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Poem-Things We Carry On the Sea by Wang Ping 

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Poem-Things We Carry On the Sea by Wang Ping 

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This poem highlights the dimension of empowering school culture.  This poem explores the heartbreak and sorrow in moving away from home to a new country. While it contains references to dark moments in history, it’s not violent and provides both a historical background and an emotional perspective on immigration.

I will use this poem in this class in read-aloud to ask students their perspectives on immigration and develop their empathy on the character as an immigrant in the poem. If students have similar experiences as the author, they are more likely to share their stories.

I hope students can learn to develop empathy towards peers different from them in multicultural education and communicate with students from different cultural backgrounds to  promote the equity in school.

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Wang Ping - The Things We Carry on the Sea

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Book-David Goes to School by David Shannon

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Book-David Goes to School by David Shannon

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The book “David Goes to School” reflects the dimension of empowering school culture. This Chinese English bilingual book is a great book for students to understand the classroom rules in the school at the beginning of the school and develop their English or Chinese proficiency.

I will use this book on the first day of school. Since some of the students are emergent English learners, I will use this Chinese English bilingual book to help them not only easily understand the content of the book but also overcome the language barrier to feel comfortable. At the same time, I will do an activity to ask students to share what they learned in the book and write down things they think can do and can not do while in the classroom by using any language they want. Through the interaction with students, I empower students to participate in setting up the school rules based on their cultural backgrounds, gender, and social class to promote equal and diverse classroom setting norms.

I hope students can learn to contribute their ideas to create an equal school culture while having a chance to explore a new language-English.

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Song-All About Acceptance by Harry Music

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Song-All About Acceptance by Harry Music

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This song reflects on the dimension of prejudice reduction since it shows people need to accept everybody is different from them and build an appreciation of diversity.

I will use this video for musical movements during the transition time. I would hope this song teaches students diversity and embrace differences.

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All About Acceptance (song for kids about accepting others)

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I will bring materials that reflect two of Banks' dimensions of multicultural education-prejudice reduction and an empowering school culture to develop my multicultural materials curation. Those materials would be appropriate for use in a second grade bilingual classroom.

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This dimension focuses on the characteristics of students' racial attitudes and how they can be modified by teaching methods and materials (Banks, 2013).

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Film- That’s a family by groundspark.org

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Film- That’s a family by groundspark.org

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This movie reflects on the dimension of prejudice reduction as it is a great source for third-grade bilingual kids to understand and respect differences of all kinds of family in the community. Children in the movies take viewers on tour through their lives as they speak candidly about what it’s like to grow up in a family with parents of different races or religions, divorced parents, a single parent, gay or lesbian parents, adoptive parents or grandparents as guardians.

The length of the movie is 35 minutes. I would choose to play this film in English throughout two periods. The first day includes Chinese subtitles to engage students, especially emergent ESLs initially and then the second day, the movie only has English subtitles to ensure students have a complete understanding of the video dialogue content.I chose this film because this film creates kid-friendly, age-appropriate media resources and help students recognize the wide range of family structures that form the fabric of our communities today to reduce students' prejudice towards family different from themselves. In addition to the content being relevant for utilizing prejudice reduction when creating lesson plans, there is a strong connection to social study since it can lead to lessons about eliminating prejudice towards different cultures, genders, jobs, etc.

Showing this film would relate to the topic "preventing prejudice" in the social study and help students understand differences among families. Deeply, it will help lay a foundation for them to break up their stereotype and respect other kinds of differences as well, such as gender, culture, jobs, and race. Also, while they’re watching the film, they’ll be absorbing a powerful message about what’s universal to all families and how to treat children whose families may be different than their own. Lastly, students who think they are growing up in a family structure that looks “different” in any way from the traditional nuclear family will have the confidence to speak for themselves and proudly talk about their families in public.

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Guide | Alignment with State Standards

That's a Family! Discussion and Teaching Guide

Extensive selection of pre- and post-viewing activities designed to engage children in discussing issues from the film. Contains a list of supplemental resources organized by grade and family type. Resources for teachers and parents also included. The guide is 60 pages.

EXCERPTS FROM THE GUIDE

Message From the Producers

How to use the Video and Guide

That's a Family! as Window and Mirror

Questions Educators or Parents may ask

Sample Letter Home (English) (pdf)

Sample Letter Home (Spanish) (pdf)

Handout-What Does Family Mean? (pdf)

Sample Section-Mixed Families (pdf)

Sample Bibliography-Suggested Books About Families in General

Transcript of the Film (English) (pdf)

Use our Free Flyer Template to Organize Your Own Screening (pdf)

A Message From the Producers

We're very excited to introduce you to That's a Family!

