Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Society
Past to Present
TLS 327
May 7, 2018
Social Justice Theme and Topics Covered: Human Systems and Society:
Promoting Community in the classroom,
Promoting Gender Equality in the classroom.
Grade Level: 4
Rational/Explanation
The purpose of our unit is to teach students the roles of women in our society by looking
at women in the past and women today. This unit will show students how the roles of women
have been a result of socially constructed ideas and answer the essential question, “How are
understanding of the gender roles society has placed upon women. This unit is important for
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students. It is essential for students to know how gender stereotypes affect the world they live in.
It is important for students to know how they can be affected by gender stereotypes and see how
With this unit students will gain an understanding of the different roles women have been
forced to play throughout our current history. Diving into history and looking at historical female
figures will play an important role in the start of our unit not only in learning about the first
constructed female roles and misconceptions in history, but also for comparing gender roles in
the past to gender roles today. We currently live in a society that is surrounded by television,
film, and media. Students today have the internet at their fingertips. The unit introduces students
to the relationship between the media and gender stereotypes. The media plays into the
construction of gender bias careers and attitudes. The media pictures women to look and be a
certain way. The activities in the unit will get students to start thinking about the social
constructs they have towards women in our society. Throughout the unit students will discover
gender roles present in the past with women today in their own lives. While looking at women
gender roles throughout time we want to focus students’ attention on the effects gender
In our eight-day long unit students will be exposed to the question, “How do these gender
stereotypes affect society?” The activities integrated throughout this unit cover four types of
stereotypes: physical appearance, personality traits, occupation, and domestic behavior. The unit
will provide multiple perspectives on gender stereotypes in society including their own
perspective. Our unit puts an emphasis on student perspective on roles women play. The learning
being done in this unit is cooperative, collaborative, and community-oriented in order to ensure it
is culturally responsive. The integrated activities are student-centered and are meaningful. We
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want students by the end of our unit to take their perspectives on women’s roles in society and
facilitate change by using the information they learned in order to be advocates for change, to be
advocates for gender roles today. In order to do so and successfully implement the unit we would
involve students’ families. We will send a letter out before the start of the unit to inform parents
of the unit. We want to encourage families to join their students in the learning of this unit and
the know the importance of the unit every day life. We would also have a discussion about
dialogue. In order for this unit to be successful students must be able to listen to each other’s
Arizona State ELA, Writing, and Social Studies Standards are integrated throughout the unit.
ELA
Reading Standards for Literature
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
4.RL.9 Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g.,
opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories,
myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.
Reading Standards for Informational Text
Key Ideas and Details
4.RI.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or
technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in
the text
Craft and Structure
4.RI.6 Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same
event or topic; describe the differences in focus, and the information provided.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
4.RI.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in
charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web
pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the
text in which it appears.
WRITING
Writing Standards
Text Types and Purposes
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SOCIAL STUDIES
4.S3.C4.PO.1 Rights, Responsibilities, and Roles of Citizenship PO 1. Discuss
ways an individual can contribute to a school or community
4.S3.C4.PO 3. Describe the importance of citizens being actively involved in the
democratic process (e.g., voting, campaigning, civil and community service,
volunteering, jury duty)
4.MD.B Represent and interpret data. 4.MD.B.4 Make a line plot to display a data
set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4, 1/8). Solve problems
involving addition and subtraction of fractions by using information presented in
line plots.
Class Share:
Interview of a
woman who inspires
you
Day 3: Application
The class will do a drawing activity based on their exploration and interpretations of
history. The class will explore gender stereotyping in the workplace.
both texts seeing the similarities between Ruby Bridges and Michelle Obama. The class
will work together to create a list of qualities and attributes for each of them. The class
will then share their homework assignments on the interviews of a women in their life.
The class can connect the attributes of the two great women, Ruby Bridges and Michelle
Obama, with the woman they have in their life.
