Each lesson plan was created by a participant in the Center for Documentary Expression and Art's “Multiculturalism and Storytelling” course. Each lesson plan is designed for a specific grade level, but can be tailored for students of various levels and aptitudes.
Elementary • Intermediate/Middle • High School
ElementaryK, 1, 2 Core
- Konnichiwa: Hello Japan
This lesson is designed to introduce students to the ideas of "similarity" and "difference" in identity and community relationships. Students will learn about Japan, Japanese customs and traditions, and Japanese people to understand how Japanese cultures and communities and U.S. cultures and communities are similar and different. Students will become aware of the role Japanese culture has played in their own community/communities here in Utah. - Our Family Stories: What Can We Learn From Them?
In this lesson students will learn about immigration and the diversity of families that have made new homes in the United States and Utah. Students will also explore their own family histories, as well as the experiences of other Utah residents. Students will also gain hands on experience by conducting oral histories of immigrants (either in their family or of a person they know).
Language Arts
- Appreciating Diversity--In Ourselves and Others
This lesson plan is designed for an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom. The lesson integrates language arts objectives (language acquisition) with issues of diversity and multicultural identity.
Social Studies
- Japanese Americans in Utah
This lesson plan examines Japanese culture and the life of Japanese-Americans both past and present, with an emphasis on those who lived in Utah. - Multicultural Literature and Social Studies
This lesson plan is designed for students in the 3rd through 5th grades. In this lesson plan students will be introduced to the history of African-Americans in the United States, including discussions of the history of slavery, discrimination, and Civil Rights, as well as more contemporary issues and challenges facing African-Americans in the United States and Utah. - UTE Community
This lesson plan is designed to teach students about various aspects of indigenous communities in the United States, mainly focused on Ute communities in Utah. This lesson attends to the language, culture, geographic location, customs, and traditions of indigenous communities.
CTE/Comprehensive Counseling & Guidance Program
- Transforming Communities of Learners
This lesson plan is designed to be used with two groups of sixth graders, from separate schools. Ideally, one school has a small minority population of students, and the second school has a larger minority population of students.
Language Arts
- Oral Histories--The Stories of Life
This lesson plan introduces students to the life story as a documentary form. Students are introduced to a variety of life stories from members of minority communities in Utah. - Seedfolks: Stories that Make a Difference
This lesson plan is designed for a Language Arts short story unit, and introduces students to various elements of narrative/writing, including: plot, point of view, first-person narrative, conflict and resolution. Students will also use a variety of comprehension and critical reading skills. Using the book "Seedfolks" as the primary learning tool will also engage issues of diversity, acceptance, and community involvement.
- Diversity in Mathematics: Census Statistis in Utah
In this lesson plan, students will use statistics from the past 150 years of census information to make predictions for future trends in Utah. This lesson plan focuses specifically on minorities and how their real life experiences are represented in census data.
- Civil Rights Movement and Utah
In this lesson students will be introduced to some of the experiences of African Americans in Utah, including: employment, culture, religion, prejudice, WWII, and the Civil Rights Movement. This lesson is intended to be a follow-up to a lesson about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. - The Melting Pot Myth
This lesson plan is designed to expose students to the experiences of minorities in Utah. Students will not only read accounts of minorities in Utah but will also conduct interviews and gain a first hand experience of what it is like to be a minority living in Utah. Students will use this information to analyze, challenge, and rethink the metaphor of U.S. culture as a "melting pot."
CTE/Family and Consumer Sciences
- Understanding the Difference
This lesson plan explores diversity and cultural difference through the process of family history/genealogy. By exploring and understanding their own cultural heritage students gain an awareness of the struggles of many ethnic minority groups. Students will focus on minority groups in Utah and their experiences by reading oral histories and personal narratives.
- Cultural Identity Through Art and Photography
This lesson introduces students to the work of classic 20th Century documentary photographers. Through this process, students will come to understand how art/artists are keys to defining and depicting cultural identities. - Southwestern Pottery
This lesson introduces students in a ceramics class to the traditional art of the Southwest from pre-historic time to the present day. This lesson plan also helps students explore thier own cultural background through art and aesthetics.
- Jewish Literature
This lesson plan is designed for 10th and 11th grade honors students of American Literature. This lesson plan is designed to help students study "story" as a form of literature, taking them inside the lives of groups of people and individuals. The specific focus of this lesson plan is the Jewish community. - Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement
This lesson plan is intended for ELS students who have lived in the United States for less than one year and who are learning English for the first time. Using the theme/context of the Civil Rights Movement this language-acquisition-based lesson plan develops new vocabulary and the ability to use irregular past tense verbs. This lesson makes connections between classroom readings and the students' identity and experiences. - Storytelling in the Chicano-Hispanic Community
In this lesson students use personal family histories to connect with literature that describes the immigrant experience in the United States. This lesson plan is designed to help students improve their writing skills as well as to help them develop an understanding of their own family histories.
- African American Experience in Utah
This lesson plan introduces students to a variety of perspectives on the African-American experience in the United States, and specifically Utah. This lesson plan explores the connections (similarities and differences) between the experience of African-Americans and other ethnic groups. Students will draw upon their own experiences to relate to the material.