HALEY BRITTINGHAM  ⍚  PORTFOLIO

Advocacy can take on many layers. Providing students the experience to explicitly learn how they can make lasting impacts by working together or individually can help them build the skills needed to advocate for themselves and those in need. Often, especially in our individualistic western society, building pride in our cultural identity can be challenging regardless of what group you may fall in. Especially during times of division as we see now, it is essential to be proud of one’s culture while also actively learning about others’ as well to create tolerance and respect. Students at a young age can recognize right from wrong and have authentic discussions surrounding the cause and effects of particular choices. Students have been learning to appreciate one’s identity, the diversity around us, and recognizing that people who are or wish to be “American” have a shared commonality for a pursuit of happiness. With this, they have initiated change at their school and are bringing the new perspectives they have developed with them to their families. 

 

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Lesson One: Looking Closely At Ourselves

During the first lesson, students were taking the time to get to know themselves and appreciate who they are as well as identifying “what makes me…me.” Before the lesson, I requested that students learn more about their ancestry and culture by discussing these topics with their family members. I created a questionnaire that was sent home as a printed copy and also created a Google Form that was sent in an email just as a reminder. To make the conversation more interesting, I originally thought that all students should have some background knowledge of their ancestry as well as some family traditions. However, since half of the students did not complete the interview task, we quickly adjusted and during the first discussion time, students shared facts about themselves, such as where they found out their families are from or where they think they are from, experiences, interests, etc. This discussion proved to be extremely valuable as students learned a lot of new facts about each other which led to our discussion regarding identity. During this discussion, I made use of an anchor chart that shows the relationship of different factors that make up our identity leading to the understanding that we are all unique. We discussed topics such a skin color, stereotypes, and even negative self-image. Then to increase the pride of their own cultural identity, students created a self-portrait to highlight who they are by drawing a picture of themselves and adding words that represent different parts of their identity. Students then shared what they appreciated about themselves and why “looking closely” is essential. This experience gave the students space to feel comfortable being proud of who they are and discuss what makes them and their families unique.  This first lesson, conversation, and identity activity was a crucial stepping stone in preparing students for the next two lessons by thinking about their thoughts, actions, and beliefs as well as learning to understand other perspectives. 

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Lesson Two: Celebrating Diversity 

To continue the conversation surrounding identity and building pride in one’s culture, I had the students turn their focus from within to others by introducing the “Celebrating Diversity” concept in our second lesson. It was presented to all of the Ampersand kids to encourage a rich dialogue of experiences and feelings. The goal of this lesson was to help students understand that there is always more than meets the eye with every single person and the importance of taking the time to get to know people before judging. At the start of the lesson, students learned through a game called, Have You Ever, that experiences and feelings can be shared regardless of your background. From there, we continued the conversation and addressed misconceptions and issues with stereotypes. One aspect of diversity that is often forgotten about is disabilities or different abilities as I like to say, which many of the students at Ampersand are considered to have. So, to encourage students to continue building empathy and taking the time to reflect, I had them break up into two groups,  one was reading a book about a young girl who was born with a congenital limb reduction. The other group watched a short video of the young girl and her mother, the author, discussing the book and the importance of getting to know people first. Then the groups switched. Once both groups read the short story and watched the video, the groups discussed with each other the reflection questions. We had a class discussion and students were using the resources provided to share their thoughts and opinions with their classmates. During the discussion, as I anticipated, many unintentional but inappropriate comments were made, and I used this as a way to teach the students how to appropriately speak about issues surrounding being tolerant and accepting of diversity constructively and positively by paying attention to the words they use and being empathetic. Their answers during the conversation led the way to discuss what it means to advocate and brainstorm ways to be advocates for appreciating diversity. 

