Are People Who You Think?

Goals:

  1. The students will understand that stereotypes can be harmfulby finding common stereotypes that are placed upon people and determining the negative effects of those stereotypes.
  2. The students will use context clues from a movie to justify their descriptions of pirates.
  3. The students will compare and contrast different characteristics of pirates and compile these characteristics into a table.
  4. The students will be able to identify similarities and differences by comparing their created pirates to a literary one.
  5. The students will be introduced to the long term project of writing a comparison and contrast paper.

Resources and Materials:

  1. Possible Movies: Cut Throat Island, Peter Pan, Hook, and Pipi Longstocking on the High Seas or any other pirate movie that is appropriate for the class.
  2. Information on pirates such as Sir Henry Morgan, Blackbeard, William Kidd, Bartholomew Roberts, Mary Read and Anne Bonny can be found on the Internet at http://www.powerup.com.au/~glen/pirate1.htm
  3. Pirate trivia questions can be found at http://www.powerup.com.au/~glen/pirate6c.htm
  4. Paper
  5. Magazines
  6. Glue or Tape
  7. Scissors
  8. Pens and Pencils
  9. Markers

Time:

This activity will take approximately 4 to 5 hours depending on how involved students become in the discussions and group activities. The more interaction among the student, the better, but the teacher should make sure to keep students on task.


Procedure:

  1. Students will watch the movie selected, gaining knowledge about pirates.
  2. On the blackboard, write a group's name (E.g. - Teachers, Students).
  3. Students will brainstorm thoughts of the name on the board. Create a table or a web on the blackboard with these words. (CAUTION: Make sure the name will not offend any students in the class. Also if this would offend you, DO NOT DO THIS! Students can be nasty. However, as a teacher, this is a great way to gauge your students' opinions of school, teachers and reasons for their likes and dislikes.)
  4. When the brainstorming ceases, discuss why students chose the words. Explain the idea and meaning of stereotypes. In the discussion, include the differences between harmful and helpful stereotypes. For example, a harmful stereotype is "All African-Americans talk with improper grammar."
  5. Now place the word "Pirates" on the board. Students will brainstorm thoughts about pirates and create their own webs on pirates. Students also will justify at least five of the words they chose from context clues from the movie. After the students have created their webs, the students along with the teacher will create a web on the blackboard using some of the words from the students' webs. Try to include time periods, places, people, etc.
  6. When brainstorming ceases, allow students to work with a partner. Each group is given two sheets of plain white paper and is asked to design their own pirate based on their ideas. Students can design their pirates in a variety of ways: drawings, essay, collage, etc. Any means is acceptable as long as the teams are able to explain their pirates.
  7. After the groups are finished with their pirates, they will be given a WWW hard copy on a specific pirate.
  8. Groups will list similarities and differences between their pirates and a literary pirate.
  9. Each group will present their findings to the class.
  10. A discussion of pirates and stereotypes will follow the presentations, or the teacher can present a brief summary of "How stereotypes can be used for good or bad?" In the discussionyou may want to inlcude one or both of the following topics: stereotypes of people living in the 1990s and/or past stereotypes that are now abolished.
  11. After the discussion, the students will be given time to start journals. To give the students focus for their entry, the teacher may give the students the question "Has there ever been a time that you felt stereotyped or stereotyped someone else? How did it make you feel?
  12. After time is given for the journal entry, the teacher will introduce the comparison and contrast paper due at the end of the two weeks. This will be followed by a student brainstorming activity designed for students to create possible ideas for their comparison and contrast paper.

Assessment:

  1. Students will start and turn in their first day's journal entry. (Criteria for success - Each student will include a description of a time when he/she felt stereotyped or he/she stereotyped someone else. Also the students will comment on their feelings about this time. The teacher's comments on the journal entry would be beneficial for the students.)
  2. The students will turn in their own pirate webs with reasonable justifications for their word choices. (Criteria for success - Each student will turn in one pirate web with at least five justifications for their word choices from the movie. Reasonable justifications include a movie character's specific actions or appearance to support his/her word choice.)
  3. Each group will create their own table listing similarities and differences of their pirate and the literary one. (Criteria for success - Groups will find at least four similarities and four differences.)
  4. Each student will help in the presentation of the group's created pirate. (Criteria for success = Groups will identify four specific physical characteristics and four nonphysical characteristics (e.g. - demeanor, wealth, etc.) about their created pirate that will be discussed in the presentation. Each student within the groups will present two characteristics of the group's pirate.)
  5. Each student will turn in a sheet with their brainstormed ideas on their comparison and contrast paper. (Criteria for success - Each student will brainstorm ten possible ideas for their comparison and contrast paper.)

Curricular Strands and Major Concepts:

  1. Art - Groups create their own pirates.
  2. Language Arts - Students make inferences about pirates through the movie and the WWW pages. The students communicate their ideas with individuals and the entire class, making comparisons between their pirate and a literary one. The students write a journal entry on stereotypes and prepare to write their comparison/contrast paper.
  3. Social Studies - Current and past stereotype issues are discussed. Also, students are involved in a brief study of the life and time period of the literary pirate.

Possible Extensions:

  1. Choose a male and female pirate. Compare and contrast them.
  2. Discuss stereotypes of different areas and time periods (i.e. - Blacks in the South before the Civil War).
  3. Discuss stereotypes found in the middle school and the community in which the middle school students live.
  4. Read a novel or see a movie based on stereotyping and deals with adolescents. Examples are To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Popular Library, 1962) and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (Dial Press, 1976). Read the Poem: "Pirate Don Durke of Dowdee" from Just for Fun by Elva Smith and Alice Hazeltine. Pages 175-176. Copyright 1948.

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Schedule and Summary of Lessons

Writing a Comparison and Contrast Paper Lesson

Lesson Plans List