Connection to Standards:
4.RI.6 Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the
differences in focus, and the information provided.
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Instructional Objective: Provide precise, measurable, and delineated goals for what you want your students
to be able to accomplish in order to demonstrate their learning after the lesson is completed.
Students should be able to compare and contrast the true life of Pocahontas to the Disney version of
Pocahontas to describe how women are often portrayed in fictitious roles while completing a Venn-Diagram.
• Questions: While watching and reading the stories, I will constantly challenge the students to think of
the differences and similarities if any between the book we read and the video we will watch. I will
also make sure to get the students about how Pocahontas responses to what was happening around her.
I will also ask things such as:
o Does Pocahontas look happy in this version?
o Does it look like she is 10 years old in the movie?
o How would you fell if you were kidnapped and taken to a new world? Would you be okay with
that?
o Why do you think Disney changed the story?
• Modeling: After we view and read the two perspectives, we will complete a Venn-diagram to compare
and contrast the stories and I will start the discussion by giving an example.
• Guided Practice: After I provided an example, I will ask students to share any ideas. When a student
shares an idea, I will ask guided questions such as:
o How can you tell that was a difference? (similarity?)
o Why do you think the writers chose to write the story with _____ instead of ______?
• Independent Practice: After sharing some examples as a class, students will work with their elbow
partner to complete the rest of the Venn diagram.
• Closure: When everyone is done we will discuss what the purpose of the activity was and share some
more differences and similarities. I will ask the students an exit ticket question to end the lesson. I will
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ask the students to write on the back of their worksheet. How do think false stories of women lives,
roles and feelings and can impact others views on women?
Assessment/Evaluation: Students should be able to complete the Venn diagram with accurate comparisons
and thoughtfully answer the exit ticket question on how changing be your criteria for success and the specific
results/actions you will look for to determine student success with the lesson
Modifications/Differentiation:
Differentiate the lesson by having those students who need an extension think more deeply about the issue at
hand and how they can change it?
A modification for this lesson would be to use pictures or one word to describe the comparisons.
Inspiring Wonder
We begin the unit on day one with introducing the stereotypical ways society has viewed
women in the past. We will begin by conducting a group discussion which is intended to create a
classroom community in which everyone’s opinion is shared and heard. The teacher will show
ads from the past that depict women in subordinate roles. The teacher will show the vitamin and
tie ads and will ask what the students think about the picture and ask if they think there’s
anything wrong with it. The teacher will have them share at their tables first and while they
discuss the teacher should show the “you mean even a woman can open it” ad and the “isn’t it
nice to have a woman around the house” ad. Once everyone has had a turn to discuss in their
groups the teacher should call on students to share their discussion with the whole class. We
should hear students discuss the unfairness of the treatment of women. Students might also
respond with things like “the man is trying to make the man work for him” and “people think
women should only look pretty and take care of her husband.” This part of the discussion is
crucial because we want them to encourage children to ask themselves if they would ever treat a
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woman or anyone like the women in these ads are treated and will get them thinking for the next
Before we show ads from the present the teacher will show the “show him it’s a man’s/
woman’s world picture.” This will get the children to think about whether its right for women to
treat men unfairly since they treated them like that in the past. We should challenge students to
think about whether men meant to treat women unfairly. We can explain to students that the
roles woman played throughout history is due to a long history of men being the bread winners
while the wife’s job was always to stay home and take care of the children. This goes back to
prehistoric times in that men were always physically stronger so they hunted while women
stayed home and took care of the children. Over time woman stayed in these roles which is what
lead to ads like this. This should start building on their knowledge of how these stereotypical
female roles have been socially constructed. We should also encourage students to talk about
how the ad makes them feel. We should ask opinions of both boys and girls so they can see each
other’s perspectives and feelings. Teachers can ask “As a boy how does this picture make you
Next the teacher should ask the students to discuss in their groups if they think this kind
