Introduction
For teachers, it is not unusual to lesson plan during the summer months. This time is ideal for tweaking and reflecting on lessons from the previous school year. These changes and new techniques for the following school year are typically done with our student population in mind. This coming school year, I think I want to do something different. I typically start the first day of school by getting the students' home information and their school schedule. Once those tasks have been completed, I go into my speech about what geography is and how they will not only be learning about regions but also about different cultures within those regions. My usual speech is centered on explaining how I will expose them to other groups of people, other types of lands, foreign languages, regional dialects, the idea of cultural diffusions, and how we impact the land and are impacted by it.
This unit will address how my students define their culture and why they choose to group themselves based upon their culture. The unit will also address how they perceive foreign culture. By studying other cultures, I will attempt to debunk misconceptions about what my students perceive as different. Finally, the unit will tackle how those differences have allowed them to segregate themselves within their own communities. I will mainly focus on regions within the United States and by the end of this unit, students will be able to be aware of their prejudices and they will confront the origin of their intolerances. The leading question within the unit will be how can I expose my learners to other cultures within their communities and within the United States? Other questions that will be addressed include: How can I awaken my students' subconscious prejudices in order to make them conscious and how can they confront them to overcome those prejudices, if possible? And finally, are sheltered learners more susceptible to accepting messages received from different media sources without questioning the integrity of the source?
Comments: