n exploring conflict, commit to trying on different perspectives in the conflict. Draw out of a bowl a particular role with an attached explanation. Play that role in teams of four or five, expressing your beliefs. Debrief with the whole group, adding in different perspectives in time, gender, geography, economy, and ethnicity. Evaluate the roles …
An activity that allows for exploration of diversity and elimination of stereotypes. Ask each person to write down three things that no one would know about them just by looking at them. Try to include one thing that makes you vulnerable, i.e. a fear. Then participants share what they wrote with a partner or part …
Share individual stories of people in need. Identify what everyone can contribute. Where could we find the needed materials? Together as a group, deliver the donated items to a nearby organization in wagons, if available. Work with the accepting agency to provide further information about the services and supports they provide (examples: donation to a …
Show pictures and/or video of certain situations at school and in the surrounding neighborhood. Examples include: seeing garbage on the floor, an elderly person dropping their cane, a person not able to get through a door because their hands are full, a child crying or looking sad, or classmates arguing or fighting. Hold a classroom …
Ask youth to critically think about how others might respond to their words and actions. “What would they say or think if you did or said _____?” Expand the effect of the activity by asking, “What do you think your teacher would say about that decision?” or, “Your parent or coach, or other influential and …
Show youth a variety of pictures of celebrations involving young people from around the world. Place cut-outs of known children/students into the celebration picture (make sure to rotate the pictures). Have the youth guess where the celebration is and what the kids are celebrating. What is the significance of the celebration? Do we have a …
An opportunity to explore controversial issues and divergent positions and work to reach consensus on what may have happened– highlighting the complexities of particular perspectives, opinions and events. Have youth argue one side of an argument and then have them switch sides before negotiating an agreement between the two sides. The controversial issues can be …
A person who recognizes when something is wrong and then acts to make it right; doing one’s best to help support and protect someone who is being mistreated; being socially responsible. There are many online campaigns and curricula that teach youth to be upstanders and how to take on bullying and negative peer behaviors. Most …
Youth sit in a circle, often at a transition point in the day. Holding a ball of yarn, they share one thing (something they like to do, someplace they have been, something they learned recently) . Then they throw the ball to someone else while they hold on to their bit of yarn. The next …
The Silk Road carried trade from cultures embracing numerous religions and worldviews. Stretching from Italy to Japan, the Silk Road runs through Buddhist, Confucian, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Shinto, and Taoist cultures. Youth reflect on similarities and differences between belief systems. Using quotations from philosophical and religious texts, they are asked to organize quotations into …
Have youth think individually and record their views about a particular issue. Then have them share their ideas with one another. Teachers/parents can foster careful listening by having youth be responsible for representing their partners in a group share-out and discussion. The act of sharing another person’s ideas builds compassion and collaboration. By entrusting our …
Make a storyboard of a particular event in history that involves a social injustice (slavery, women’s rights, settlers coming to America, Hawaiian history). Have youth create a supporting narrative and present to the class, highlighting the social injustice and how it may have been prevented. Display storyboards and have the youth do learning walkabouts while …
