K-2 Scenario - Teaching Tolerance · Duke Ellington Music Overcoming hardship to pursue a dream/talent Listen to recorded music before and after reading the text. Encourage toe or

© 2014 Teaching Tolerance tolerance.org

K-2 ScenarioMs. Strong is a second-grade teacher. With a co-teacher, she teaches an inclusion class. Several of her stu-dents have IEPs addressing various exceptionalities. Some students struggle with reading; some are advanced readers, including one who is reading at a sixth-grade level. Ms. Strong wants to engage and challenge every student.

She is also interested in incorporating social emotional learning seamlessly into her daily practice. This year she wants to focus on empathy and respect. She teaches reading and social studies, and her co-teacher teaches science and math. She wants to integrate more literacy instruction into her social studies lessons, and she thinks this could be a good opportunity to address the social and emotional issues related to diversity in her classroom and school community. She is searching for empathy-building and identity-centered texts and activ-ities that foster cooperation and dialogue.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONWhat can people from different groups teach me about myself? My family? Other groups of people?

CENTRAL TEXT“Julia Moves to the United States”

STRATEGIESExploring Texts Through Read Aloud: RealiaResponding to the Read-Aloud Text: Shared Reading

TASKDo Something: Identity Self-Portraits

PERSPECTIVES FOR A DIVERSE AMERICAA Literacy-based Anti-bias Curriculum


Julia Moves to the United States“Julia Moves to the United States” is a nonfiction story written by Sean McCollum and published as a Perspectives for a Diverse America central text in 2013. You can also find an illustrated version at: tolerance.org/magazine/number-47-summer-2014/department/julia-moves-united-states

Close your eyes for just a minute. Take a deep breath and turn on your imaginations.

Imagine that you are going on a trip with your family—a big trip. Maybe you’re getting into a car, or onto a boat, bus or plane. Don’t forget to buckle your seatbelt!

Now you start moving over the water, on the highway or through the air. You travel a long, long way. It takes hours, maybe days, but finally you arrive. You are in a completely new place. The food smells and tastes different from anything you’ve eaten before. People dress in clothes you’ve never seen.

The kids you meet on the playground speak a different language than you. Their words mean nothing to you. More than anything, you want to talk to them, to make new friends, but they don’t understand what you’re saying, either.

Imagine how you might feel being that new kid in that new place. Now open your eyes. Julia Alvarez was a little girl the second time her family moved to the United States. People, like Julia’s parents, who move to another country to start a new life are called immigrants. They often experi-ence the same feelings you just imagined.

Julia was born in New York City. Her parents, however, were from a country called the Dominican Republic. When Julia was still a baby, her family moved back to that warm, sunny country. Each summer, Julia’s family shared a big beach house in the Dominican Republic with her aunts, uncles and cousins. There, Julia played with her three sisters and many cousins, laughing loudly and shouting to each other in Spanish. Julia enjoyed having fun, making mischief and making up stories.

The Dominican Republic, though, was an unsafe place at the time. Julia’s father was in danger, and he decided the family should escape. When Julia was 10 years old, they flew back to New York to start a new life.

At first, Julia was very excited to return to where she had been born. But being an immigrant in a new land was harder than she ever imagined. Her family was only able to bring a few suitcases of clothes. Everything else had to stay behind. At first, they had to squeeze six people into a small apartment instead of living in a large house. Julia missed her cousins, and her big, happy family. The cold winter made her skin dry and cracked.

School was hard, too. Julia knew some English, but her new classmates spoke so fast. She strug-gled to understand them. Bullies yelled at her. “Go back where you came from!” They threw rocks at her and teased her about her accent—the way she spoke. At one school, the teachers punished Julia when they heard her speak Spanish. Kids made fun of her frilly dresses and dark curly hair.

CENTRAL TEXT

http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-47-summer-2014/department/julia-moves-united-states



They turned up their noses at the spicy, garlicky food in her lunch box.

The teasing hurt Julia’s feelings, and she grew quiet and shy. When she wanted to get away from her unhappiness, she escaped between the covers of books. Those stories took Julia’s imagination to wonderful and exciting places. Figuring out new words helped her English get better and better.

Julia changed to fit in and make friends. She tried to hide that she was an immigrant so other kids wouldn’t make fun of her. She only spoke English outside of her home. She fixed her hair to make it straight, not curly. She and her sisters did everything they could to behave like they thought American girls were supposed to behave.