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Supplemental Lesson: Advocacy 

Some of the younger students were a bit confused about what it means to advocate, so I taught a separate lesson on how anyone can be an advocate by standing up for their beliefs. I started off by sharing an infographic that highlights common stereotypes, some hurtful and some seemingly minor, to begin the discussion of how people judge without taking the time to appreciate differences and get to know one another. We discuss how this indeed contributes to a real-world problem of racism, intolerance, and hatred. They brainstormed ways to prevent stereotypes and hatred from spreading, by “politely correcting someone when they say a stereotype” and “by not using them in the first place.” From there, I had them watch a Kid President video to highlight the value that their voice has as well as encourage them that they can and should strive to make the world a better place. After the video, we discussed what advocacy means and different ways that people advocate. Then, as a group, they discussed how they could advocate for the celebration of diversity. 

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Celebrating Diversity Advocacy Project 

From both the celebrating diversity and the advocacy lesson, students joined forces to create an advocacy project that initiates positive conversations at school and with their families. They decided to have a “Celebrating Diversity” exhibition to present to their parents during their November Exhibition night. They worked individually on completing their self-portraits to highlight their individuality and show that they are proud of their cultural identity. Collectively, they created posters that contained quotes to encourage acceptance, drew pictures showing “different” people playing together, and wrote pieces of advice. They also came up with the idea of creating a school diversity pledge, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and they signed it to demonstrate that they are proud of who they are and of the identity of their classmates. Students were extremely proud of what they created and enjoyed sharing their opinions with their family members as they walked them through the exhibition. 

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Lesson Three: What is "American"? 

During the third lesson, I wanted to bring to light the topic of immigration and pose the question, What is “American”?. Being American is a large part of their identity, and yet immigration is a very heated topic that isn't fully understood or taught. To begin the lesson, I had students review various maps highlighting different cultural aspects of the United States. We had a great conversation about what they noticed and how it tied back to our previous lessons. I then posed the overarching question of What is "American"? They shared their thoughts as I recorded them on the board. During this lesson, I also had students watch and listen to part of a speech from Mr. Obama during his presidency. This speech sheds light on the fact that almost all Americans have ancestry that is from another land and the idea of “we were once them.” This speech was a turning point in the lesson and pushed students to think about immigration in a different light. Next, I thought it would be interesting for students to study the two former immigration stations, Angel Island and Ellis Island to build a sense of why people traveled from far lands and learn about the hardships and resistance immigrants faced. I had students record their thinking and what they learned from the resources provided on a Know-Wonder-Learned chart. From there, students discussed with each other new facts they learned. Interestingly, they were beginning to make connections to present day immigration issues, which was a goal of this lesson, and they began discussing their opinions out loud. They were shocked to learn of the injustices faced by these immigrants back then and realized that many immigrants today face those same challenges.  One of the greatest challenges was the resistance from the American people. We then discussed why people come to America, in the past and currently. Students were making impressive connections such as, "history is repeating itself," "hatred stems from fear" and "they just want opportunities like we do."  It was clear from the beginning that this lesson was not about immigration being right from wrong but instead taking the time to understand why there is so much resistance, understanding the commonality between all people's hopes and dreams, and learning from the past. Throughout the lesson, the changing perspectives and increase in empathy demonstrated that students were learning what it meant to be empathetic, use factual evidence during conversations, and discuss real-world issues.

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What is "American"? Advocacy Project

From this lesson, I asked students how they could raise awareness about their research and ways to advocate for just rights during the immigration process. Students realized that because they were learning about this information for the first time that the younger students at Ampersand and even their families would benefit from learning about it too. From there, they worked individually to create posters, presentations, and even maps that they presented to the younger students. They also plan on showcasing their research and findings to bring awareness and initiate dialogue with their families during their December exhibition night. This lesson helped students to think, speak, and write about real-world problems and share it with others to develop a greater appreciation for those who face hardships during and after immigrating. Most importantly, it helped them realize that their identity is multi-faceted and they should take pride in who they are while also appreciating those around them.

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Overall, students were immersed in learning about cultural identity from different viewpoints. By teaching them to self-reflect on what makes them unique, learning about different abilities, and defining what is American, they gained new perspectives that paved the way to them rethinking how they feel about real-world problems. Acquiring knowledge and participating in in-depth discussions about real issues led them to become advocates for inclusion, tolerance, and understanding to promote the appreciation of one’s cultural identity and just treatment.