Assignment Overview: Students read various essays from the book American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures edited by America Ferrara. Using the book's essays as models, students then write their own narrative essay that reflects on their own experience being between cultures (American or living in America).
Lesson Overview: Students will read this Scientific American article, to consider the following questions:
Student Reflection, in response to prompt #3 (above):
Eric Anderson writes, “[In humans] the categories of gay and straight are socially constructed.” “I found this quote interesting because it ties in with the idea that humans like to put a label on everything. “Gay” and “straight” are absolutes, but some people might not fit entirely with these labels. People like to categorize things and other people in order to make it easier to think about, but these categories can be restricting and might not match that person’s identity completely, because humans are very complex.” Lesson Overview: Using this activity, students first investigate the complexity of one's biological sex, and then learn more about how athletic categories of male and female have been determined over the recent decades. Then, on day 2, students use these questions to take a broader look at the definitions of sex, gender, and sexuality.
Lesson Overview: This lesson sequence on disability rights followed a study of the French Revolution. These lessons include a variety of activities: journal writing, video watching (such as this one featuring Richie Parker), small group discussions, and readings (such as this one on the history of the ADA).
Student reflections:
"Disability is more about what society has defined as “normal.” For example, in the video Richie could do just about anything a “normal” person could do, he just did it in his own way. Richie isn’t disabled, he just has a different set of weaknesses and strengths from everyone else." "When doing a close reading of the list, I noticed that there were so many things that I might have taken for granted in my daily life that I didn’t even notice. For example, I never thought about if my family would ever have to move to another apartment that they would need to think about whether it was accessible to me. Would there be stairs to get into the house or not? Would there be an elevator to get to our floor? Things like these that I have just never had to think about in my life are a major concern for others." “At the very least, something people without disabilities can do is to try to use the right language. And if someone says that you used the wrong language, just apologize and ask what you should instead say." Lesson Overview: After reading an article and watching a few videos, students will debrief in small groups, speaking in Spanish as they share and respond to quotes/passages from the article and videos. Lesson Resources:
Project Overview: Using this assignment description, each student creates a family garden, based upon interviews and interactions with family members. Students are encouraged to broaden their definition of family (see below).
Student Reflections:
“I really enjoyed this interview with my grandma. I was supposed to talk with her for about 20 minutes, but it turned into an hour long conversation. I learned so much about her childhood and family.” “When I received this assignment I thought it was going to be one of those long and tedious projects. Instead it turned out to be a wonderful experience being able to interview my family members on their lives and learn more about my family history.” “I had a better understanding of the lifestyles my relatives lived in Russia as well as the differences between American and Russian cultures.” Project Overview: Each student writes a story about themself or their life in which 2 quantities vary in relationship to one another. Students then draw a matching graph that accurately reflects the story’s changes.
Lesson Overview: These slides contain short profiles of young and diverse Biologists doing biological research involving genetics. A teacher could integrate these slides into a broader lesson regarding genetics, current research, etc.
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AuthorsThe content showcased here is very much the work of a large, diverse group of BHS teachers. Categories
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