As an introduction to the week on cultures and discrimination, we will be reading The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss. The following questions are included on the student hand out. Students will answer these questions before beginning the short research paper. The short research paper will expand on the ideas and themes in The Sneetches.
As a part of a unit about culture, we will be discussing how various people groups and cultures have, in the past as well as the present, been discriminated against. To illustrate this in an engaging way, we will be reading the book, The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss.
After reading the book, please answer the following questions:
5. If you were a star bellied sneetch, how would you treat the plain bellied sneetches?
After students answer the questions you can assign the short research paper. The point of the paper is to give students a deeper understanding of how our judgments about other cultures can be detrimental to the flourishing of society. It is my hope that through the investigation into the life of an influencial African American and a look into the way in which the African American community has been marginalized will help students to better understand the ways in which their own preconceived ideas about other people need to be thought about from a more critical perspective. By asking that students connect the sneetches to the marginalization of the African American community they will have a deeper understanding of a pivotal time in American history.
The prompt is as follows:
There have been many times in which other cultures have been discriminated against because of something that doesn’t really matter- like the stars on bellies. We are going to focus on the African American culture, specifically segregation and discrimination based on skin color.
Choose one person from the list below. You will be researching that person and writing a short (1-2 pages) research paper on him or her. You will also be presenting to the class a poster that you will make about your person.
In your paper, talk about the hurdles that your figure had to jump. How did racial discrimination keep your person from using their gifts and talents? How did people treat them? How did they succeed?
In the last paragraph of your paper, connect what your person went through to what the plain-bellied Sneetches went through. How were their experiences different? How were they similar?
Harriet Tubman
Phyllis Wheatley
Nat Turner
Booker T. Washington
Madame CJ Walker
Louis Armstrong
Satchel Paige
Thurgood Marshall
Jesse Owens
Jackie Robinson
Muhammed Ali
Sojourner Truth
Frederick Douglas
Rosa Parks
Martin Luther King Jr
Malcolm X
W.E.B. DuBois
Langston Hughes
Zora Neale Hurston
As a part of a unit about culture, we will be discussing how various people groups and cultures have, in the past as well as the present, been discriminated against. To illustrate this in an engaging way, we will be reading the book, The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss.
After reading the book, please answer the following questions:
- The Star Bellied sneetches taught their children to discriminate against others who were different (and had a different culture) than them. Do you think human parents and adults sometimes teach their children the wrong behavior as well?
- Why do star bellied Sneetches believe they are better than plain bellied Sneetches?
- What do you think would happen if plain bellied Sneetches decided stars were bad and plain bellys were the best?
5. If you were a star bellied sneetch, how would you treat the plain bellied sneetches?
After students answer the questions you can assign the short research paper. The point of the paper is to give students a deeper understanding of how our judgments about other cultures can be detrimental to the flourishing of society. It is my hope that through the investigation into the life of an influencial African American and a look into the way in which the African American community has been marginalized will help students to better understand the ways in which their own preconceived ideas about other people need to be thought about from a more critical perspective. By asking that students connect the sneetches to the marginalization of the African American community they will have a deeper understanding of a pivotal time in American history.
The prompt is as follows:
There have been many times in which other cultures have been discriminated against because of something that doesn’t really matter- like the stars on bellies. We are going to focus on the African American culture, specifically segregation and discrimination based on skin color.
Choose one person from the list below. You will be researching that person and writing a short (1-2 pages) research paper on him or her. You will also be presenting to the class a poster that you will make about your person.
In your paper, talk about the hurdles that your figure had to jump. How did racial discrimination keep your person from using their gifts and talents? How did people treat them? How did they succeed?
In the last paragraph of your paper, connect what your person went through to what the plain-bellied Sneetches went through. How were their experiences different? How were they similar?
Harriet Tubman
Phyllis Wheatley
Nat Turner
Booker T. Washington
Madame CJ Walker
Louis Armstrong
Satchel Paige
Thurgood Marshall
Jesse Owens
Jackie Robinson
Muhammed Ali
Sojourner Truth
Frederick Douglas
Rosa Parks
Martin Luther King Jr
Malcolm X
W.E.B. DuBois
Langston Hughes
Zora Neale Hurston
Below is the rubric that will be used to grade the short research papers: