​rethink.

Lesson Overview:

This lesson is designed to challenge students opinions about stereotypes of people, especially the Japanese and explore issues of racism.  We can relate it to how people viewed Muslims after 9-11.   We will research and look at what propaganda is and how it was done by Dr. Suess towards the Japanese.  We will show how racism is alive even today and can be done by anyone, even people you would least expect.  We will explore his propaganda and then read, Horton Hears a Who! to explore how, after the war, he and and many other people saw what they did were wrong and apologize for it.  Students will then be able to create a piece of their own to explore and go against a stereotype in their life.

 

Preparation (materials/resources needed, prior knowledge):  

The following materials will be needed:

            -The book Horton Hears a Who!

            - Images of Dr. Seuss’s propaganda

            -Paper for their own piece

            -Markers, glue, scissors, crayons

The students will need to know the following:

-Know what happened at Pearl Harbor taught in the first lesson to understand the background of what was going on.

-A slight idea of what Propaganda is, but we can give a brief overview if students are not totally sure.

-Know what stereotyping and racism is and what they experienced

 

Instruction:

            1. Open the lesson by asking students what propaganda is and how it can affect others

            2. Define as a class what stereotyping and racism are

            3. Give a lesson about how Americans viewed the Japanese after Pearl Harbor

            4. Show the propaganda from Dr. Seuss and discuss what they mean

5. Discuss as a class how Dr. Seuss realized it was wrong to generalize people and he therefore, created the book Horton Hears a Who!

6. Read the book Horton Hears a Who!

7. In small groups have the students discuss how the meaning of the book is based on his apology to the Japanese from his work.

8. In the same small group, students will be able write a list of stereotypes they may have had towards others or may have felt themselves.

9. Model for the students how stereotype has affected the teacher as show their own piece they made.

10. Individually students will pick a stereotype and make propaganda of their own trying to go against the stereotype (could incorporate Dr. Seuss style of art)

11. We will share with the class and hang them up around the room, reminding ourselves to not generalize people and that everyone is important.  

 

           

Standards:

8.3.4.C: Explain how continuity and change in U.S. history have influenced personal development and identity. (Belief systems and religions, Commerce and industry, Technology, Politics and government, Physical and human geography, Social organizations)

8.4.4.D: Distinguish between conflict and cooperation among groups and organizations that impacted development of the history of the world.

R4.A.1.3.1: Make inferences and/or draw conclusions based on information from text.

R4.A.1.6.1: Identify the author’s intended purpose of text.

 

Sources

            http://www.tofugu.com/2013/02/20/dr-seuss/

 

Seuss, Dr. Horton Hears a Who! New York: Random House, 1954. Print.