In Kindergarten I brought in a brown egg and a white egg. Students brainstormed how these eggs are different on the outside. The list was rather limited--to color (brown and white), where they came from (different chickens produce different colored eggs) and sometimes their shape (my eggs were not congruent!). Then, we predicted what was the same about these eggs. Answers included: you can eat them, cook with them, they are both round, both have a shell, they both have yolk, and both come from chickens, etc.
Then, I cracked open the eggs. We looked at the insides, and students decided that though the eggs look different on the outside, they are the same on the inside! I took this farther and related it to us as people. Even though we all look different, sometimes some of us act different from each other, and we have different backgrounds (come from different places) we all have many similar wants: to be liked, to learn, to have fun, to be included, to have friends, to be treated with respect.
(One sweet child talked about how in Africa children eat very different food from us and have a lot less than we do. I agreed, and said, I bet they still like to have friends and play and want to learn as much as they can! Many students nodded in agreement!!)
We read the book "This is the Dream" by Shane Shore & Jessica Alexander. Students learned that in our country's past different people weren't aloud to do things because of the color of their skin. Students were able to relate what we learned from the egg experiment to how far we have come in respecting other's differences.
In 5th and 6th grade students learned the definition to the word prejudice, "an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand, without knowledge, thought, or reason." Students brainstormed ways that they might be "pre-judged" or what opinions others might form of them just by looking at them or their first impression. Examples included: "because I am tall people think I like basketball. I am a girl so people assume I like the color pink." One student said, "because I have white skin people think I am Caucasian, but I am part Hispanic."
Students used paper plates to reflect personally on how others might pre-judge them on first impression, and draw and write this on the bump/outside of the plate. On the inside or "crater" of the plate they drew and wrote what they are truly like on the inside.
We discussed how when we make assumptions about others, we don't allow them to be who they truly are. I gave the example: what if someone who was really tall didn't like basketball, but played anyway because he felt that's what he was supposed to do based on the opinion of others? What if, on the inside, he was an amazing chemist and if people would let him be who he truly is maybe he would create a cure for cancer! But, because he felt he had to like basketball, he didn't get the chance to build on the skills he has on the inside.
Then, to end the lesson, I showed the following video which encapsulates exactly this idea:
At the end one of the judges claims it was a privilege to have heard Susan Boyle sing. We don't allow ourselves to grow, learn, and be blessed when we pre-judge others based on outward appearance or first impression--we may be missing out on a great relationship and the potential to grow from that relationship if we decide beforehand what we think about a person without getting to know them, first.
