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Mix It Up!

Lesson 5:

From Unit Challenging Social Boundaries

Lesson

Handouts

Academic Standards

Philanthropy Framework

9th-12th Grade

Subjects:

Language Arts, Library / Technology, Philanthropy and Social Studies

Key Words/Concepts click to view

ELA:	Analyze/Interpret; Audience; Group Discussions; Social/Cultural Issues; Teamwork
PHIL:	Activism; Reflection; School Climate; Social Action; Tolerance
SOC:	1 genOn; 10 genOn; Cause/Effect; Choices/Consequences; Desegregation; School Community; Social Action

Purpose:

Learners will sponsor Mix It Up Day, a national project to promote diversity within a school environment. Learners will experience roles as private citizens attempting to change behavior.

Duration:

Three Fifty-five Minute Class Periods

Objectives:

The learners will:

select, organize, participate in and analyze a project to increase diversity in the school.

describe the importance of working together to complete a major task.

Service Experience:

Although this lesson contains a service project example, decisions about service plans and implementation should be made by students, as age appropriate.

Learners will promote and participate in an activity that seeks to raise awareness of the ways we separate ourselves from others. The activity will challenge social boundaries for a day and open communication within a school community.

Materials:

Student copies of How to Set Up a “Mix It Up!” Day (see Attachment One)
Student copies of Collaborative Work Skills Rubric (see Attachment Two)
Butcher paper, markers, masking tape
Paper/pencils/pens
Large bags of candies, of a variety of colors, to use as table markers
Several sheets of construction paper in the same colors as the candies

Handout 1: How to Set Up a “Mix It Up!” Day
Handout 2: Collaborative Work Skills Rubric

Instructional Procedure(s):

Anticipatory Set:
Brainstorm a quick list of advantages of working together to get a project completed. Discuss why everyone’s help is needed on a school-wide project.

Review the procedure for organizing into a non-profit group using Understanding Non-profits (Attachment Four) in Lesson Four: Power in Numbers. Distribute student copies of How to Set Up a “Mix It Up!” Day (Attachment One). In pairs, have students read it and brainstorm ways to communicate the “Mix It Up Day” activity in the school. They should also make a list of the roles needed to implement it. Have each pair explain their lists. Write these needs on the board.
The teacher will hand out Attachment Two at the beginning of the lesson. The class will discuss the rubric so the students know the expectations.
Distribute student copies of Collaborative Work Skills Rubric (Attachment Two) and discuss the information. Have the learners decide how many people are needed for each task. They will then sign up for their choice.
(Teacher Note: One way of deciding who chooses first would be to have 30 [number of students in class] small pieces of paper numbered from 1-30 in a box and have students randomly pick a number. Every student must choose at least one task.)
Explain that the staff will need to be informed and a demonstration should take place using the colored pieces of candy and colored construction paper on tables as recommended in Attachment One: How to Set Up a “Mix It Up!” Day. After the demonstration the students will need to ask for comments from the staff to improve the activity. They will write down these suggestions and take them back to the class. The final request the students will have of the staff is to promote participation of their students on “Mix It Up! Day.” Ask for at least five volunteers to present this information to the staff at the next staff meeting. Have the students do the presentation at the staff meeting.
Have the class discuss and create a survey to be administered to classmates after the activity. This survey will be comprised of the goals they hope to accomplish by this activity.
Students should complete their selected pre-task activities leading up to the designated “Mix It Up!” Day and then participate in the designated day.
Each student should complete the evaluation/assessment of the entire project.

Assessment:

Any of the following may be used as an assessment of learning:

The student will analyze the activity in terms of its impact in the school citing at least three anecdotes derived from the day.
The student will write the teacher a letter suggesting improvements on the lesson and ways that this lesson could be carried on to the future.
The student will survey at least three friends (not in this class) and bring their responses to the class for analysis.

School/Home Connection:

Interactive Parent / Student Homework:
The student will write a letter to a parent or older family member describing his/her role in the activity.

Bibliographical References:

http://www.tolerance.org/teach/

Lesson Developed By:

Corrine Fisher
Comstock Public Schools
Comstock High School
Kalamazoo, MI 49048

Handouts:

How to Set Up a “Mix It Up!” Day

This information is taken from: http://www.tolerance.org/teach/

“Mix It Up!” is a network for teen activists who want to challenge social boundaries in their schools and communities. At many schools around the country, the cafeteria at lunchtime is a social map of the whole school – a map criss-crossed with boundaries. These boundaries exist for many reasons – habit, friendship, status, fear, prejudice. The simple space of a cafeteria table is, for many of us, a comfort zone where we can be ourselves with those who know us best. Touch base. Regroup. Let down the guard that classroom pressures often require of us. For others, the lunchroom with all its boundaries is a world with its own pressures – a world of familiar strangers and rigid expectations. Each November, students across the country are going to stir things up in their school cafeterias. And you can do it, too.

Here are some ideas to help you “Mix It Up!”at Lunch:

Organize
All it takes is one person venturing outside the comfort zone to “Mix It Up!” but on ______________, why not have a whole crowd sitting someplace new?