There was one place, however, where Julia felt she could be her true self—in her writing. As she grew older, instead of just reading stories, she began to write them. At first, she tried to write like famous American writers, most of them white men writers. But her life experience gave her a dif-ferent way of seeing the world. As a young woman, she also made new friends with other Latinas—women from Latin American countries like the Dominican Republic, Chile, Argentina and Colombia. She felt excited about bringing her past to life using words. She started writing more about the Dominican Republic and her childhood. She wrote stories mostly in English and sprin-kled with Spanish words.

Today, Julia Alvarez is a famous author. She calls herself a “Dominican-American writer” and writes poems, books and stories, some of them for children. In her writing, she tells what it is like to be an immigrant in the United States, how it is both amazing and very hard. She wants to help readers see that no matter where we come from, what languages we speak or what we look like, we all belong. We have the wonderful chance to learn together, understand each other, and be kind and helpful to each other.

Visit perspectives.tolerance.org to see how this text aligns to the Anti-bias Framework.

CENTRAL TEXT

http://www.perspectives.tolerance.org



Exploring Texts Through Read AloudsREALIA

CCSS RL.K.1, RL.1.1, RL.2.1, RL.K.2, RL.1.2, RL.2.2, RL.K.3, RL.1.3, RL.2.3, RI.K.1, RI.1.1, RI.2.1, RI.K.2, RI.1.2, RI.2.2, RI.K.3, RI.1.3, RI.2.3

WHAT? Realia are real-life objects that enable children to make connections to their own lives as they try to make sense of new concepts and ideas. This strategy brings the Perspectives central text to life for students by using everyday objects during the read aloud.

WHEN?During and after reading

WHY?Objects provide a concrete manipulative for students to handle while listening to the read aloud. The neu-ron stimulation from physical movement during the read aloud also helps students to conceptualize the ideas and themes present in the text. Realia also create total physical responses that help students recall ideas and themes from the text in later discussions.

HOW?1. Select a Perspectives central text to read aloud.2. Determine what themes, messages, information and facts are being communicated through the text.3. Brainstorm possible objects that can be distributed among students and used as manipulatives during the read aloud. Note that the concept of realia can include music.4. Distribute the objects to each student prior to the read aloud.

• Share authentic replicas (instead of relying on still photos only) for objects that may be unfamiliar to chil-dren (e.g., for a unit on transportation, bring in replicas of unfamiliar modes such as gondolas or hot air balloons).

• When sharing historical accounts in text, try to complement these with exploration of real objects at a museum (e.g., cars, televisions, telephones and washing machines from previous eras). Encourage chil-dren to think about dimensionality, function and what they learned from the real object that they would not have learned from the picture.

5. Direct students to connect the object to their understanding of the central text while they listen.6. After the read aloud, discuss student connections using the following questions:

• How is the object related to the text?• How does the object represent the characters in the text?• How does the object relate to the speaker of the text?• How can the object help you remember the message or theme of the text?• What other objects, if any, could represent the text’s message or theme?

English language learnersThis strategy elicits Total Physical Response (TPR), which lets English language learners engage the text by moving, touching, pointing and role-playing.

GRADE LEVEL K-2



Connection to anti-bias educationRealia encourage participation from kinesthetic and visual learners. Students hear the text and directly associ-ate their comprehension to the object placed before them; manipulating the object during the read aloud solid-ifies their understanding of the text’s message. Extending the after-reading questions to include what other objects might serve as realia for the same text encourages students to pull in their individual perspectives and experiences.

TEXT THEME MESSAGE OBJECTEat My Fine Coat Class/Wealth Don’t judge appearance plastic food

cloththread

Freedom Riders Struggle and progress Come together for change

miniature wheelbus pass/ticket

Z and Vielpunkt Membership Families come in all shapes and sizes

plastic eggneststraw

Duke Ellington Music Overcoming hardship to pursue a dream/talent

Listen to recorded music before and after reading the text.Encourage toe or fin-ger tapping during the listening.

GRADE LEVEL K-2



Responding to the Read-Aloud Text: Shared ReadingCCSS RL.K.1, RL.1.1, RL.2.1, RL.K.2, RL.1.2, RL.2.2, RL.K.3, RL.1.3, RL.2.3, RL.K.6, RL.1.6, RL.2.6, RL.K.7, RL.1.7, RL.2.7, RI.K.1, RI.1.1, RI.2.1, RI.K.2, RI.1.2, RI.2.2, RI.K.7, RI.1.7, RI.2.7, RF.K.4, RF.1.4, RF.2.4

WHAT? During shared reading, learners observe experts reading with fluency and expression while following along or otherwise engaging with the text. This strategy should focus on a specific instructional element (or mini-les-son) that improves targeted reading comprehension skills while promoting the joy of reading.

