ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

From 1996 to the present school shootings have become a bitter reality. News coverage reported the grim facts from Moses Lake, Washington to Columbine High School and more recently to Red Lake, Minnesota. As parents and school personnel we are faced with the responsibility of violence prevention to help ensure the safety of our children. According to Dr. Olweus, a well know researcher of bullying at school, one in seven students is the target of bullying. Information from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry supports that many children experience bullying, estimating that approximately 50% of children experience bullying at some time during their schooling. A brief from the American Psychological Association indicates that 90% of fourth to sixth graders report having been the target of bullying. Although these sources differ in prevalence of bullying in schools, they agree that bullying interferes with a student’s social and emotional development. They also agree that activities, which provide a classroom environment that fosters the acceptance of differences and diversity, are important in a bully prevention program.
In the past three months, our school has evidenced an increase in the number of teasing and bullying incidents witnessed by staff members and reported by students and parents. A team meeting was called to address this concern. Written input from the teachers indicated that many times cruel verbal comments/put-downs from students initiate and escalate into negative social interactions with peers. Consequently, the need for additional student understanding and respect of individual differences was identified as a partial solution in addressing this problem.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: 1. People are different, but share similar needs. 2. Differences can be respected rather than ridiculed.
Goal(s): 1. The students will identify similarities and differences between self and peers. 2. The students will demonstrate respect for the differences of others.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: 1. What value is there in people being different? 2. What connection is there between “dissing” and our need for belonging and acceptance?
Objectives: 1. After listening to a story and discussing the events, the student will write a three-sentence paragraph correctly describing the main character and summarizing the theme using a writing pattern. 2. Given several websites, the student will be able to research and correctly answer questions about the physical features of two similar rabbits. 3. Given the opportunity to work with a peer, the student will be able to identify ten similarities (5 physical attributes and 5 personality traits) and five differences between them as evidenced by a Venn diagram. 4. After collecting data as a classroom group, the student will be able to create a bar graph illustrating an example of differences and similarities in his/her classroom.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer)will provide evidence of understanding?
1.  In the story, how was Leo the same as the other rabbits?  2. How was he different?  3. How did the Leo and the other rabbits feel about being different? 4. How do we know?  5. What did the rabbits learn about differences in the story?
What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance)will provide evidence of understanding?
1. Working with a peer, you will compare your similarities and contrast your differences, using a Venn diagram. 2. Using the pattern, write a descriptive paragraph about Leo and what he learned in the story.
What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?
1. A bar graph illustrating differences and similarities in students. 2. Classroom data Descriptive paragraph samples.
What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment)of understanding will you collect?
1. Observation of student research and completion of Venn diagrams. 2.  Descriptive paragraph rubric.  3. Observation of student bar graph samples. 4. Bar graph rubric.  5. Student self assessment of Venn diagrams - product and process.  6. Observation of class discussion.

Instructional Strategies

The students will be involved in a project with multiple aspects. Throughout the project, students will have the opportunity to use a variety of the multiple intelligences. Since peer cooperation is a weakness in this classroom, cooperative learning will be part of this project. The students will be given the opportunity to communicate with each other in a variety of group settings. They will demonstrate collaboration skills by dividing responsibilities, following assigned roles, listening actively to each other, and mutually planning and making decisions. This process will develop students’ social skills, promote positive peer interaction, and develop positive interdependence with peers.
Initially, knowledge will be built by observing a live rabbit in the classroom. This will provide the hook for learning. A book in which the main character, a rabbit, is treated unkindly because of his different physical characteristics will become the springboard for building connections. Building upon their knowledge built through observation and hearing the book shared in class, the students will analyze information about two types of rabbits using Internet resources. As they examine similarities and differences, the students will create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting these two types of rabbits. Using a word-processing document, the students will compose a paragraph using physical descriptors of the rabbit, which were gained in the research, and incorporating emotional aspects from a book read aloud in class.
In another activity, students will be working on a task that has a variety of answers. They will begin to build the connections from their previous learning about diversity in rabbits to similarities and differences in people. Working cooperatively with a partner, the students will compare and contrasts themselves based on physical and behavioral characteristics. Using a Venn diagram, the students will illustrate these similarities and differences. The students will continue to build on this knowledge by gathering and analyzing data about the students in their classroom. Based on a variety of physical and behavioral characteristics, the students will compare and contrast the students in the classroom. This will allow the classroom group to develop their social skills, actively listen to each other, and mutually make decisions.
Using a spreadsheet, the students will work cooperatively with a partner to synthesize the results of one of these characteristics. From this data, the students will create a bar graph illustrating the similarities and differences of students in the classroom based on this physical or behavioral characteristic. This will allow them to share their knowledge, check their understanding, and develop a positive interdependence. The students will demonstrate convergent thinking as they bring thoughts about differences in rabbits and peers to the common conclusion of respecting and celebrating diversity.