This two-day lesson focuses on the reading and analysis of “The Circuit” by Francisco Jiménez. The goal of this lesson is for students to make inferences about the challenges and changes required of the story’s character, Panchito, and to find evidence of the author’s craft that develops the narrative.Students will reflect upon the relevance of the essential question (In what ways does our need to feel a sense of belonging conflict with our individuality?) to the narrator's experience.  In particular, students should recognize that the reality of the narrator's individual situation acts as an impediment to his efforts to belong to a community.Although "The Circuit" is classified as a work of fiction, the author states that the stories represent the lives of his family members.  Students will appreciate Jimenez's descriptive, character-driven writing. 

In this lesson, students learn about what it means to belong and how to include others. Students will identify similarities and differences between themselves and a partner but understand how they are still part of the same community.

Learn how Harrison High School in Evansville, IN is using community partnerships to support students in this video from American Graduate Day 2013. Reconnecting Youth is a nonprofit organization that helps bring social workers into schools. High school students often need help balancing school, work and their social lives. Social workers help students improve their time management and communication skills. When students feel more connected to school, they begin to see how they fit in and how they can contribute to their communities. Use the resources in the Support Materials section below to help students improve their communication skills.

A strong sense of belonging in the early years has fundamental benefits for children and flow-on effects for their learning, development and wellbeing. This guide outlines best-practice approaches for improving a sense of belonging and connectedness in children aged birth to 5 years. Educators and teachers working across diverse early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings can use the guide to support their practice and inform their future planning.

A positive sense of belonging at school has fundamental benefits for children and young people and flow‑on benefits for their learning and engagement with school. This guide makes recommendations based on the best available research evidence on fostering a sense of belonging in primary school environments.

A positive sense of belonging at school has fundamental benefits for children and young people and flow-on benefits for their learning and engagement with school. This guide makes recommendations based on the best available research evidence on fostering a sense of belonging in school environments.

This lesson guides students in an examination of a poet's use of figurative language and word choice to convey themes of belonging and identity.  Students will delve into the concept of the unit theme, “Belonging” and the essential question, "In what ways does our need to feel a sense of belonging conflict with our individuality?" Students will write a short essay analyzing the ways in which a poet uses figurative language and word choice to convey the speaker's sense of him/herself as an individual and as someone who feels he/she is not accepted. Image source:  "Attain" by Nick Youngson from TheBlueDiamondGallery.com at http://thebluediamondgallery.com/tablet-dictionary/a/attain.html  Creative Commons 3 - CC BY-SA 3.0

This two-day lesson focuses on the reading and analysis of “The Circuit” by Francisco Jiménez. The goal of this lesson is for students to make inferences about the challenges and changes required of the story’s character, Panchito, and to find evidence of the author’s craft that develops the narrative.Students will reflect upon the relevance of the essential question (In what ways does our need to feel a sense of belonging conflict with our individuality?) to the narrator's experience.  In particular, students should recognize that the reality of the narrator's individual situation acts as an impediment to his efforts to belong to a community.Although "The Circuit" is classified as a work of fiction, the author states that the stories represent the lives of his family members.  Students will appreciate Jimenez's descriptive, character-driven writing. 

This lesson focuses on the chapter “Chinatown” from Laurence Yep’s memoir, The Lost Garden.  Students will consider the factors that contributed to Yep’s struggle to find a sense of belonging with his peers and in his community.  Students will determine in what ways the essential question (In what ways does our need to feel a sense of belonging conflict with our individuality?) is relevant to Laurence Yep’s experience as he describes it in “Chinatown”.

This course examines how a variety of cultural traditions propose answers to the question of how to live a meaningful life. It considers the meaning of life, not as a philosophical abstraction, but as a question that individuals grapple with in their daily lives, facing difficult decisions between meeting and defying cultural expectations. The course also provides tools for thinking about moral decisions as social and historical practices, and permits students to compare and contextualize the ways people in different times and places approach fundamental ethical concerns.

This OER is a culmination of conversations, pedagogical practices, and ways of being together that developed as a collaboration between co-authors Borbala Gaspar (bgaspar@arizona.edu) and Chantelle Warner (warnerc@arizona.edu) and the engaged group of students who took part in a year-long series of extracurricular gatherings, which served as an exploratory space for the ideas shared in this handbook. The poetry club evolved from the authors’ shared desire to create a space adjacent to the classrooms in their language programs (Italian and German respectively) where students could explore the aesthetic and affective endeavor of language learning, rooted in the human capacity for exploring alternative ways of making sense of themselves, the world, and their experiences within it.
This handbook is intended as a resource for educators who wish to develop a similar extracurricular club or who are looking for inspiration for their classrooms. In the first chapter of the handbook, we introduce you to the background of the project and the current discussions of well-being in higher education. Part two provides an overview of the conceptual underpinnings of multilingual making and poetic play as ways of engaging with language and language learning. Core concepts and principles are outlined, emphasizing the significance of living together in and through languages, and the role of multilingual making when learning a new language. The handbook explores various forms of poetic play, such as collage, response artwork to poetry, clay work and visual representation of poems. It delves into core principles for establishing a multilingual poetry club offering guidance on creating and sustaining such a club. Sample activities illustrate each example including collage, mixed media, limericks, and remarks from the authors and creators of the artworks. Additional resources such as blackout poetry and other ideas that could potentially further engage club members in creative expression are included as well. Finally, this book concludes with reflections and additional resources for educators interested in promoting multilingualism and creativity through poetry.
After reading this handbook, you will be able to…
Identify the key factors that students indicate as influencing their sense of belonging;
Define and discuss key concepts and terms related to playful poetry and living literacies approach, and relate them to other discussions in the field of second language teaching and learning;
Explore the forms and functions of multimodality and living literacies in the examples;
Reflect on how to apply these ideas into your context.

Transitioning to school and between educational settings is a significant milestone for children and families. Successful transitions lead to better outcomes for children and enhance continuity of learning and development. A successful transition occurs when a child and their family feel a sense of belonging in their new environment. Educators, teachers and school and service leaders are uniquely placed to support children and families in establishing and maintaining a sense of belonging at critical transition points. You can use the evidence-based practices presented in this guide to support children with disability or developmental delay as they transition to their first year of school. It is designed to help services and schools work together to achieve more successful transitions.

This course map outlines learning objectives, discussions, activities, and resources for a three-week module or block that would be part of an introductory writing class. The module focuses on identity and belonging that supports different perspectives and the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of belonging.