https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t My name is Kayla Miller and I am a University of Florida student in the Unified Elementary Proteach program. While in this program I have learned the importance of diversity and applying diversity in the classroom. I believe that as a teacher it is my job to make sure that all students feel included in the lesson and that each lesson touches on diversity in some way. I focused this topic on 4 categories that I believe are the more controversial, such as: race, family structure, special needs, and gender identity. As a teacher it is important to teach academic content as well as life lessons. en-us 2017-12-18 16:21:41 UTC 2026-03-19 23:19:06 UTC hello@padlet.com kaylanmiller07 https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t/wish/217007537 "The Colors of Us" is a children's picture book that discusses race. This book would be great for Kindergarten through 3rd grade. However, the main character Lena refers to skin color instead of race. Throughout the book, Lena describes people of all different types of skin color and in the end describes how all the different colors make us..."us". For example, she paints a picture of all her friends and family she saw in one day and tells her mom, "Look, Mom...The colors of us!" This book would be great for teaching a lesson on understanding and accepting people with different skin colors because in the end we are all the same but just different colors. One activity could include drawing a picture of how students perceive themselves and the color of their skin. Another activity could include discussing the different colors and the people of those colors. This activity will show that the color of someone skin doesn't mean that we are not the same on the inside. ]]> 2017-12-18 16:25:03 UTC https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t/wish/217007537 kaylanmiller07 https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t/wish/217014458 "The Case for Loving," is a book based on a true event. This book is about interracial marraige and the journey to fighting for the right marry other races. This book is great for the 1st through 5th grade I believe because of the strong historical content. My favorite line of the story is when the couple have to go to court to fight for their love to be legal. The book states, "Tell the court I love my wife, and it is just unfair that I can't live with her in Virginia." This shows the determination that love provides to keep family together. I believe that this book teachers a great lesson on family structure being that in today's world we have a variety of diverse families. One activity for this book could be discussing as a class the many types of families we see daily. Then, we can move into the students drawing pictures of their family and describing their family to the class. ]]> 2017-12-18 16:41:41 UTC https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t/wish/217014458 kaylanmiller07 https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t/wish/217017769 This is a children's novel that would be great for 4th grade through middle school levels. This book is about an 11-year old girl with Cerebral Palsy. She is both non-verbal and immobile which helps the build the misconception almost everyone has of her that she doesn't have the ability to learn. However, she has a photographic memory and is remarkably intellegent. This challenges the perception of people with disabilities. I believe that a good activity would include watching a video about people with cerebral palsy to help people understand from someone like Melody's point of view. Then, I would include discussion to see how the students would include students like Melody in the classroom to show their understanding. ]]> 2017-12-18 16:50:27 UTC https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t/wish/217017769 kaylanmiller07 https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t/wish/217020878 This book is based on a true historical event on segregation in schools. It discusses the many hardships this family had to face in order to reach success of desegregating schools in California. I believe this is a great book that discusses racial issues and can be taught in . Being that race is still a controversial topic and schools are no longer segregated, I believe that this will be a great book to discuss the historical topic of segregation. It is important to address the past and how we have overcome the past and now accepting each other for who we are. "On April 15, 1947, the judges in the Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in favor of the Mendez family again. That June, Governor Earl Warren signed the law that said that children in California were allowed to go to school together, regardless of race, ethnicity, or language." I believe to start off this lesson we could begin by doing a timeline of events that led up to desegregation. Then, the students can do a Venn Diagram of how schools have changed since they have been desegregated. ]]> 2017-12-18 16:58:17 UTC https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t/wish/217020878 kaylanmiller07 https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t/wish/217026725 This book discusses family structure and divorce.  The little girl finds out her parents are getting divorce and doesn't want to discuss it.  Instead of talking about her parents divorce, she explains how she feels based on animal characteristics.  I love how this book uses characteristics of animals to explain how she feels because it is a great example of she actually feels about divorce.  For example, the little girl states "I remembered the nights I wanted to be an elephant, so that I could crash through my parents' door and stop their mad, bad words." I feel that it is important for me as a teacher to help my students understand divorce and help students find ways to express their feelings.  I feel that we can start off by discussing how the students feel about divorce. Then, to assess their feelings students can discuss ways that they can go about expressing their feelings. ]]> 2017-12-18 17:13:23 UTC https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t/wish/217026725 kaylanmiller07 https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t/wish/217032590 “George” is a children’s novel that discusses gender identity.  George is a holding a secret about her self-identity.  George is a transgender girl and has problems with expressing this.  In the book, George’s class is planning to perform a play on Charlotte’s Web.  George wants to play the role of Charlotte; however, she is told that she can’t play the part of Charlotte because she is a “boy”.  This sparked determination in George to finally show everyone who she truly is and how she perceives herself.  This book would be more fitting for an 5th grade through middle school. Gender identity can be something children start to struggle with at a very young agae like George did. Therefore, it is important to discuss this issue that way students can be accepting of this and students don't need to feel confused or conflicted with how they perceive themselves. To start off with the activity it is important to discuss important definitions of gender terms with students. This will help reassure that the proper terms are being used. Then, we can watch a movie or documentary about a transgender teen that is relative in age to the students. This will allows students to put in perspective that gender identity issues can begin very early and show how to go about understanding their personal identity. ]]> 2017-12-18 17:28:37 UTC https://padlet.com/kaylanmiller07/tpin45luh82t/wish/217032590