of unfair treatment of men and women still happens today. Some students might say yes and
some may say no. Depending on their funds of knowledge some students may have more
awareness than others. While they discuss the teacher will display the current ads (except for the
Lego ad). The students will next discuss the similarities between the boy toys and girl toys in the
ads. Students should immediately see the differences such as the stereotypical colors of toys
which are usually blue for boys and pink for girls. They should also notice that girl’s toys include
things like cooking, dolls, and hair dressing. Whereas the boy’s toys include things such as cars,
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guns, hatchets, and guitars. The teacher will ask questions that get students to understand that
society has trained us to think that boys can’t play with dolls and if companies only show boys
playing guitars in ads does that mean girls can’t play music? Lastly, show the students the Lego
add and discuss how this company tried to break gender norms. At the end of the lesson students
should have a better understanding on how female stereotypes have come to be and they should
stories have been altered in order to hide the painful lives they have lived. This portion of the
unit includes the interactive social studies lesson plan titled “Misconceptions of Women in
History”. The students will view a short clip of the Disney version of Pocahontas and take note
on how her story is told as an animated tale of romance in which her and her soul mate John
Smith fight together to bring peace to the settlers and the Powhatan tribes. Next they will read
the book “The True Story of Pocahontas” by Lucille Recht Penner . The students should begin to
see the differences in stories and realize how different they really are. They will fill out a Venn
diagram to help guide them in a whole group dialogue. The teacher should facilitate discussion
on why they think the media changed the story and how native Americans are impacted from
Application
On day four we will have the student apply what we have talked about all week and do
the Gender Stereotyping in the Work Place activity. The students will fill out the Female/Male
Occupational Checklist. They will look at the different occupations and circle whether the job is
best suited for a man or woman. When the students finish, have them add up how many
occupations are suitable for men, how many for women and how many there are for both.
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Depending on the results, the teacher could either discuss why they think one got more than
another if one was suited for more occupations than an another. If the majority of the students
said that all the jobs were suited for both men and women, the teacher can have them discuss
what they think the purpose of the assignment was. This gets the students to apply what we have
been learning and realize that any job can be held by both men and women and that gender
Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles to the class. The book tells the story of Ruby Bridges
and the journey she went through while being the first African American in an all-white school.
We will have the class sit on the floor in front of the teacher, so they can see the pictures that go
along with the text. We will then read, Michelle Obama: The First Lady in Photographs by
Deborah Willis. This book contains a collection of photographs of Michelle Obama, as she was
the First African American First Lady from 2009-2017. The photographs contain captions and
descriptions of the events of Michelle Obama as the First Lady. The book shows readers how
Michelle Obama has made a difference on society’s views on women, race, and beauty.
After going through the two books the class will discuss the similarities between the first
African American student to enter an all-white school in 1960 with the first African American to
be First Lady in 2009. We will show student’s the importance of Ruby Bridges on Michelle
Obama by asking students the question, “Do you think Michelle Obama would have been the
first African American First Lady if Ruby Bridges hadn’t gone to an all-white school?”. Ruby
Bridges paved the way for change in education for African Americans. Without her bravery in
1960, we might not have some of our great African American figures such as Barrack and
Michelle Obama. We will have the class stay in the same spot they were while reading the
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books. We will have an anchor chart stand to write on as we discuss the two women as a class, so
children can see the class’s thoughts. The class will work together to create a list of qualities and
We will then dismiss the class to go get their homework assignment from Monday. We
will have the class sit in a circle. We will go around the circle to share the interviews the students
conducted about a woman in their life. The class can connect the attributes of the two great
women, Ruby Bridges and Michelle Obama, with the woman they have in their life.
Facilitating Change
Days 5-8
The last four days of our unit are designed for facilitating change. The first day of
facilitating change (day 5) is about women in roles today. This will be a day in which students
will explore their own role in society and what they want their role to be in the future.
