Learners will define and identify stereotypical and discriminatory behaviors. They will analyze the harmful effects of discrimination on our society and give examples of the ways individuals have responded to violations of human dignity. They will describe a social action plan to make the school a welcome and secure learning environment for all learners.

How do the actions of one individual or group impact the well-being of others within the community?

The learner will:

• define discrimination and describe how it manifests itself within a school climate.
• describe how the work of Peter Yarrow seeks to end discriminatory actions toward others.
• describe a personal action plan for decreasing exclusionary and discriminating behaviors and contributing to the common good.
• give examples of discrimination in our past and present.
• analyze how bias and discrimination are harmful to the common good.
• describe what changes have been made over time to protect the rights of individuals and groups.
• identify feelings associated with being excluded or disrespected in a community.
• survey learners and groups in the school who feel excluded or disrespected using identified characteristics.
• summarize information from a survey and present in report form.
• identify potential strategies to benefit specific populations of learners in the school that often feel excluded or disrespected.
• examine the impact of divisive language on the school community and identify specific words and/or phrases in an effort to decrease their use from personal vocabulary.
• research and report on respect and inclusion-related initiatives implemented by learners in other schools.
• present survey data and recommended strategies for inclusion to the administration and student government representatives.
• creatively recommend techniques and strategies to others which will lessen exclusionary situations in school communities.

Journal reflections, participation of learners in group discussion, a completed survey, an Internet-based research report on learner strategies and strategy recommendations for staff/board, teacher observation and the project presentation may be used as assessments of learning.

In advance of teaching several lessons in this unit, the teacher will need to access and print information for the students from web sites, as well as order a free video (Lesson Two) from a web site found in the lesson bibliographies.

To prepare for a community panel on discrimination, it will be necessary for the instructor to invite members of various groups suffering past or present discrimination to attend a class session. This should be done well in advance of the lesson since this information may be needed for parent/guardian information.

For the presentation of learner projects, it will be necessary to make arrangements ahead of time for the learner assemblies.