Students assess examples of media (catalogs, magazines, books, etc.) to consider who is (and isn’t) represented, explore the impact of lack of diversity in media, and realize their own rich experiences with diversity. Recommended for grades: 4 and upTime: 45-60 minutes
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A Lesson on Perspective This activity encourages students to discover and think about the perspectives of other people and of nonhuman animals using a brief video featuring a mouse and a zucchini on a kitchen counter. Recommended grades: K-5Time: 30 minutes Related IHE Resources: Council of All Beings
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A lesson on stereotypes and snap judgments Help students explore and reflect upon their snap perceptions of others and show how stereotypes can limit receptivity. Grades: 6 and upTime: 20-30 minutes Related IHE Resources: Alien in the Ethical Universe, A Moment in Your Shoes
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by Marsha Rakestraw We all have biases. We’ve heard many times that those biases are an evolutionary adaptation that helped us survive, but even after these thousands of years, we haven’t yet learned to recognize and overcome many of our unconscious (and conscious) biases related to race, gender, disability, age, geography, and even species. Research…
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by Marsha Rakestraw Over the weekend, hatred and violence descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, as white nationalists amassed to “take America back,” and opponents gathered to protest white supremacy and oppression. On Friday night white supremacists marched on the University of Virginia campus, carrying torches, chanting, and surrounding a small group of counterprotesters. On Saturday, people…
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by Marsha Rakestraw Talking about race, racism, and institutional oppression can be challenging, especially when many white people are feeling defensive, uncomfortable, and confused. Videos, including those using humor, can be a great tool for introducing tough-to-talk-about conversations, and a meaningful catalyst for exploring what can be subtle, complex issues. Here are four resources that…
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by Marsha Rakestraw According to the latest figures from the National Center for Education Statistics, “black, Latino, Asian, and Native American students will together make up a narrow majority of the nation’s public school students,” yet the number of children’s books that feature characters of color are shamefully sparse. Studies show that having multicultural literature…
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Find suggested books, websites, articles, videos, lesson plans, activities and other resources on issues of human genocide to help you learn and/or teach about this topic.
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by Marsha Rakestraw Studies show that children can learn racially-biased behaviors as young as three and learn to categorize people by race (non-verbally) at as young as six months. Yet we’re often reluctant to talk about race, or we pretend that being “color blind” is the least harmful choice. It’s vital that we as parents…
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by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards NAEYC, 2010 184 pgs How we set the tone about anti-bias in our classrooms and learning centers can influence the entire year — and possibly the whole of children’s lives. Children learn at an early age about differences in race, gender, ability, economic situation, sexual orientation, culture, and more,…
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