Web of Respect

 

Overview: Resources to help children learn ways of opposing racism and bias.

Contents

Lesson Plans

Anti-Bias Books

Resources

Weblinks

Evaluation

Student Work

Lesson Plans Learning activities, materials & web resources for presenting anti-bias books.	Books & Resources for Adults An annotated list of books and audio-visual materials available at Franklin School.
Anti-Bias Books for Children An annotated list of selected books for teaching.	Weblinks Links to book publishers, internet lesson plans, discussions of racism & vendors.
Student Projects Student responses to the literature, discussion and learning activities used in classrooms.	How to Evaluate Books Links to information on how to analyze children's books for bias.

Project Overview

Our project centers around the development of resources to help children learn ways of opposing racist and biased actions and attitudes. These resources include sets of mini-lessons using appropriate children's literature and related media, as well as books for adults and community resources.

We have created literature-based anti-bias kits that contain books, activities, accompanying lesson plans, and supporting media. The lesson plans and activities help to integrate each kit with the Newton curriculum. Team members have designed this website to make these resources broadly available, to provide an opportunity for teacher collaboration, and to publish student work .

Goals

Our goal has been to develop and use a set of resources to integrate active anti-racism into the Franklin School curriculum and community through a multi-pronged approach that includes resource development, staff training and student activities.

Members of our team are available to present a staff development workshop, which includes a multimedia presentation, The History of People of Color in Children's Literature and resources for evaluating children's literature.

Grants

Two grants were funded by the Newton Schools Foundation. Yes, I Can Make a Difference allowed staff to identify and purchase materials for literature kits at each grade level, in addition to an adult library. It also provided support for a parent-teacher evening workshop. Weaving a Web of Respect began during the summer of 2000 and is ongoing. The purpose of this grant was to make anti-bias materials and resource for elementary teachers widely available through the World Wide Web.

These lessons were designed for use by teachers and other adults who work with children. Permission is granted to print these lessons for educational purposes. All other rights are reserved. Book illustrations are used with permission of the publisher. For permission to republish or download any part of this site, please contact the Webmaster.