This is our first film for children in The Respect for All Project, a collection of resources we are producing to help communities promote diversity. Our goal with That's a Family! and the other films in the series to create kid-friendly, age-appropriate media resources that teachers, parents and service providers can use to help children understand and respect differences of all kinds.

That's a Family! is the first film to be made for children that recognizes the wide range of family structures that form the fabric of our communities today. With more attention focused on creating safe schools, there is a growing consensus that we have to do more to help kids become more comfortable with diversity. Helping children understand family diversity is a great place to start.

Family is the first point of reference for children as they begin to understand themselves and the world around them. If children can name and understand differences among families, hopefully this will help lay a foundation for them to understand and respect other kinds of differences as well.

The children you share this film with will probably be tickled by the dragons at the Chinese New Year parade, the gutter ball in the bowling alley, or the kids singing "cha cha cha" at a birthday party. While they're entertained, though, they'll be absorbing a powerful message about what's universal to all families, and about how to treat children whose families may be different than their own.

That's a Family! will also be very affirming to children growing up in a family structure that looks "different" in any way from the traditional nuclear family. In many communities, "different" families actually are the majority! In fact, only 28 percent of homes today consist of a married husband and wife who are raising their biological children.

We've found that children respond very well to other kids speaking directly from their hearts. So, as you'll see when you watch That's a Family!, we decided to let the children in the film speak for themselves. (It was pretty amusing to watch the parents and guardians step aside and let their kids do the talking!) We're grateful to the scores of community groups, service agencies, schools and religious congregations that helped us meet the 50 extraordinary families in the film.

We are very eager to hear about your experiences using That's a Family! Please drop us a line and let us know how you are using your video copy and what the response is. And thank you-for joining in the effort to help prevent prejudice before it starts and for encouraging children to learn respect for all.

How to Use the Video and Guide

Understand the video's objectives

To promote greater understanding of and respect for differences

To serve as a tool for education about family diversity

To reflect a more accurate and balanced picture of what families look like than is often presented in classroom curricula

To ensure that every student-regardless of what kind of family to which he or she belongs-is safe, respected and able to receive an education free from prejudice

This guide is written from the assumption that the person using the video and guide is a teacher working with students in an elementary school setting. That's a Family! can also be extremely useful in counseling or social service agencies, for parents to watch with their own children, and in religious congregations. It may be used by students in middle or high school, as well as at the university or college level, if students are given the context that the video was crafted with younger students in mind. Additionally, That's a Family! is an excellent tool for in-service professional development on diversity issues for educators and service providers. We trust that presenters who use That's a Family! will adapt the information in this guide so that it is appropriate for their particular audience.

While That's a Family! can stand on its own as a teaching tool, we hope it will be used in your curriculum as part of a larger unit of study on families and family diversity. Teachers of young children might want to show the video in short segments. For grades 3-5, we suggest showing the video in its entirety (35 minutes), and then showing each section again individually as the class works on associated exercises. The video may also be shown again at the end of each unit. Teachers will want to keep in mind student attention spans and available time.

As the classroom teacher, you are the most important component of this unit. You know your students and their stories, and can be most sensitive to their needs. This guide offers a menu of ideas, questions, activities, books, and other resources that can help you facilitate a unit on family diversity.

Reading the entire guide before beginning the unit will allow you to select appropriate books and activities, and to make modifications that will best suit the needs of your class. Just as a half-hour video cannot cover all family variations, no guide can cover all possible family situations and resources. We've collected a variety of supporting materials, which are listed at the back of this guide in the bibliography. We suggest you use it as a starting point to choose age-appropriate books and activities that will reflect your students' family structures as well as educate them about families that are different from theirs.

Each section of this guide includes a recap of the dialogue in the video from the featured families, photos and names of featured children, a synopsis of the story, key vocabulary words, and suggested questions and classroom activities. A list of supplemental resources for children and adults can be found at the back of the guide.

Sample Bibliography Page-Suggested Books About Families in General
Grades K-2

Celebrating Families, by Rosemarie Hausherr (Scholastic, 1997). No two family structures are alike in this engaging portrait of 14 American families. No single family is presented as the norm here, and all are celebrated for their strength and diversity.

Families, by Meredith Tax and Marilyn Hafner (Oxford Press, 1992). Six-year-old Angie tells everything she knows about families. Realities such as divorce, stepfamilies, adoption, single-parenting, and gay and lesbian parenting are explored through her curious, affectionate and nonjudgmental eyes. Also in Spanish.

