Extended Lesson Plan: Introduction to Social Justice and Identity

Adapted from Coeur d’Alene Tribal Seal.

Big Questions • What does a person who stands for

social justice and human and civil
rights do?
• What actions do they take?
• How do they feel and behave?
• What are their contributions to
society?
• How did their childhood and
background influence who they are
and determine their path to becoming
a leader and an advocate?
• How can I become a social justice and
civil rights advocate?
• Why is it important and what does it
mean to exhibit leadership for social
justice?
• What does it look like when I do that?
• What are my influences and what
lessons can I learn from this advocate
that will help me become a person
who takes action on behalf of others
to ensure social justice and human
and civil rights?

Personal Reflection Questions • What personal connections can I make

to the inspiring people I read about?
• What are the differences and
similarities between both of our lives?
• What challenges did they face when
trying to achieve their goals?
• What challenges might I face when
pursuing my dreams? Are they
different or similar to the inspiring
person I read about?
Vocabulary • Salient: most noticeable or important
• Intersectionality: how social
categorizations such as race, class, and
gender are interconnected as they
apply to an individual (think of all the
different patches on a quilt)
 • Society: a large group of people who
live together in an organized way and
usually follow the same accepted
standards
• Discrimination: the unjust treatment
of different categories of people,
especially on the grounds of race, age,
or sex.
• Advocate: a person who publicly
supports or recommends a particular
cause or policy.
• Privilege: a special right, advantage, or
immunity granted or available only to
a particular person or group of people
• Racism: the belief that all members of
each race possess characteristics or
abilities specific to that race, especially
so as to distinguish it as inferior or
superior to another race or races
• Feminism: the advocacy of women’s
rights on the basis of the equality of
the sexes
• Sexism: prejudice, stereotyping, or
discrimination, typically against
women, on the basis of sex
• Equity: the quality of being fair and
impartial
• Tolerance: the ability or willingness to
tolerate something, in particular the
existence of opinions or behavior that
one does not necessarily agree with
• Empathy: the ability to understand
and share the feelings of another
• Diversity: variety; a range of different
identities
• Stereotypes: a widely held but fixed
and oversimplifies image or idea of a
particular type of person or thing
• Justice: fair and reasonable; the
administration of the law or authority
in maintaining this
Framework Identity
 ü Students will develop positive social
identities based on their membership
in multiple groups in society.
ü Students will develop language and
historical and cultural knowledge that
affirm and accurately describe the
membership in multiple identity
groups.
ü Students will recognize that people’s
multiple identities interact and create
unique and complex individuals.
ü Students will express pride,
confidence, and healthy self-esteem
without denying the value and dignity
of other people.
Diversity
ü Students will express comfort with
people who are both similar to and
different from them and engage
respectfully with all people.
ü Students will develop language and
knowledge to accurately and
respectfully describe how people
(including themselves) are both similar
to and different from each other and
others in their identity groups.
ü Students will respectfully express
curiosity about the history and lived
experiences of others and will
exchange ideas and beliefs in an open-
minded way.
ü Students will respond to diversity by
building empathy, respect,
understanding and connection.
Justice
ü Students will recognize stereotypes
and relate to people as individuals
rather than representatives of groups.
ü Students will recognize unfairness on
the individual level (e.g., biased
speech) and injustice at the
institutional or systemic level (e.g.,
discrimination).

College and Career Readiness Standards for
Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening (5th
Grade)
ü Students will analyze the harmful
impact of bias and injustice on the
world, historically and today.
ü Students will recognize that power
and privilege influence relationships
on interpersonal, intergroup and
institutional levels and consider how
they have been affected by those
dynamics.
ü Students will identify key figures and
groups, seminal events and a variety
of strategies and philosophies relevant
to the history of social justice action
around the world.
Action
ü Students will express empathy when
people are excluded or mistreated
because of their identities and
concern when they themselves
experience bias.
ü Students will recognize their own
responsibility to stand up to exclusion,
prejudice, and injustice.
ü Students will speak up with courage
and respect when they or someone
else has been hurt or wronged by bias.
ü Students will make principled
decisions about when and how to take
a stand against bias and injustice in
their everyday lives and will do so
despite negative peer or group
pressure.
Craft and Structure
RL.5.4 Interpret words and phrases as they are
used in a text, including determining technical,
connotative, and figurative meanings, and
analyze how specific word choices shape
meaning or tone.
RL.5.5 Analyze the structure of texts, including
how specific sentences, paragraphs, and
larger portions of the text (e.g., a section,
chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other
and the whole.
RL.5.6 Assess how point of view or purposes
shapes the content and style of a text.

