Elementary (Grades 3-5)

Middle School (Grades 6-8)

• Have chart paper and markers.

• Create a chart that lists the Possible Actions that a student or students could engage in when they see someone being targeted for prejudice or discrimination:

• Get help from a trusted adult or a trusted older student

• Ignore what is being said or done and watch what happens

• Step up myself and tell the person to stop

• Walk away and don’t get involved
  Say something funny, kind, or affirming to change what is going on

• Tell a trusted adult what happened and ask for help so it doesn’t happen again

• Talk privately to the person who was targeted and offer support

• Print on a piece of chart paper the following: “After a baseball game, one of the young men on the team is very angry that his team lost. You don’t know him. You and your friend see him “getting in the face” of another team member yelling, “You made us lose because you run and throw like a girl.”

• Make copies of the handout Examples of Students Being Targeted, one for each student with extra copies if needed.

• Make copies of the handout Possible Actions, one for each student, with extra copies if needed.

• Make copies of the handout Being an Ally and Making a Difference, one for each student with extra copies if needed.

CASEL Core Competencies

• Self-awareness

• Self-management

• Social Awareness

• Relationship Skills

• Responsible Decision-Making

Common Core ELA-Literacy Standards

• Speaking and Listening

NCSS Social Studies Themes

• Culture

• Groups and Organizations

• Civic Ideals and Practices

• Understand the different ways in which a person can be an ally

• Explain why students should never put themselves in harm’s way

• Identify different reasons why individuals are targeted for prejudiced or discriminatory behaviors, including for their religious or non-religious beliefs

• Identify feelings they associate with being the target of negative behaviors

• Explain why they decide on an action or actions as an ally in different ways depending on the situations they face

• Explain why it is important to be an ally when someone is targeted for prejudiced or discriminatory behavior

Day 1

Ask students, based on their knowledge about bullying behavior, by a show of hands who believes they know what to do if they see someone being targeted for discrimination. Ask for a volunteer to give an example of what the student would do.

Post the Possible Actions chart. Ask students to identify which behaviors they think are good ones to use when they see someone being targeted. Put a check next to each one. Ask students which behaviors they don’t think are the right thing to do. Put a plus sign (+) next to those behaviors.

Ask: Why are the behaviors with a + not something you think is the right thing to do when you see someone being targeted? Chart responses. What do you call someone who just watches? Get response: bystander.

Distribute the handout Examples of Students Being Targeted, one to each student.

Post the scenario of the angry man on the baseball team yelling and read it to the class. Ask the class to imagine that you are the person with a friend who sees the man acting this way toward his teammate.

Tell the class you want their advice on how to handle the situation.

Ask: What should I have to take into consideration when I am deciding what to do in this situation? (Be sure that the students identify that you don’t know the man and the man is very angry.)

Say: Since I don’t know the man and I understand that he is very angry, please look at the chart of Possible Actions and give me your advice on what I should and shouldn’t do. Gather ideas from the class. Ask: Explain why I shouldn’t do the things you advised me not to. Be sure to make it clear that neither adults nor students should do anything that will put them in danger.

Point out that you can do more than one thing. For instance, your friend could go for help while you stayed to observe what was happening. If the angry man walks away, you could go speak to the man he was yelling at and offer your support. Reinforce that students should never put themselves in harm’s way.

Distribute the Possible Actions handout, one to each student.

Read aloud the first example on the handout. Ask students to identify why the student is being targeted (his race).

Ask: How is this situation like the one with the angry baseball player?

Ask: What would you do in this situation? Why? Ask one or two students to say what they would do and explain why. Repeat this process until you have looked at scenarios 1 through 6.

Ask for two volunteers to come to the front of the room to role play scenario 7. One person will be the person who sees the targeting behavior and the other will be the girl who made fun of the boy’s accent. Start the role play with the person who has seen the behavior talking to the girl from his or her class.

When the two students have finished talking, ask the class if there is anything else the intervener could or should do? Why?

For scenario 8 ask what the targeting of the student was based on (religion).

Ask for a volunteer to state what he or she would do in this situation and why. Ask for another volunteer who would handle it a different way to explain what they would do instead and why.

Ask if there is anyone in the class who would have another way of handling it to share their idea and explain the reason they would handle the situation differently.

Ask : How do you think the boy who was targeted felt? Why do you think he felt this way?

Ask: What do you think the little boy in scenario 4 was feeling? Why do you think he was feeling this way?

Ask: What do you think the girl in scenario 5 was feeling? Why do you think she was feeling this way?

Ask: Why do you think it’s important for us to know how we can be an ally when people are targeted for who they are or what religious or non-religious belief they follow?

Day 2

Say: In the last lesson, we looked at eight different scenarios that involved harassment and intimidation based on differences. What was an example of harassment in these scenarios? What was an example of intimidation in these scenarios? What were some of the reasons students were targeted for harassment and intimidation in these scenarios?

Say: Think back to each of the scenarios we looked at. We talked about the importance of being an ally rather than a bystander in situations like these. Can you give us an example of how a bystander would respond to one of these scenarios? What would an ally do differently? How would being an ally change the way the scenario turns out? Get multiple responses, encouraging students to be as specific as possible in referring back to the scenarios.

Divide the class into pre-determined groups of three or four students per group, depending on the size of the class. Give each group a copy of the handout Being an Ally and Making a Difference. Tell students that each group will complete the handout as they discuss a scenario in which a student is being targeted, brainstorm ways of being an ally in that scenario and consider how being an ally can make a difference in the outcome.

Tell the students they have 15 minutes to complete the handout. Ask each group to choose one member to be in charge of filling out the handout. Circulate among the groups as they work, monitoring progress and providing assistance as needed. Let students know when they have three minutes left, two minutes left and one minute left.

When each group has finished the exercise, ask for a group to volunteer to share their responses. Ask the group: How many ways did your group come up with for being an ally in this situation? What were they? Chart responses.

Ask the group: Are any of these ideas unsafe? Cross out any ideas that are not safe. Ask the group: Which way do you think is the best way? Why? Place a star next to the idea the group thinks is the best way to be an ally.

Ask the class: Do you agree this is the best way to be an ally in this scenario? Why or why not? Do you have any other ideas? If the class has additional ideas, add them to the list. If there is a way to combine more than one idea, point that out the class and ask if they want to combine them. If there is still more than one idea, ask the class to choose the idea they like best by a show of hands.

Once there is general agreement about the best way to be an ally in this scenario, ask the group to role-play the approach the class has chosen. They should start the role play after the student has encountered the harassing behavior. Give them two or three minutes to perform the role play.

After the role play, ask the class: How do you think this situation would have turned out if the student acted as a bystander instead of an ally? How did the student make a difference by acting as an ally? How did being an ally make a difference for the person being targeted? How do you think the student who was being targeted felt about having an ally? How did being an ally make a difference for all of the people in the scenario?

Ask students to form a circle; then ask them to think about why being an ally makes a difference in their school and community. Hold the talking stick and model, “Being an ally makes a difference because…” You may model a response like, “It sets a good example for the people around me,” “It lets other people know that I will stick up for them” or “It reminds others to be respectful of differences.” Pass the talking stick to your left or right. When the talking stick returns to you, thank the students for sharing from the heart.

Note to the Teacher: Depending on time constraints, you may wish to ask another group to role- play another idea for being an ally in this scenario.