Identity Wheel

 

The purpose of the identity wheel activity is to get students thinking about different aspects of their identity and to identify which aspects of their identity is salient. The categories in the identity wheel are race, sex, gender, religion, class, ability, sexual orientation, and age. The size of the slice on the circle should reflect the individual’s awareness of that social group membership. The students should then place a T or an A for targeted and advantaged, respectively, signifying if their identity in that category makes them advantaged or targeted. I have done the identity wheel activity in two different classes. The weakness of this activity is that some students will not know what ability means and what the difference between sex and gender is. Before having the students do the activity the teacher should go over the definition for each category. This activity can be done in a social studies class. Grade Level: 6-12

A Lesson on Islam

Islam in America

A lesson on Islam is a lesson plan published by PBS Learning Media. The objectives of the lesson is to appreciate the religious and cultural traditions in the U.S. and in Islam, understand that an influx in new immigrants changes the culture of a community and that those changes are not always welcomed, recognize the diversity that exists within the Muslim community in the U.S and in the world, and design and make graphic presentations to inform members of the community about Islam and Muslims in the U.S. The whole lesson plan is designed to take up three to four 45-minute class periods. The lesson plan includes five videos on Muslims in America. There is an introductory activity, Where in the World Go-Around. For this activity each student will go around say his/her name and a place on the planet that relates to his/her background. Then the teacher can write the word culture on the board and ask students to brainstorm things that are a part of one’s culture such as, language, food, holidays, education, gender roles, economy, dress, music and religion. Teachers can also do a pair-share activity with the class where the students in pairs hare about their culture, what they appreciate about their culture, what they want others to know about their culture and what they don’t want people to say about their culture. There are also handouts and activities for each following day after watching a video. This is a great lesson because it teaches students in depth about Muslim culture in the United States. This lesson would be taught in a social studies classroom. The weaknesses of this lesson may be all the videos shown in class. Some students may get bored by watching all of the videos. I would adapt the lesson to show two or three of the videos.

Grade Level: 5-12

How To Teach On Religion

An Article on Teaching About Religion

Religion is an especially touchy subject in public schools. In the article posted Ayers and Reid write about how lessons on religion can be incorporated within social studies education. They list tolerance as one of the best reasons for teaching about religion in schools. After 9/11 discrimination against Muslims and people who looked Middle Eastern escalated. Teaching about religion can help students understand and tolerate people who follow different religions. The article offers guidelines for teaching about religion in public schools and grade plans for first through sixth grade. When teaching about religion it is important to have a well thought out lesson or unit plan and to determine what to cover for each grade level.

Grade Level: 1-6