Key Ideas and Details

RI.5.1 Read closely to determine what the text
says explicitly and to make logical inferences
from it; cite specific textual evidence when
writing or speaking to support conclusions
drawn from the text.
RI.5.2 Determine central ideas or themes of a
text and analyze their development;
summarized the key supporting details and
ideas.
RI.5.3 Analyze how and why individuals,
events, and ideas develop and interact over
the course of a text.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
RI.5.7 Integrate and evaluate content
presented in diverse media and formats,
including visually and quantitatively, as well
as in words.
RI.5.10 Read and comprehend complex
literary and informational texts independently
and proficiently.
Text Types and Purposes
W.5.1 Write arguments to support claims in
an analysis of substantive topics or texts,
using valid reasoning and relevant and
sufficient evidence.
W.5.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to
examine and convey complex ideas and
information clearly and accurately through
the effective selection, organization, and
analysis of content.
W.5.3 Write narratives to develop real or
imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, well-chosen details, and well-
structured event sequences.
Production and Distribution of Writing
W.5.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in
which the development, organization, and
style are appropriate to task, purpose, and
audience.
W.5.5 Develop and strengthen writing as
needed by planning, revising, editing,
rewriting, or trying a new approach.
W.5.6 Use technology, including the Internet,
to produce and publish writing and to interact
and collaborate with others.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
W.5.7 Conduct short as well as more
sustained research projects based on focused
questions, demonstrating understanding of
the subject under investigation.
W.5.8 Gather relevant information from
multiple print and digital sources, assess the
credibility and accuracy of each source, and
integrate the information while avoiding
plagiarism.
W.5.9 Draw evidence from literary or
informational texts to support analysis,
reflection, and research.
Range of Writing
W.5.10 Write routinely over extended time
frames (time for research, reflection, and
revision) and shorter time frames (a single
sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks,
purposes, and audiences.
Comprehension and Collaboration
SL.5.1 `Prepare for and participate effectively
in a range of conversations and collaborations
with diverse partners, building on others’
ideas and expressing their own clearly and
persuasively.
SL.5.2 Integrate and evaluate information
presented in diverse media and formats,
including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
SL.5.3 Evaluate a speaker’s point of view,
reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
SL.5.4 Present information, findings, and
supporting evidence such that listeners can
follow the line of reasoning and the
organization, development, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
SL.5.5 Make strategic use of digital media and
 visual displays of data to express information
and enhance understanding of presentations.
SL.5.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts
and communicative tasks, demonstrating
command of formal English when indicated or
appropriate.
Conventions of Standard English
L.5.1 Demonstrate command of the
conventions of standard English grammar and
usage when writing or speaking.
L.5.2 Demonstrate command of the
conventions of standard English capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Knowledge of Language
L.5.3 Apply knowledge of language to
understand how language functions in
different contexts to make effective choices
for meaning or style, and to comprehend
more fully when reading or listening.
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
L.5.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of
unknown and multiple-meaning words and
phrases by using context clues, analyzing
meaningful word parts, and consulting
general and specialized reference materials,
as appropriate.
L.5.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative
language, word relationships, and nuances in
word meanings.
L.5.6 Acquire and use accurately a range of
general academic and domain-specific words
and phrases sufficient for reading, writing,
speaking, and listening at the college and
career readiness level; demonstrate
independence in gathering vocabulary
knowledge when encountering an unknown
term important to comprehension or
expression.

Introduction (week one) 1. Begin the lesson with a brief

presentation on your (the teacher’s)
own salient identities. Explain why
they are salient to you and how they
have shaped who you are today. Allow

Small Group Discussions (week two)
students to ask questions but remind
them the importance of respect when
someone is sharing something
personal. Emphasize active listening
and understanding each other’s
differences. Explain to them that they
will have the opportunity to learn
about many more different identities
and find connections to their own
experiences.
2. Review the Framework with them so
they understand the overall goals of
this extended lesson plan. Introduce
the vocabulary log and let them know
they can add on any words they
encounter during their reading.
3. Guide students through an exploration
of the NewsELA website. They should
know how to search for prominent
figures in history who have faced
injustice, and they should know how
to access the text sets already made
by the teacher. They should also be
able to filter their search based on the
reading levels they have on their
laminated bookmarks given at the end
of the year.
4. Give students time to choose their
first article to read. The first article
should be from the Inspiring People
text set already created. All of the
articles following the first can be any
biographical text of their choice. After
carefully and independently reading
and annotating an article, students
should type out their responses to a
series of reflection questions found in
their Google Classroom.
1. Arrange students into 4-5 small
groups based on their reading levels.
Review agreed upon discussion norms
and highlight the fact that they will be
sharing some personal information

Final Reflection (week three)
and that they should be empathetic to
their peers’ reflections.
2. Ask students to share their typed-out
responses with their small groups. You
should be there to facilitate the
discussion but let the students take
most control over the direction of the
conversation. The facilitator’s job is to
help students compare and contrast
the texts and reflections shared and
use the vocabulary introduced at the
beginning of the lesson.
3. The facilitator should rotate to the
next small group after 15 minutes
until all of the groups have
participated in a small group
discussion.
1. Ask students to type a final reflection
on the texts they read, the responses
they wrote, and the small group
discussion.
2. Show students the Big Questions to
guide their reflections. They should be
using as many vocabulary words as
possible and quoting evidence from
the articles to support their thinking.
3. This reflection should demonstrate
their ability to explain their own
identity, compare and contrast
informational texts, and come to a
conclusion about how becoming an
advocate for social justice is our
responsibility as empathetic and
tolerant members of society.
References

Coeur d’Alene Tribal Seal (2013).

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies,
Science, and Technical Subjects, National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and
the Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010).

National Education Association Human and Civil Rights Awards Program Lesson Plans: Lessons
Learned from NEA’s Social Justice Advocates. (2015).
http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/18141%20CDA%20NEA%20HCR%20Lesson%20Introduction_12
-29-15.pdf.

Teaching Tolerance Anti-Bias Framework. Teaching Tolerance is a Project of The Southern

Poverty Law Center. (2014).