Author(s): Bell Hooks

Links:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2u6bwiI
Indigo: http://bit.ly/3aAMcET

Social Justice focus: External appearances, especially racial identity

Synopsis: The basic message of this book is that the skin we are in cannot tell our stories. To know and understand one another we must go inside and meet the other person beyond external labels or appearances. Our stories are complex and cannot be defined by superficial assumptions.

Lesson Plan: Justin Plant

Primary/Junior/Intermediate Lesson Plan (Abbreviated Template)

Consecutive and Concurrent Programs

Unit/Topic: Social Justice

Grade: 4

Lesson: What is the focus of this lesson in relation to the unit?

To help introduce students to biases that they may have and why they are important to identify.

Curriculum Areas: What are possible connections to other curricular areas?

Language, Social Studies.

Curriculum Expectations: What Overall and Specific Expectations will be addressed?

Language:

Overall: Oral Communication

• 2. use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• Reading- 1. read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary, graphic, and informational texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning.
• Writing: 1. generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience;

Specific: Oral Communication

• 2.2 demonstrate an understanding of appropriate speaking behaviour in a variety of situations, including paired sharing and small- and large-group discussions.
• 2.3 communicate in a clear, coherent manner, presenting ideas, opinions, and information in a readily understandable form.
• 2.4 use appropriate words and phrases from the full range of their vocabulary, including inclusive and non-discriminatory terms, and appropriate elements of style, to communicate their meaning accurately and engage the interest of their audience.

Reading:

• 1.1 read a variety of texts from diverse cultures, including literary texts), graphic texts and informational texts.
• 1.2 identify a variety of purposes for reading and choose reading materials appropriate for those purposes.
• 1.3 identify a variety of reading comprehension strategies and use them appropriately before, during, and after reading to understand texts.
• 1.4 demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by summarizing important ideas and citing supporting details.
• 1.5 make inferences about texts using stated and implied ideas from the texts as evidence.
• 1.6 extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them.
• 1.7 analyse texts and explain how specific elements in them contribute to meaning.
• 1.8 express opinions about the ideas and information in texts and cite evidence from the text to support their opinions.

Writing

• 1.1 identify the topic, purpose, and audience for a variety of writing forms.
• 1.4 sort and classify ideas and information for their writing in a variety of ways.

Social Studies:

Overall- A1. Application: compare ways of life among some specific groups in Canada around the beginning of the nineteenth century, and describe some of the changes between that era and the present day

Specific- A1.2 compare some of the roles of and challenges facing people in Canada around the beginning of the nineteenth century with those in the present day

Learning Goal(s): What are students expected to know, do and understand? We are learning to….

Students are expected to be able to read the assigned book and deconstruct its meaning and relate it to the world today and to themselves and how it has changed from past views.

Success Criteria: How will students know they have met the learning goal? I can….

• successfully read and deconstruct Skin Again by Bell Hooks
• successfully write about the meaning of the book
• successfully share with the class one interesting thing about themselves that you wouldn’t know by looking at them.

MODIFICATIONS/ ACCOMMODATIONS: How will I meet the needs of my students? Have I addressed any IEPs?

If necessary, provide a less challenging book to read, or have students work in pairs to meet time constraints. If a student is especially shy have them create a digital file to share with the class rather than standing in front of the class to speak.

Minds-on: How will I connect to prior and future learning? How will I engage students and set the context for learning?

Show a slide show with pictures of several different people from different walks of lives and different ethnicities.

Minutes: How much time will I allocate? 5 minutes

Task: What will I be doing? What will students be doing?

Show a slide show of 5-10 people and ask the class to say one thing they notice about the people. After ask if because we notice that one thing about the person ie. They play hockey, do we really know anything about them. Ask students if this is a fair way to judge people of categorize them.

Assessment: What is the Nature and Purpose of assessment?

Formative assessment to see what they know about the topic already.

Action How will I introduce new learning / reinforce prior learning / practice learning / scaffold learning?

Minutes: How much time will I allocate? 10 minutes

Task: What will I be doing? What will students be doing?

Read the book Skin Again by Bell Hooks as a class. Ask students what they think the main topic of the book is. Ask them how it could relate to them.

Assessment: What is the Nature and Purpose of assessment?

Formative assessment to see how well they understood the book and its themes. Summative assessment to assess their reading skill.

Consolidation: How will I reflect on the learning goal? How will I have students reflect on the learning goal?

Minutes: How much time will I allocate? 25 minutes

Task: What will I be doing? What will students be doing?

Have the students reflect on the book and what it might mean. Have them write a 5-sentence paragraph stating what they thought of the book, what they thought its main ideas were, what it made them feel, and one thing they would like to share about themselves with their classmates that they might not know by just looking at them. Once all students have completed the task, have them share one at a time, the item they chose to write about themselves.

Assessment: What is the Nature and Purpose of assessment?

Formative assessment of how well they understood the goal of the lesson and how well they were able to articulate it both oral and written form.

MATERIALS: What resources and materials do I need? Where can I find them? In a perfect world what other resources might I need?

• Pen and paper
• Skin Again by Bell Hooks

REFLECTION: Questions to determine the success of your lesson:

• Were my students successful in meeting the learning goals and success criteria? How do I know?
• Did my instructional decisions meet the needs of all students? If not, what are my next steps?
• What worked well and why?
• What will I do differently in the future when teaching this lesson? For the subsequent lesson?
• What are the next steps for my professional learning?