Ask your friends to join in. Who are the people you normally sit with at lunch? Ask them to trade in for a new seat on __________________, too.
Pitch the idea to the clubs, sports teams and other groups you belong to. Do you belong to the French club? the basketball team? the student government association? Get peers involved – teachers and administrators, too.
. Invite other clubs to participate. Build a coalition of campus groups to do the mix! Ask friends to pitch the idea to the clubs they belong to. Get band members talking to basketball players, and the Ecology Club talking to cheerleaders. Get student government talking to the PTA! Get everyone involved.
Start a club. No clubs in sight? With a friend or two, ask a teacher to sponsor a “Mix It Up!” Club at your school. Make it official, and move forward!
Publicize. Make announcements on the school intercom. Write an article for the school newspaper. Make an announcement on campus radio or TV. Download “Mix It Up at Lunch” flyers and hang them up. Build an e-mail database, and use the Mix’s E-cards to send announcements to people who plan to participate and invite others to join in.

Plan
How are you going to “do the day?” Here are five ways to mix up lunchroom seating.

Create a “calendar” out of twelve tables and sit by birth month or by Zodiac signs!
Number several tables and draw your seat assignment from a hat.
Draw candies out of a bag and sit with the matching tablecloth.
Find a table where you don’t know more than two people.
Give each person a “ticket” that matches the color tag on a chair.

Act
The day has arrived. It’s ______________________, and you’re sitting at a new table staring at a bunch of people you don’t know. What now? Here are five ideas to jump-start the conversation.

What’s the last CD you bought?
Imagine you rule the world. What’s the first law you’d make?
What’s the craziest thing you ever did in public?
You’re signing autographs. What are you famous for?
You’re the principal. What’s the first class you drop – and what class do you add?

Document
How’d it go? What were the hits? The misses? What would you change? What would you do exactly the same? Where did your conversations take you? Will you talk to the people you mixed it up with again? How easy or hard was it to relate to others?

Write a story for “Mix It Up!” about your experiences; print it in the school newspaper, too. Take photographs of the cafeteria before, on and after the day. Draw a map of the social boundaries at your school.

Look Ahead
“ Mix It Up!” kicks off this year with “Mix It Up at Lunch Day.” And that’s just what “the Day” is – a kick-off, a starting place. After Lunch projects get more serious. Sure, we make a personal decision every day about where we’re going to sit and who we’ll break bread with – but, sometimes, external factors shape those decisions. Does your school, for example, schedule lunch for AP and “regular” classes in different periods? Do you mainly hang out with people from your neighborhood? Are there rules, written or unwritten, about who is welcomed at which tables and who is not?

Handout 2Print Handout 2

Collaborative Work Skills Rubric

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Contributions	Routinely provides useful ideas when participating in the group and in classroom discussion. A definite leader who contributes a lot of effort.	Usually provides useful ideas when participating in the group and in classroom discussion. A strong group member who tries hard!	Sometimes provides useful ideas when participating in the group and in classroom discussion. A satisfactory group member who does what is required.	Rarely provides useful ideas when participating in the group and in classroom discussion. May refuse to participate.
Quality of Work	Provides work of the highest quality.	Provides high quality work.	Provides work that occasionally needs to be checked / redone by other group members to ensure quality.	Provides work that usually needs to be checked / redone by others to ensure quality.
Time-management	Routinely uses time well throughout the project to ensure things get done on time. Group does not have to adjust deadlines or work responsibilities because of this person’s procrastination.	Usually uses time well throughout the project, but may have procrastinated on one thing. Group does not have to adjust deadlines or work responsibilities because of this person’s procrastination.	Tends to procrastinate, but always gets things done by the deadlines. Group does not have to adjust deadlines or work responsibilities because of this person’s procrastination.	Rarely gets things done by the deadlines AND group has to adjust deadlines or work responsibilities because of this person’s inadequate time management.
Problem-solving	Actively looks for and suggests solutions to problems.	Refines solutions suggested by others.	Does not suggest or refine solutions, but is willing to try out solutions suggested by others.	Does not try to solve problems or help others solve problems. Lets others do the work.
Attitude	Never is publicly critical of the project or the work of others. Always has a positive attitude about the task(s).	Rarely is publicly critical of the project or the work of others. Often has a positive attitude about the task(s).	Occasionally is publicly critical of the project or the work of other members of the group. Usually has a positive attitude about the task(s).	Often is publicly critical of the project or the work of other members of the group. Rarely has a positive attitude about the task(s).
Focus on the Task	Consistently stays focused on the task and what needs to be done. Very self-directed.	Focuses on the task and what needs to be done most of the time. Other group members can count on this person.	Focuses on the task and what needs to be done some of the time. Other group members must sometimes nag, prod and remind to keep this person on-task.	Rarely focuses on the task and what needs to be done. Lets others do the work.
Preparedness	Brings needed materials to class and is always ready to work.	Almost always brings needed materials to class and is ready to work.	Almost always brings needed materials but sometimes needs to settle down and get to work	Often forgets needed materials or is rarely ready to get to work.
Pride	Work reflects this student’s best efforts.	Work reflects a strong effort from this student	Work reflects some effort from this student.	Work reflects very little effort on the part of this student.
Monitors Group Effectiveness	Routinely monitors the effectiveness of the group, and makes suggestions to make it more effective.	Routinely monitors the effectiveness of the group and works to make the group more effective.	Occasionally monitors the effectiveness of the group and works to make the group more effective.	Rarely monitors the effectiveness of the group and does not work to make it more effective.
Working with Others	Almost always listens to, shares with and supports the efforts of others. Tries to keep people working well together.	Usually listens to, shares with and supports the efforts of others. Does not cause “waves” in the group.	Often listens to, shares with and supports the efforts of others, but sometimes is not a good team member.	Rarely listens to, shares with and supports the efforts of others. Often is not a good team player.