James Berry's poem, "What Do We Do With a Difference?" launches a activity that asks class members to consider the ways people respond when they encounter someone different from themselves. After analyzing the poem and discussing how they see people respond, individuals craft an addition stanza to Berry's poem that describes their vision for how they would like to see their community respond.

Concepts

similarities and differences, social-emotional learning, democracy, diversity, injustice, discrimination, differences

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• To become familiar with the rationales for and the context of the lesson, preview the PowerPoint before teaching the lesson

Classroom Considerations

• Lesson six of 15 in the Standing Up for Democracy unit
• Access to the lesson presentation requires a free account
• Requires additional prep time to prepare materials
• Lessons are cumulative and designed to be taught in order

Pros

• The PowerPoint includes teaching notes and can be adapted to fit the needs of various classes

Cons

• None