Today, while teaching social studies, I had a very interesting experience. We were talking about the 3/5 compromise. An agreement made at the constitutional convention where slaves were counted for 3/5 of a white man. My students were horrified to find out that Americans had done something so terrible. They were outraged, insulted to even think that something so horrendous could have happened in their history. One student, in particular, was upset. “How could they think like that?” he said with indignation. “They must have been monsters.” The thing that struck me about this wasn’t that he was upset. It is a normal reaction to think that way. What I thought was surprising was that this was the same student who earlier in the day had made a comment about “savage midgets”, who has made fun of other students for being “a loser”, and who had told others in our class “you must hate that your family doesn’t celebrate Christmas because it’s the best holiday.” Hearing a rather intolerant student talk about these terrible actions from our past made me start to wonder.
The thing that struck me about this wasn’t that he was upset; it is a normal reaction to think that way. What I thought was surprising was that this was the same student who earlier in the day had made a comment about “savage midgets”. Throughout the year, I have heard him make fun of another student for being “a loser”, be aggressive with my students who are new to the country and tell others in our class “you must hate that your family doesn’t celebrate Christmas because it’s the best holiday.”
Hearing a rather intolerant student talk about these terrible actions from our past made the questions start running through my brain…
“How can I connect these actions to the things I see him do?” “Is there a way to help build tolerance through history?” “What activity can I plan to build around this to better our classroom community?”
The only problem is, I don’t have the answers to these questions. But I as a tech-savy teacher have what my dad calls “the wealth of human knowledge” at my fingertips. So off to the internet I went, and I found http://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources I had heard of tolerance.org before but didn’t realize the many resources that were available for teachers there. Not just PD resources but also, really great lessons to teach tolerance. I have started looking through them and have decided to try to make one of these activities part of my weekly longer class meeting. I am hoping I will be able to find one that connects to the 3/5 compromise and the language we use to talk to others about tolerance. I am hoping this helps to make the connection for my students.
I will write a reflection post about how the lesson goes once I am done. Does anybody else have a favorite lesson or resource they use to help teach tolerance to their students. Let me know so I can check it out.
Pirate to Teacher 