#1063. How Do You Know You Won't Like It?

Social Studies, level: Middle
Posted Wed Apr 28 09:00:32 PDT 1999 by Patrick Emerson (pjemerson@hotmail.com).
Piedmont College (senior, pre-service teacher), Cornelia, GA, USA
Materials Required: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Activity Time: about 1 hour
Concepts Taught: Multiculturalism and cultural barriers

Objectives:
1. The learner will identify various ethnic groups found in regions of America, Europe, and Oceania and their impact on the development of the selected region. (Georgia 7th grade QCC)
2. The learner will acquire a conscious awareness of cultural barriers and discuss methods that may be used to overcome those barriers. (NCSS Strand Culture)
3. The learner will investigate how their culture may be influenced by another culture with positive consequences. (NCSS Strand Civic Ideals and Practices)

Materials:
Book:
Suess, Dr. (1960). Green Eggs and Ham. New York: Beginner Books, Inc.
Writing surface and appropriate writing utensil

Activities:
Introduction and Interest Building:
The teacher will pose inductive question concerning students' knowledge of different cultures and experiences within that culture.
The teacher will tell the students that this is a story about someone that refused to be open-minded about a new cultural experience.

Content Development:
The teacher will use previously solicited information about cross-cultural interaction and make a list on the writing surface.
The teacher will read the story.
The students will be asked about social and cultural barriers that they are already aware of and how those barriers affect their lives. Some groups of questions might include:
1. (Before reading the story) How many of you have been to a region or area other then where you grew up? What types of differences did you notice? How did you react to those differences?
2. (After reading the story) Why is cultural diversity important? Why is cultural diversity important in the United States?
3. What other barriers may stand between cultures? Which of these might be easy to overcome? How have barriers changed and how have they remained the same?
4. How has technology affected cultural diversity and blending?
Students will be divided into small groups and instructed to brainstorm ideas that would help to overcome the social and cultural barriers that are listed on the board.
The teacher will solicit these solution ideas from each group and write them on the board.

Summary and closure:
The teacher will attempt to bring focus on how social and cultural problems can be resolved.

Evaluation:
Could the students come up with viable solutions to social and cultural problems?
Were the students able and willing to candidly discuss issues that they felt strongly about?
The teacher will answer these questions by actively monitoring the group discussions and results.