Dealing with Name Calling
Examples of Some Lessons
This lesson is from: Building Community and Combating Hate. Lesson 6. Partners Against Hate under Cooperative Agreement. U.S. Department of Justice. 2004.
About the Lesson:
This lesson presents a good opportunity to allow students to share experiences that they are going through with other students. The lesson calls for students to share their experiences anonymously by writing them down on a paper. The teacher then reads them out to the group. My major concern with this activity is that although it is done anonymously, students will attempt to match each experience with a student. This may create tension where there wasn't any to begin with. Additionally, the teacher has to ensure a respectful environment in the class. If a student expresses a vulnerable situation and then the situation is belittled by the group or even just a small clique in the class, it may teach the student that expressing pain only leads to more pain and they may retreat into silence. As in any situation, you need to know your group well and prepare them well before beginning any type of activity such as this one.
Lesson Overview:
About the Lesson:
This lesson presents a good opportunity to allow students to share experiences that they are going through with other students. The lesson calls for students to share their experiences anonymously by writing them down on a paper. The teacher then reads them out to the group. My major concern with this activity is that although it is done anonymously, students will attempt to match each experience with a student. This may create tension where there wasn't any to begin with. Additionally, the teacher has to ensure a respectful environment in the class. If a student expresses a vulnerable situation and then the situation is belittled by the group or even just a small clique in the class, it may teach the student that expressing pain only leads to more pain and they may retreat into silence. As in any situation, you need to know your group well and prepare them well before beginning any type of activity such as this one.
Lesson Overview:
For teachers:
Triska, Z. "These Words You Use Every Day Have Racist/Prejudiced Pasts, And You Had No Idea." Huffington Post, 10/24/13
Triska, Z. "These Words You Use Every Day Have Racist/Prejudiced Pasts, And You Had No Idea." Huffington Post, 10/24/13