From Lorena Marie Romero - http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/soc/cecsst/cecsst063.html
Diversity_youth __ An advanced lesson plan for grades 10 - 12. This plan deals with racism, sexism, homophobia, "lookism" and religious intolerance. "Students will focus on one of the diversity topics and reflect upon their experiences this semester for their final exam. Students will create a lesson plan, handout and technology project. (PowerPoint, video or claymation) The objective is to have a product that has elementary/middle school students thinking about the materials the Soc/CAPT students are presenting." Goals, procedure and materials. - From University of Minnesota - http://www.d.umn.edu/educ/apt3/units/diversity/diversity_youth_lp.html
Exploring Language: Definitions Activity __ "For this exercise, participants are asked to find definitions for prejudice, discrimination, racism, sexism, and homophobia. Definitions for each word should come from two sources: the person's opinion and a scholarly source. We often do this exercise in the third session, to begin the discussion of these issues in a bit of a controlled setting. These conversations set the stage for the rest of the activities and the discussion of multicultural issues." Goals, procedure and materials needed. - From EdChange.org - http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/activities/activity4.html
Foreign Language and Culture __ This lesson plan deals with: "Most foreign language students do not fully understand that the culture of a country and the language must necessarily go together. Without the cultural aspects, much of the language usage is lost in everyday life within the country." Goals, procedure and materials needed. - From Brown, Basic High School, NV - http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/soc/cecsst/cecsst166.html
Hispanic Celebration__ "Students will use technology to research and create Hispanic cultural reports on Hispanic countries and important Hispanic people." goals, procedure and materials needed. - From University of Houston - http://www.coe.uh.edu/archive/sstudies/sstudies_lessons/ssles2.htm
Lesson Plans with a Multicultural Focus __ "This compilation of lesson plans available to teachers (K-12) targets multicultural education..." You will find a good list with links to dozens of plans. - From CSU Stanislaus - http://wwwlibrary.csustan.edu/lboyer/multicultural/lesson2.htm
Looking At Ourselves and Others__ "This global education web site is offered by World Wise Schools, a project sponsored by the US Peace Corps. Its intent is to help students define culture, develop global perspectives, and challenge assumptions. Lesson plans are organized by grade level (3-5, 6-9, and 10-12) and, within each grade level, there are several lessons targeted on each of the three objectives. Lesson plans contain an estimate of class time needed, materials, a statement of objectives, step-by-step procedures, debriefing exercises, and suggestions for extending the activity." - From US Peacecorps - http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/guides/looking/
Marlys Henke's Cultural Relevance Model __ "Seven lesson plans developed by Marlys Henke, an award-winning math teacher from St. Paul, that incorporate the contributions of diverse cultures and people into the regular math curriculum." - From ncrel.org - http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/presrvce/pe3lk37.htm
Multi-cultural Calendar __ "The students will learn about various cultures by making a multi-cultural calendar." Goals, procedure and materials needed. - From Michelle Fontenot - http://www.lessonplanspage.com/SSMultiCulturalCalendar4.htm
Multicultural Education Classroom Activities Diversity __ Here is a wide range of lesson plans and classroom activities with strategies and preparation, icebreakers and introspectives. - From EdChange Multicultural Pavilion - http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/activityarch.html
Multicultural Education Links __ While not everything here is a "lesson plan," there are many included as well as other important resources for the teaching of multiculturalism. "This guide of over 50 web sites was created to assist multicultural educators in locating educational resources on the Internet. World wide access to multicultural information and current events in other regions makes the Internet an important educational tool. Teachers through the internet have access to lesson plans, on-line photo galleries, stories, maps, virtual field trip, international radio programming, and e-mail pen pals." - From Northern Arizona University - http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/Multi.html
Multicultural Journeys __ Here is a multicultural lesson plan for students to learn about people of other countries using the Internet as a research tool. Goals, procedure and materials needed. - From Texas A & M University - http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/espinoza/s/buster-p-lp1.html
Multicultural Lesson Plans - Ontario Curriculum __ Lesson plans from the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association and they obviously have a Canadian emphasis. - From Edmund J. Sass, Ed.D. - http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/edmulticult.htm
Multiculturalism and Diversity __ You will find a collection of lesson plans about diversity. "Today's classroom is more diverse than ever before. We've compiled tips from experts, lesson plan ideas, and ready-to-go activities that speak to the backgrounds of all your students." Goals, procedure and needed materials. - From Scholastic - http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/diversity/
Race and Ethnicity in Contemporary Art and Literature __ Here are Eleven Units along with goals and procedures. - From Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2001/4/
Religious Prejudice __ "This lesson will explore historical and existing religious prejudices using a variety of texts and media research instruments. Understanding of religious persecution will be learned through the experiences of Jewish people, gypsies, Catholics and the mentally and physically challenged, leading up to and during the Holocaust" Goals, procedure and materials needed. - From learningtogive.org - http://www.learningtogive.org/lessons/unit92/lesson3.html
RETANET: Resource for Teaching About the Americas__ "A searchable database of 65 lesson plans written by and for secondary teachers which deal with Latin America. The lesson plans incorporate the study of Latin America into various subjects, including Spanish, Social Studies, Science, Math, Art andLanguage Arts. Many lessons are cross-disciplinary and some integrate the Internet into the activities." - From University of New Mexico - http://retanet.unm.edu/index.pl?section=1996LPs
Teaching Tolerance Lesson Plans & Games for Kids __ You will find dozens of lesson plans and teaching aids. Goals, procedure, materials. - From mrdonn.org - http://multicultural.mrdonn.org/tolerance.html
Terrorism & Tolerance__ "International terrorism is a complex topic. A complete discussion is well beyond the scope of either this page or most K-12 curricula...While most of these resources are from credible western news and government organizations, we have included several Islamic and Muslim resources, at least one of which makes the case for a radical interpretation of Islam. Understanding what others believe - rightly or wrongly - is central to coping with this issue." You will find several lesson plans dealing with the issue including goals, procedure and needed materials. - From teachersfirst.com - http://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/terrorism.cfm
Tolerance.org: Teaching Tolerance Home __ You will find an assortment of lesson plans based on tolerance with goals, procedure and needed materials. For those for whom it matters, this is the organization recently attacked for its association with SpongeBob SquarePants - and its own Declaration of Tolerance. - From Tolerance.org - http://www.tolerance.org/teach/index.jsp
The Tolerance Project - Lessons and Materials __ You will find lesson plans covering a wide range of topics along with goals, procedure and materials needed. - From City College of San Francisco - http://tinyurl.com/96w8e
Understanding Hispanic/Latino Culture and History Through Children’s Literature __ You will find an An elaborate unit plan with three sample lesson plans and a bibliography. - From yale.edu - http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1997/2/97.02.06.x.html
Unite the School __ What a great way to begin the school year. "Schools are "melting pots" of nationalities. The students in each school spend about 185 days together each year and need a peaceful atmosphere to "live" and learn at school. Respecting each other is important. Peer group pressure is a big problem. This interdisciplinary school project will help unite the feelings and make each student feel a very special part of their school. This project would be a great beginning of the school "opener" for students and their teachers. History, geography, art, music, drama, homemaking theater arts, physical education, computer, language departments and math are all integrated into this project." Goals, procedure, resources and needed materials. - From University of Houston - http://tinyurl.com/ahozw