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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES FOR COMMON GROUND: TRUE COLORS
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Common Ground: True Colors |
CONCEPTS |
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Authority
Discrimination
Diversity |
PROJECT/TASK |
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Diverse communities face many challenges, among them questions of how to approach diversity and eliminate discrimination. Racial profiling has emerged as both a police issue and as a community issue. What strategies should those in positions of authority to avoid racial profiling while keeping watch over the community? How can community members avoid making snap decisions that affect their dealings with others? |
LEARNING OUTCOMES
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http://www.ode.state.oh.us/ca/learn_outcomes.htm
Students will:
- Focus on the topic with adequate supporting ideas or examples; convey messages related to that topic, exhibit word choice appropriate to audience, purpose and subject, and use language as an expression of self. (4th Grade Writing a, b, f; 6th Grade Writing a, c; 9th Grade Writing a, e; 12th Grade Writing a, h, k)
- Draw inferences; determine validity of statements; respond to the text. (4th Grade Reading 8, 17; 6th Grade Reading 12; 9th Grade Reading 12, 14, 15; 12th Grade Reading 13, 14, 15)
- Understand that many different peoples with diverse backgrounds make up our nation today, evaluate the actions of public officials on the basis of a given set of criteria, compare and contrast points of agreement and disagreement among sources, identify and weigh alternative viewpoints, and recognize that local and national issues can be related to those confronting a global society. (9th Grade Citizenship 2, 14c; 12th Grade Citizenship 12, 18b, 18d, 19)
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LEARNING STRATEGIES/ACTIVITIES |
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- Ask several willing students to write on a slip of paper something positive about themselves that it is unlikely anyone in the class would know. Then read the papers aloud and ask students to guess the identity of the writer. Follow-up questions: Is this something you would know by looking at the person? What can you know by looking at a person? (Make a list on the board and then ask students to critically think about what they've listed - can they really tell by just looking?)
- Discuss racial profiling or simply profiling and its meaning. Provide several reference resources (such as dictionaries and encyclopedias) and ask students to provide a definition.
- Ask students how racial profiling might be used by authority figures in their community. Can they think of others besides police who might use profiling? Is profiling a tool or is it an injustice? (Example: Airport profiling)
- Show selected segments of Common Ground: True Colors that amplify the discussion (8-9:30pm January 16 on CET and repeated all day on Time Warner Cable Channel 19 on January 17; WKRC will air the first hour 8-9pm on January 16).
- Have small groups of students read and react to news articles. Each group should share the content and the group's reaction. If possible have more than one group read each article in order to find diverse views.
- In small groups (preferably remix the groups), have students take on the roles of authority figures who create anti-profiling policies for various organizations, such as the police, school districts and so forth. Groups must first define profiling, then decide how it can be avoided. In writing their policies, the groups must also provide alternatives to profiling to assist their "employees." A follow-up activity could be to distribute the finished policies to other groups, with members of groups now taking on the roles of employees or community members. Each group would then discuss whether the policy is usable and helpful. Such discussion may help students understand why community members often clash over the creation of such policies.
- More activities: Try some of these lesson ideas from websites with other activities based in recent national calls to avoid racial profiling and hasty decisions about others:
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PUBLICATION
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The school website or traditional bulletin boards are a good way to share what the students have learned. The school newspaper may be interested in publishing an article about the class project. |
ASSESSMENT
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For less formal activities, such as discussion or small group work, teacher may monitor progress: Are students on task? Are they following directions? Is the assignment being taken seriously? (Teacher may choose ungraded or a scale of 1-10 or A-F.)
For writing, teachers may develop, or have students develop, a rubric of standards for assignments.
Any of the activities may also be graded upon a rubric representing the Ohio Learning Outcomes listed for this lesson. |
RESOURCES
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Common Ground
CincinnatiCan
Cincinnati.Com Racial Profiling Articles:
Airport Profiling (Secret Service agent)
ACLU Defines Racial Profiling
Cincinnati.Com's Unrest in the City
NIE Lesson: "Equality Before the Law"
"The Myth of Racial Profiling"
Ohio Learning Outcomes
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RESOURCES FOR VERY YOUNG CHILDREN
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With links to Amazon.com reviews
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
Cows Can't Fly by David Milgrim
The Sneetches By Dr. Seuss
Why A I Different? by Norma Simon
© 2002, CET. All rights reserved. |
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