5th Grade - Equality Unit
Fifth grade has tackled the tough topic of equality in the past month. We started the unit by exploring stereotypes, specifically related to gender. Working in groups, students brainstormed all the gender stereotypes that they've heard before. They wrote these inside of a box labeled 'Boys' and 'Girls,' Then, they wrote statements that dispelled stereotypes on the outside of the box.
After, we had a discussion about stereotypes and how they can be harmful to someone that doesn't "fit inside the box." Students shared times someone had tried to put them in a box but, in the end, proved those people wrong. For example, one girl shared that she participated in a race with a bunch of boy, all of whom said she wouldn't win because she was a girl. On the contrary, she ran faster than all the boys and won the race.
In the next couple of class periods, students explored how stereotypes held against women leads to inequality, specifically regarding education. We watched a short video about the impact of girls' education. Students then read short paragraphs about how an education can positively affect many different aspects of life and worked with partners to create headlines for each fact. Their headlines had to be short summaries that got across the main point of the fact card they read, much like the headline of a newspaper story. Check out their work below.
Throughout this unit, students have been reading, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Changed the World. Each week, we meet to discuss what they've read and their thoughts about events in Malala's life. One thing we've been working on is discussion being more student-directed rather than led by the teacher. Students have been using sticky notes to records their thoughts and questions while reading.
Check out my next post to see how students led their own discussion, Socratic-seminar style on the Dr. Seuss book, The Sneetches.
