Acceptance – EPIC Decisions
Overview
In this lesson, students learn about their classmates and teacher in a way that builds community and cohesiveness in the learning environment. Using the books, Playing for Change by Kelly Brown and The Parallel by Carl Erskine, as well as the Special Olympics video clip, Acceptance, students will discuss differences in the characters who were accepted and those who were not. In pulling these elements out of the plot, the students will then identify differences in themselves that possibly relate to others in the classroom.
Lesson Overview
Please adapt the lesson activity to fit your students' abilities and interests.
Introduction
In this lesson, students learn about their classmates and teacher in a way that builds community and cohesiveness in the learning environment. Using the books, Playing for Change by Kelly Brown and The Parallel by Carl Erskine, as well as the Special Olympics video clip, Acceptance, students will discuss differences in the characters who were accepted and those who were not. In pulling these elements out of the plot, the students will then identify differences in themselves that possibly relate to others in the classroom.
Grades 6 – 8
Theme
- Acceptance
Objectives
During the lesson, students will:
- Discuss differences that characters in the featured text have that are accepted and are not accepted in the society and time in which they live.
- Compare differences of characters with themselves to better connect with the text, themselves, and their classmates.
- Support character analysis with evidence from the text (as grade-level appropriate) including historical facts included from the author.
Essential Questioning
Students should be able to answer these questions by the end of this lesson:
- How do historical facts create a story with characters?
- How does acceptance change the characters with differences?
- Does the way I accept or not accept people with differences matter?
Indiana Academic Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2
- Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.8
- Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.9
- Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
INSS 6.H.15
- Differentiate between fact and interpretation in historical accounts and explain the meaning of historical passages by identifying who was involved, what happened, where it happened, and relating them to outcomes that followed and gaps in the historical record.
INSS 7.H.14
- Identify and explain recent conflicts and political issues between nations or cultural groups and evaluate the solutions that different organizations have utilized to address these conflicts. (Essential Standard)
INSS 8.H.20
- Give examples of the changing role of women, minorities, and immigrants in the northern, southern, and western parts of the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, and examine possible causes for these changes. (Essential Standard)
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