Timely Tolerance

An exercise in the cyclical nature of discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes and our role in
confronting it. 

A WebQuest for 8th Grade English

Erin Powers, Davie Bregante, and Steve Shelton

 

Introduction | Learners | Standards | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Student Page


Introduction

This lesson was developed as part of the English Department's Tolerance Unit at Santa Barbara Junior High School.

In this WebQuest, students will examine issues of prejudice and intolerance in the context of both historical and contemporary events.  They will learn the structure and tools necessary to plan, write, and create a museum exhibit.
Exhibits will cover the broad categories listed below:
  • Ableism
  • Ageism
  • Homophobia
  • Political Intolerance
  • Racism
  • Religious Intolerance
  • Sexism

 


Learners

This assignment is an eighth grade language arts lesson which draws upon knowledge of history and use of technology.  This lesson can be adapted to most secondary grade levels.

Students will be taught pertinent vocabulary terms and concepts prior to beginning the WebQuest lesson.

In addition, students will need to have minimum word processing, organizational,  and network navigational skills.



English-Language Arts Content Standards

This product will address the following English Language Arts Content Standards:
Writing Strategies
(Research and Technology)
1.4 Plan and conduct multiple-step information searches by using computer networks and modems.
1.5 Achieve an effective balance between researched information and original ideas.
(Evaluation and Revision)
1.6 Revise writing for word choice; appropriate organization; consistent point of view; and transitions between paragraphs, passages, ideas.
Writing Applications
(Genres and their Characteristics)
2.1 Write biographies, autobiographies, or narratives:
a. Relate a clear, coherent incident, event, or situation using well-chosen details.
b. Reveal the significance of, or the writer's attitude about, the subject.
c. Employ narrative and descriptive strategies (e.g., relevant dialogue, specific action, physical description, background description, comparison or contrast of characters).
Speaking Applications
(Genres and Their Characteristics)
2.1 Deliver narrative presentations (e.g. biographical):
a. Relate a clear, coherent incident, event or situation by using well chosen details.
b. Reveal the significance of, and the subject's attitude about, the incident, event, or situation.
c. Employ narrative and descriptive strategies (e.g., relevant dialogue, specific action, physical description, background description, comparison or contrast of characters).



Process

Teachers will begin by giving an overview of the project.  Students will learn relevant terms and concepts in the classroom, use a computer lab for exploration and research, and create an electronic or physical museum exhibit.

I.  In class, before going to the computer lab, students will do the following:

  1.  Read and discuss the list of categories
  2. Choose two or three from the list they are interested in researching. Since one of our goals is for students to have the opportunity to learn about a variety of groups, they need to choose groups of which they are not a member.
  3. Find a partner with interests similar to their own

II. In the computer lab, students will do the following:
  1. Explore what is available on the links for the type of intolerance that they have selected
  2. Decide on two or three subtopics in a particular category to research.
  3. Sign up with the teacher for ONE kind of intolerance (ex:  under "Racism", choose "African-Americans")  about which to create an exhibit and presentation. (If a student does not get a first choice, explain that there will be an opportunity to learn about this group during the presentations.)
  4. With a partner, discuss the following:
  • What qualities does your exhibit need to have? 
  • What elements will make this an interesting exhibit?  
  • How can you make this experience educational, informative, and interesting for your audience?
III.  Students will find information based on their criteria,  take notes, and begin to create their exhibit.  In the process, they will do the following:

  • Decide together as a team on the final format of their exhibit.

  • Prepare their exhibit using whatever medium they have chosen

  • Describe and present their exhibit to their audience.

This project will take approximately two weeks. 

 This lesson can be taught in either Language Arts or Social Studies classes, or both as an interdisciplinary unit.  

  • Teachers need a a basic knowledge of WebQuest and need to be comfortable with controversial issues dealt with in this project.  
  • They need to be organized and able to coordinate a large number of students in a computer lab, keeping everyone on task.
  • Lab use coordination requires advanced planning
  • Teacher should consider students' personalities when making pairings/groupings
  • Groups/pairs need ongoing monitoring

IV.  Students will create a fictional autobiographical narrative. They will:

  • Choose a perspective to assume in this writing assignment. This perspective needs to be a point of view that the student is not a part of. For example, a female teenager could write from the point of view of an 80-year-old man as a way of learning more about ageism.
  • Develop an identity, inlcuding a name, ethnicity, gender, and a setting where this person lives.
  • Write about an incident in which this fictional person was discriminated against.
  • Include well chosen details and relate a clear, coherent incident or event.
  • Reveal the significance of, or the writer's attitude about, the subject.
  • Employ narrative and descriptive strategies (e.g., relevent dialogue, specific action, physical description, background description, comparison or contrast of character
The finished product should be 500-700 words.

Resources Needed

Describe what's needed to implement this lesson. Some of the possibilities:

  • Computer lab
  • Computer lab accounts for all students
  • Internet access
  • Video or audio materials
  • Powerpoint Application
  • Vocabulary germaine to project (teacher generated based on students' prior knowledge

One teacher with the assistant of a computer lab technician will be able to implement this project.  Any additional assistance (parents, aides, student mentors, etc.) would be helpful.


Evaluation

See Student Rubric and Writing PDF Rubric.


Conclusion

Now that you are an accomplished museum curator, presenter, and biographer, we hope you will continue to use your skills to further educate others about tolerance and its importance in our lives. To assist you in your lifelong task, the following links may be helpful:

Racial profiling--additional sites: http://www.sikh.org/hatecrime/


Credits & References

List here the sources of any images, music or text that you're using (with permission, of course). Provide links back to the original source. Say thanks to anyone who provided resources, help or inspiration.

Don't relist all the links you've already included. They're self-documenting.

As a matter of style and to keep ownership clear, all pages that you call up that are external to this site should appear in a new window outside of this frame. Add "TARGET=_BLANK" to the link to bring this about.

List any books and other analog media that you used as information sources as well.

Include a link back to The WebQuest Page and the Design Patterns page so that others can acquire the latest version of this template and training materials.

You might want to include the following statement:

"We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date) . If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL."

Last updated on (put date here). Based on a template from The WebQuest Page