Families: A Celebration of Diversity, Commitment and Love, by Aylette Jenness with photographs by the author (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990). Seventeen young people describe a rich variety of families-all different in composition but all alike in loving and caring for their members.

Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch (Firefly, 1996). This highly recommended book traces the circle of love from young mother with infant son to grown man with aged mother. A family favorite for all ages.

I Got a Family, by Melrose Cooper, illustrations by Dale Gottlieb (Henry Holt & Company, 1993). In poetic form, this young child describes each member of his extended family (mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandmother, etc.) in terms of the loving experiences they share.

Who's in a Family?, by Robert Skutch, illustrations by Laura Nienhaus (Tricycle Press, 1998). Beautiful illustrations and text affirm the many ways humans and animals form families.

Grades 3-6

The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros (Vintage, 1984). Short, easy-to-read, poetic descriptions of daily life and family relationships bring the author's family to life and inspire comparisons to one's own family experience.

Mama's Bank Account, by Kathryn Forbes (Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1943). These stories of a Norwegian immigrant family adapting to American ways show values of love and trust.

Alignment With State Standards

The Respect For All Project curriculum is designed to meet state educational standards while also developing empathy, building respect, and promoting ally behavior. Our creative lessons can help educators teach math, reading, literature, writing, arts, and social studies while also ensuring a safe and welcoming environment.

Below you can find general information about how our curriculum aligns with standards for several states. We also offer a more detailed alignment for California that illustrates how specific lessons align with statewide Health and English Language Arts standards.

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Guide | Alignment with State Standards Extensive selection of pre- and post-viewing activities designed to engage children in discussing issues from the film. Contains a list of supplemental resources organized by grade and family type. Resources for teachers and parents also included. The guide is 60 pages.

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Book-We're Different, We're the Same by Bobbi Kates

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Book-We're Different, We're the Same by Bobbi Kates

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The book "We're Different, We' re the Same" reflects prejudice reduction as it shows ways in which all people are the same, despite obvious physical differences. We may all look different on the outside but it’s important to remember that deep down, we are all very much alike since we all have the same needs, desires, and feelings. Elmo and his Sesame Street friends help teach children in their lives that everyone is the same on the inside, and it’s our differences that make this wonderful world, which is home to us all, an interesting and special place. This enduring, colorful, and charmingly illustrated book offers an easy, enjoyable way to learn about differences and reduce prejudice—and what truly matters. It is an engaging read for kids.

This book illustrated in full color talks about colorful characters from Sesame Street teaches young children about racial harmony. I will show students illustration on each page and ask them to compare among noses, hair, and skin of Muppets, monsters, and humans to realize how different we all are. For example, some have a rounded nose, but some of them have a yellow nose. Then, I will ask students to look further and find out the similarities of those noses so they would discover their nose all breathe, sniff and sneeze. Then, I will students do draw a self-portrait and write their personalities on the self-portrait. After finishing the self-portrait, students will discuss the differences and similarities to have the students notice and describe how they are similar and different from one another in pairs. Lastly, students will have a whole class sharing in a community circle.

I hope students will develop the acceptance of different people who may not the same look or race with them and appreciate who they are. After reading this book and doing the class activity, when students look further, they would realize how similar people are despite physical differences. It does not mean ignoring or dismissing racial history or the struggles of people of color. It just means that kids grow up with an awareness of these issues, their multiracial makeup, and understand, appreciate, and celebrate who they are and who they are meant to be.

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Who better than Elmo and his Sesame Street friends to teach us that though we may all look different on the outside-deep down, we are all very much alike? Sesame Street friends help teach toddlers and the adults in their lives that everyone is the same on the inside, and it's our differences that make this wonderful world, which is home to us all, an interesting-and special-place. This enduring, colorful, and charmingly illustrated book offers an easy, enjoyable way to learn about differences-and what truly matters.
Elmo and his We're Different, We're the Same is an engaging read for toddlers and adults alike that reinforces how we all have the same needs, desires, and feelings.

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We're Different, We're the Same (Sesame Street) (Pictureback(R))

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Amazon.com: We're Different, We're the Same (Sesame Street) (Pictureback(R)): 8581126911118: Kates, Bobbi, Mathieu, Joe: Books

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Grouping and labeling practices, sports participation, disproportionality in achievement, and interaction of the staff and the students across ethic and racial lines must be examined to create a school culture that empowers students from diverse racial. ethnic, and gender group.(Banks, 2013).