The students will complete the When I Grow Up I Want To Be… activity by the Geena
Davis Institute on Gender in Media. The activity starts by having students think and write about
their favorite TV show/movie characters and their professions. Then the students read an excerpt
from USA TODAY’s article, Study Shows Broad Pay Disparities are Between Sexes. Students
will answer questions about the excerpt and have to explain in their own words why we see a
difference in pay between genders. The last part of the activity will have students think about a
career they might want to pursue in the future. The students have to create a help-wanted add that
includes the qualifications and qualities they believe a person should have in order to be
successful in that career. The students with share their help-wanted add in groups. We will hang
the adds in the classroom or out in the hallway so others can see their work. Lastly the teacher
will introduce the research project the class will be doing during the last 3 days. The students
We made the research project called Working Women in Our World. The students will be
placed into 6 groups. Each group will receive a historical female figure that made an impact in
her field of work and was the first female to do a certain occupation and or do something in a
specific field of work. Each group will conduct research on their historical female figure and her
occupation. The group will do research on the particular field of work and women today who are
in that profession. The class will have two work days for their research (day 6 and day 7). On
day 6 the class will have a work day during their social studies block to research their famous
female figure and women in her field of work. Students will need access to resources including
text and the internet. Students will receive a poster on day 7 to present their research on. Each
group will need to have at lease 2 book sources and 2 website sources, along with one image.
The groups will be doing research on one of the following: female pilots, female scientists,
female writers, female politicians, female astronauts, and female doctors. The students will be
able to explore the occupations and use what they have learned throughout the unit on gender
roles and stereotypes and to make connections on the research they have found.
On the last day (day 8) students will present their posters to a third grade class. The
students will teach the third graders about their historical female figure and her accomplishments
in her profession. The students will inform the third graders about the women in the same
profession as that historical figure. As a class we want to teach the third graders about these great
female historical figures and that women can do any profession they desire regardless of the
stereotypical roles placed upon women. We will close the last day by having a class discussion
after the presentations to the third graders. Students will share their experience presenting their
work to the third graders and tell their fellow classmates what they thought went well and what
did not go as well. The students will get to share what they learned through the whole unit about
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roles of women in society throughout time. The students will be able to express how they feel
about women’s roles today, and what they research project taught them. The class will also
reflect on whether or not they were successful in informing others in their school about women
Annotated Bibliography
[1] Coles, Robert, and George Ford. The Story of Ruby Bridges. CNIB, 2012
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles is picture book that tells the story of
Ruby Bridges, the first African American student to attend an all-white school.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/decade-by-decade-25263355/
about historical female figures throughout the past century. This article was the
inspiration for our facilitate change research project we created for the unit.
Pocahontas by Walt Disney is the story of Pocahontas told by Walt Disney. The
story is about an Indian Princess who falls in love with Captain John Smith she
We found this gender equity pdf to go with day 3 for application. The pdf has a
checklist for female careers and occupations. Students go over the checklist and
do a following activity.
[5] “Girls Toys vs Boy Toys: The Experiment- BBC Stores.” YouTube, YouTube, 16 Aug.
2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWu44AqF0iI
Girl Toys vs Boy Toys: The Experiment- BBC Stories is a 3 minute and 25
second video clip of an experiment with two toddlers and three adults. The girl
toddler is dressed in boy clothing, and the boy toddler is dressed in girl clothing.
The experiment is done in space containing a variety of toys. The adults are to go
into the space and play with the children. The experiment is to see what toys the
adults pick for the children based on how the children are dressed and their
gender. The adults picked hot pink toys and the baby doll for the boy toddler
dressed in girls clothing. The adults picked the building blocks and more “boyish”
[6] goldieblox. “GoldieBlox & Rube Goldberg ‘Princess Machine.” YouTube, YouTube, 26
construction set featuring the kid inventor Goldie who loves to build and
girls playing dress up. The girls get bored and decide to build around the house.
The girls create a domino effect chain all throughout the house and outside.
