Diversity Quilt

Name: Craig Lichtenberg

Date: 11/12/2008
Grade Level/Subject: 2/Social Studies
Approximate Time: 30 minutes
Student Objectives/Student Outcomes: Understand diversity as ways we are different that make us
unique and interesting.
Content Standards:
18B. Understand the roles and interactions of individuals and groups in society
Social and Emotional Standards:
1B. Recognize personal qualities and external supports.
2A. Recognize the feelings and perspectives of others.
2B. Recognize individual and group similarities and differences.

Materials/Resources/Technology: worksheet game, wipe-off board

Implementation:

Time:
10 Opening of lesson: (Objectives, hook, behavior expectations)
minutes - Start by writing ‘diversity’ on the board and then students if they have ever heard
of diversity before.
- Ask them the following questions:
• What makes you different from everyone else in this room? (hair, skin,
height, age, gender, etc.)
• Has anyone ever treated you differently because of any of those things?
For being different than them?
• Are those things that you can change? Or things you were born having?
- Continue probing for answers until you feel the students have a grasp on what
makes them unique and interesting.

10-15 Procedures: Include critical thinking questions and accommodations for

minutes individual needs:
- Have the students go back to their desk and handout the board with many
different likes/dislikes, and characteristics of the students. Use many different
things that students would have different opinions or different appearances. (See
attached chart for examples).
- Go through the board and have students use one color to color the things they
have or like, and the other color to color things they don’t have or dislike. Go
through reading all of the examples out loud so all students can follow along
together. For the free space, tell them they can color it any color, or leave it blank.
It’s just another difference that you can share.
- Have the students cut out their boards.
- Tell the students to find someone they think may have a similar board, or a good
friend in the class, and compare boards. Ask them if their boards are the same as
anyone else’s.
- Tell them that we all have our own preferences and appearances – it’s what
 makes us unique and interesting. We are who we are, and we shouldn’t make fun
of each other or treat each other differently because of our preferences or
appearance.

Accommodations for special needs:

This lesson allows for students who understand the lesson immediately to finish
quickly. You can allow them to create a list of things they make them unique
while you’re helping the students who haven’t finished individually.

10 Summary/Closing:
minutes - To make sure the class understands the lesson, ask them about their parents, or
grown-ups in society. Ask them what makes them different from each other.
(Race, religion, gender, age, job, etc.) Focus on these and ask them if it’s fair to
treat people differently because of these differences? Focus on job, and explain to
them that in society, each job is necessary. If someone is being paid to do
something, it must be important.
- Ask about janitors, are they necessary? What would the school look like without
janitors? Ask about garbage workers, where would the garbage go without them?

Finish by creating a class quilt out of all of the boards you collected showing
diversity in the classroom.

Student Assessment:

Good Acceptable Review or

Reteach
Knowledge of Students Students Students did not
differences remembered ways remembered understand the
in which people some ways which differences
are different when people are between people.
asked about their different.
parents.
Chart Accurately Finished their Could not finish
finished chart for own chart, but did chart or list.
their own not finish the list
differences, and on the back.
created list on the
back.
Post Lesson Reflection:
Student Interest
The students seemed extremely interested in the topic that I presented. I don’t think anyone
had every talked to them about diversity before, and they seemed eager to understand what
racism, sexism, or any other ism was. I think most of them have heard of discrimination of
some type before, and didn’t understand it.

Student Motivation
Some students didn’t really like the chart too much, mostly the students who were too
advanced and finished in a minute or two. I added to this lesson plan the idea that students
could create a list of things that make them different on the back after thinking more about
what went wrong during my lesson. Some students were finished with the chart before I
finished going through each idea.

Teacher Knowledge:
The teacher should know how explain that differences are what make us unique and
interesting. They should be able to explain that just because you’re a different race, age,
gender, or anything, that makes you better or worse than anyone else. It felt like common
sense and I was able to feed off of the students’ input on various parts in the lesson. Not
much background knowledge was needed for this lesson thankfully.

Teacher Organization:
The good part about this lesson is that there isn’t much preparation necessary. Knowing a few
pointed questions to ask at the beginning of the lesson helps, and creates a discussion that
most students want to contribute to. Having the students gather around on a carpeted area
helped focus their attention in on me, and helped me watch all of the students at once. Having
them work in their desks for the activity let me walk around and make sure that everyone was
working at my pace or ahead of me.
black or brown Red or blond
Red or pink Baseball music
hair hair

Blue or green
pizza Jokes Brown eyes Musicals
eyes

ice cream Cats Dogs Chicken

scary books or
Basketball Cowboys Soccer Blue or green
movies

Yellow or
hot dogs Math Fish Chocolate pie
orange

reading Gum football Cheese pictures