WHEN?During reading

WHY?Shared reading establishes an enjoyable and supportive context for reading. It allows all students to participate as readers in a classroom with diverse literacy needs. Shared reading also provides struggling readers with nec-essary support, enhances sight word knowledge and builds reading fluency. Shared reading gradually releases responsibility for individual reading to the student.

HOW?1. Select a Perspectives text or passage to read aloud. Display it in a visible location.2. Read the text aloud or enlist an expert reader. Only one person at a time actually reads aloud, but everyone

should be silently reading along.3. Encourage and support student comprehension with prompts and modeling of Think Aloud strategies that

are rooted in the text. For example, you should prompt students to• answer questions about who, what, where, when, why and how;• retell the story with details;• determine the text’s main topic or central message;• describe characters, the setting and major events;• identify who is telling the story; and• explain how the illustrations provide information about what is happening next.

4. After reading and ensuring all students understand the story and its elements, possible shared reading activ-ities include: K-2RT_Shared Reading handout• Take a stand: Present a position related to the text. Ask the children to indicate if they agree or disagree

with the position by showing thumbs up or thumbs down.• Support what you know: After the reading, students take a stand about a topic or theme from the text, and

then cite evidence from the text to support that stance. Younger children can draw their responses.• Story dramatization: Students reenact all or part of a story. They share a story, plan the scenes, cast the

characters, dramatize and evaluate.

English language learnersShared reading provides opportunities for English language learners to hear fluent reading. It can be done in English or in students’ native language(s). Be sure English language learners understand the difference between shared reading and Think Aloud. Shared reading should explicitly model expression, fluency and the

GRADE LEVEL K-2



joy of reading. Think Aloud should support comprehension. Clearly state the objective before modeling either strategy.

The following adaptations can be made for English language learners:• Pair English language learners with a partner at least one proficiency level higher. • Offer sufficient wait-time during each pause. (At least 10 seconds is recommended.) • Scaffold the shared reading with the appropriate structure and methods (e.g., turn and talk or teacher think

aloud). • Plan for several varied rereads (e.g., choral reading, reading with a partner, silent reading).

Connection to anti-bias educationShared reading contributes to a positive learning community. The strategy allows students to get to know each other as individuals regardless of in-group and out-group identities. Shared reading ensures that all students feel successful by providing support to the entire group.

Shared Reading ActivitiesK-2RT_Shared Reading handout

GRADE LEVEL K-2



Do SomethingIDENTITY SELF-PORTRAITS

WHAT?Students create visual self-portraits that contain symbols representing the students’ identities, anti-bias actions, beliefs, values or areas of interest related to diversity or social justice.

ESTIMATED TIMEOne week

WHY?Identity self-portraits give students an opportunity for self-understanding by encouraging them to reflect on different facets of their identities. By identifying symbols to include, students think more deeply about their values, interests and beliefs. By displaying them, they give others insight into students’ multi-layered identities.

HOW?Get Ready 1. Introduce the concept of identity portraits. Model the creation of an identity portrait for students, perhaps

with another teacher known to the class.2. Facilitate a discussion about a character or figure from the central text and how their identity and actions

represent social justice themes. As a class, brainstorm symbols that represent the identity and themes under discussion (e.g., scales of justice and Star of David).

3. If possible, provide students with access to mirrors so they can see themselves as they sketch.4. Adapt the sample rubric into a visual checklist for students. Refer to the rubric to define expectations and

components of an identity self-portrait before students begin working. K-2DS_Identity Self Portraits Rubric

Get Set 1. Verbally introduce students to the preparatory steps included in the Do Something Planning Guide. Instruct

them in the process of mapping the steps necessary to prepare for their identity self-portrait. K-2DS_Planning Guide

2. Allow students time to create identity self-portraits in the medium of their choice (e.g., collage, watercolor or colored pencil). Each portrait should include symbols in the background representing their identity, diversity and anti-bias social justice values or beliefs. For example, a student whose family is from Puerto Rico might include a Puerto Rican flag in her portrait, or a student who values peace and nonviolence could add a peace sign in his portrait background.

Go! 1. Organize a gallery walk for students to admire the portraits and leave feedback, comments or connections on

sticky notes. 2. If students feel comfortable, consider displaying the portraits outside of the classroom so other members of

the school community can observe the students’ work. For younger students who write mainly in invented spelling, post correctly spelled versions of the writing so others can read the students’ ideas.

GRADE LEVEL K-2



Reflect Facilitate a conversation or assign a journal assignment about how students’ identity self-portraits reflected central text themes. Some suggested reflection questions include:

• What did you learn about yourself through the process?• How is your self-portrait similar to and different from your classmates’ self-portraits?• How do the themes in the central text connect to how you represent your identity?

English language learners Identity self-portraits provide students with a creative way to demonstrate understanding through a task that is not purely language-based. This task focuses on spatial/artistic and intra-personal learning modalities.

Connection to anti-bias education The process of creating self-portraits teaches students to think deeply about identities, values, interests and beliefs, all central to the goals of anti-bias education. Students gain a better understanding of the diversity within their class and reflect on their own identities.

GRADE LEVEL K-2

TEACHING TOLERANCE


RESPONDING TO THE TEXT

GRADE LEVEL K-2

Shared Reading Activities1. TAKE A STAND

SAMPLE

YOUR TURN

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Lane Smith

Do you believe that the wolf is innocent? Use information in the text to support your stance.

After reading

I believe

I believe this because

After reading

I believe

I believe this because


TEACHING TOLERANCE


2. SUPPORT WHAT YOU KNOW

SAMPLEThe True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Lane Smith

YOUR TURN

I politely agree/disagree with because I think .

I think this because in the text ,

OR

WHY I AGREE WHY I DISAGREE

Do you agree or disagree with Shannon’s view that the wolf is innocent? Use information in the text to

support what you know.

I politely agree/disagree with because I think .

I think this because in the text ,

.

OR

WHY I AGREE WHY I DISAGREE


TEACHING TOLERANCE


3. STORY DRAMATIZATION

Use the following questions to reflect and discuss after story dramatization:

• Was the story clear? Would someone who had not read the story understand the characters and plot?

• Were the characters believable? How did the players use their imaginations to interpret the characters?

• Was there enough action? Too much?

• Was the dialogue true to the characters? Did it carry the story forward?

• Comment on the teamwork of the players: Did they listen and respond to each other?

• Was anything important left out?

• Can you think of anything that would improve the dramatization when we play it again?

TEACHING TOLERANCE

DO SOMETHING

GRADE LEVEL K-2

NAME

Self-Portraits Assessment RubricCRITERIA EMERGING

1PROGRESSING

2ACCOMPLISHING

3EXCEEDING

4CONTENT The portrait does not convey

ideas/symbols relevant to top-ics explored in class.

The portrait conveys surface-level ideas or symbols relevant to topics explored in class.

The portrait conveys ideas relevant to topics explored in class.

The portrait strongly conveys ideas/symbols relevant to topics explored in class and integrates outside knowledge.

APPEARANCE The work does not reflect effort or care in presentation.

The work reflects some effort and care in presentation.

The work is visually appeal-ing and reflects effort and care in presentation.

The work is visually appealing and reflects effort, attention to detail and care in presentation.

CONNECTION TO THE CENTRAL TEXT

The work does not connect to the central text or its themes in any way.

The work includes a superficial reference to the central text or its themes.

The work clearly incorporates the central text and its themes.

The work reflects a deep under-standing of the central text and its themes.

DEMONSTRATION OF ANTI-BIAS COMPETENCY

Student shows emerging understanding of the expecta-tions in anti-bias standard_____________.

Student is progressing toward the expectations in anti-bias standard _____________.

Student meets the expectations in anti-bias standard _____________.

Student exceeds the expectations in anti-bias standard _____________.

COLLABORATION / COOPERATION (OPTIONAL)

Students worked individually. Students worked together but contri-butions were unbalanced.

Students worked well together and contributions were balanced.

Students worked very well together; they compromised and built off one another’s ideas.

TEACHING TOLERANCE


DO SOMETHING

GRADE LEVEL K-2

Do Something Planning GuideRefer to this planning guide while talking with students about the steps and considerations needed to execute each task.

DO SOMETHING TASK

GROUP/INDIVIDUAL NAME(S)

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS TASK?

WHO IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE?

WHO ARE POSSIBLE ALLIES?

WHAT CHALLENGES MIGHT YOU FACE?

WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR AUDIENCE TO HEAR?

HOW DOES YOUR IDEA CONNECT TO THE TEXTS WE READ IN CLASS?

WHAT RESOURCES AND SUPPLIES DO YOU NEED?

WHAT ADULT HELP OR SUPPORT DO YOU NEED?

WHAT ARE THE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF EACH GROUP MEMBER?

K-2 Scenario - Teaching Tolerance · Duke Ellington Music Overcoming hardship to pursue a dream/talent Listen to recorded music before and after reading the text. Encourage toe or

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