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[7] “Hey Nicki Minaj, Pocahontas Was a Rape Survivor, Not a Sex Symbol, “Bitch Media,
https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/nicki-minaj-pocahontas-is-not-a-sex-symbol
We used this article while researching Pocahontas for painting the picture on day
two and for our lesson. The article is about the three scandalous sexualized
cartoon characters of Niki Minaj as Pocahontas. The article brings light on how
the post is inappropriate as Pocahontas was a rape victim not a sex symbol with
[8] “How Today’s Toys May Be Harming your Daughter.” National Geographic, 15 Dec.
2016, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/01/gender-toys-departments-
piece/
How Today’s Toys May Be Harming Your Daughter is an article by the National
Geographic. The article is about how children’s brains develop while playing with
toys. Girl designed toys have been seen to have a negative impact on girls’ brain
development.
The True Story of Pocahontas by Lucile Recht Penner tells the story of
https://seejane.org/wp-content/uploads/GDlesson7SE.pdf
The Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media created this pdf activity. The
activity has students reflect on the characters they see in the media. The activity
[11] Willis, Deborah, and Emily Bernard. Michelle Obama: The First Lady in Photographs.
Michelle Obama: The First Lady in Photographs by Deborah Willis and Emily
First Lady of the United States. Descriptions are under each photograph to give
https://flashbak.com/sank-battleship-celebrating-milton-bradleys-beloved-strategy-game-
58200/
The Battleship advertisement has a father and son playing the game Battleship
while a mother and daughter are cleaning in the background. The two girls are
barely in the image, just enough for you to notice that they are in the background
not playing the game with the boys. We got the the image off of Flashbak.com
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[13] Mad Men’ premiere: Sexist ads from the era of Don Draper
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/sexist-ads-mad-men-era-gallery-
1.1050013
stepping on a woman who is depicted as a door mat who is only good in the
house.
https://samanthaalfaro.wordpress.com/2015/12/19/even-women-can-open-it-analysis/
Alvarado, Wolbeck 19
teaching students about the stereotype of women being weaker than men. Women
her eyebrow as she can clearly open a bottle of ketchup and is capable of doing so
without a man.
https://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2012/11/29/highlights-from-the-gender-
neutral-swedish-toys-r-us-catalogue/
This is an advertisement for a fashion Barbie head and hair styling tools. There
are two girls in the advertisement and no boys present. The backdrop is pink with
a pink and purple border. These toys are being promoted only to girls.
https://www.change.org/p/ferrero-stop-making-sexist-kinder-eggs
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Easter eggs for children. Kids must choose between the blue Easter egg with cars
[17] Genderstreotypes
https://genderstreotypes.wordpress.com/2016/02/25/walmart-ad/
toy aisle. The left side of the advertisement has boys with weapons, a guitar, and a
building set. On the right side there are girls playing with dolls and in toy
kitchens. The pictures of the girls have the colors pink and purple while the boys
[18] Artist Gives Vintage Ads A Feminist Makeover by Swapping Gender Roles
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/artist-gives-vintage-ads-a-feminist-makeover-by-
swapping-gender-roles_us_5a60f7c9e4b01767e3d1a484
photographs called “In a Parallel Universe.” He took the mid-20th century add
above and switched the gender role. The article on Huffington Post has his series.
http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/8/gender-neutral-toy-sections-are-good-for-
boys-too.html
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This is LEGO advertisement from the early 1980’s. The company implemented
gender-neutral marketing. Both girls and boys are engaged to build something to
be proud of.
http://lettoysbetoys.org.uk/thats-for-girls-and-thats-for-boys/
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We found this on lettoysbetoys.org. Ads like this one pressure girls and boys to
like certain toys. The Let Toys Be Toys campaign is working to get the toy
RESOURCE #5-Borrowed
Day 2:
https://www.amazon.com/Michelle-Obama-First-
Lady-Photographs/dp/0393077470
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