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Case Study #1

Restorative Circle and Definitions Gr. 4

Optional warm up lesson

DAY

1

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What to Expect: Today’s Lesson

Warm Up

Questions

Vocabulary

Exit Ticket

Key definitions, learning target, check-in

Questions to get you thinking about identity

Putting our key definitions into context

Wrap-up

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We can identify and discuss examples of racism, segregation, and antiracism to help us better understand history, recognize unfairness, and learn how people can work together to make their communities more safe, kind, and fair.

(Target Tracker)

SECTION ONE: WARM UP

Learning Target

NYS Social Studies Framework

4.4e Citizens of the State of New York have responsibilities that help their nation, their state, and their local communities function. 

  • Students will discuss active citizenship and adults’ responsibility to understand important issues.

S.S. Practice: Civic Participation -- Demonstrate respect for the rights of others in discussions and classroom debates regardless of whether one agrees with the other viewpoint.

NYS Culturally Responsive Framework

Reflect, honor, value, and center various identity perspectives as assets in policies and practices

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Check-In

SECTION ONE: WARM UP

Show the class with your fingers which number ‘duck’ represents how you’re feeling today?

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Questions

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SECTION ONE: WARM UP

Group Norms

Our Community is SAFE, KIND, and FAIR

  • Respect your classmates
  • Use “I statements”
    • I think…
    • What I love about that… and…(compliment sandwich)
    • I connect with…
  • Be Kind
    • ‘I like what you said’
    • ‘I feel that way too’
    • ‘I’m proud of myself’ ‘I am proud of you’
  • Be curious and ask questions
    • ‘Tell me more’
    • ‘Help me understand’
    • ‘You’re making me wonder…’
  • One mic - respect the talking piece
    • One person talks at a time
    • I take turns, I can pass my turn
    • Listening is a gift

“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” –James Baldwin

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What do you know or wonder about racism?

Round One:

Circle Agreements

  • Respect your classmates
  • Use “I statements”
    • I think…
    • What I love about that… and…(compliment sandwich)
    • I connect with…
  • Be Kind
    • ‘I like what you said’
    • ‘I feel that way too’
    • ‘I’m proud of myself’ ‘I am proud of you’
  • Be curious and ask questions
    • ‘Tell me more’
    • ‘Help me understand’
    • ‘You’re making me wonder…’
  • One mic - respect the talking piece
    • One person talks at a time
    • I take turns, I can pass my turn
    • Listening is a gift

SECTION TWO: QUESTIONS

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What do you know or wonder about segregation?

Round Two:

Circle Agreements

Circle Agreements

  • Respect the talking piece
  • Right to pass
  • Speak your truth
  • Listen to understand
  • No side conversations
  • Avoid stereotypes
  • Respect your classmates
  • Use “I statements”
    • I think…
    • What I love about that… and…(compliment sandwich)
    • I connect with…
  • Be Kind
    • ‘I like what you said’
    • ‘I feel that way too’
    • ‘I’m proud of myself’ ‘I am proud of you’
  • Be curious and ask questions
    • ‘Tell me more’
    • ‘Help me understand’
    • ‘You’re making me wonder…’
  • One mic - respect the talking piece
    • One person talks at a time
    • I take turns, I can pass my turn
    • Listening is a gift

SECTION TWO: QUESTIONS

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Vocabulary

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Key Definitions to Consider

Antiracist (adj.)

Racist Policy (noun)

Racist (adj.)

Acting and believing that racial groups are equals; actively resisting racism.

Any rule or law that creates or keeps inequity between racial groups.

i.e. Segregation is a racist policy that separates people based on appearance

Supporting ideas, rules, practices, and laws that believe one racial group is superior through actions or inaction

SECTION ONE: WARM UP

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Antiracist (adj.)

Use your own words to define:

Howard Coles demonstrated this action from the 1930s to the 1990s when he fought against segregation in Rochester by writing articles in his newspaper, protesting, and advocating for laws and policies that would allow black people to buy houses just like white people were allowed to.

Mrs. Harper Sibley demonstrated this action when she fought housing discrimination with Howard Coles at the NAACP and allied with Coles to start his newspaper.

EXAMPLE:

SECTION THREE: VOCABULARY TO CONSIDER

Sibley

Coles

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Racist (adj.)

Use your own words to define:

Grafton Johnson was a wealthy real estate developer in Rochester. He demonstrated this action in his business when in the 1920s and 1930s he helped build thousands of homes in Rochester’s suburbs that had a rule in their deed that they could not be sold to Black people. Researchers have found that every town in Monroe County has houses with these whites only rules still on their deeds. This map shows where they are in Monroe County, NY.

EXAMPLE:

SECTION THREE: VOCABULARY TO CONSIDER

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Racist Policy (noun)

Use your own words to define:

This picture is an example of a racist policy. Laws existed in the United States which prevented many Black and other people of color from gaining employment.

EXAMPLE:

SECTION THREE: VOCABULARY TO CONSIDER

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Exit Ticket

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Antiracist (adj.)

Racist (adj.)

Racist �Policy

SECTION FOUR: EXIT TICKET

Image Bank

Word Bank

Matching

Match one image from the bank to one of the words in the word bank.

Next, ask yourself the questions in the ‘questions’ column to put today’s lesson into perspective.

Law that created separate water fountains for white and black people

Kids protesting

Parents protesting against black and white students attending the same schools in Rochester

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What does this quote from the President Obama mean to you?

What zone are you in?

SEL: OPTIMISTIC CLOSURE

Zones of Regulation

What zone are you in?

Blue

Zone

Green

Zone

Yellow

Zone

Red

Zone

Bored

Happy

Excited

Upset

Tired

Positive

Worried

Angry

Sad

Thankful

Nervous

Aggressive

Depressed

Proud

Confused

Mad

Shy

Calm

Embarrassed

Terrified

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” —President Barack Obama

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We can identify and discuss examples of racism, segregation, and antiracism to help us better understand history, recognize unfairness, and learn how people can work together to make their communities more safe, kind, and fair.

(Target Tracker)

SECTION ONE: WARM UP

Learning Target

NYS Social Studies Framework

4.4e Citizens of the State of New York have responsibilities that help their nation, their state, and their local communities function. 

  • Students will discuss active citizenship and adults’ responsibility to understand important issues.

S.S. Practice: Civic Participation -- Demonstrate respect for the rights of others in discussions and classroom debates regardless of whether one agrees with the other viewpoint.

NYS Culturally Responsive Framework

Reflect, honor, value, and center various identity perspectives as assets in policies and practices

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Let’s visualize the ongoing cycle of racism as a moving walkway at the airport.

VOCABULARY TO CONSIDER: Extension

  • Active Racist Action = walking fast on the conveyor belt.

  • Passive Racist Action = standing still but still going to the same destination (bystanders)

  • Anti-Racist Action = walking actively in the opposite direction