Davika Ramadhin

Ramadhin 1

Professor McCarthy
Masters Seminar: Inquiry in Teaching and Learning in Childhood Education
Rationale
For my lesson, I would like to educate my students on equality. Equality is defined as the
state of being equal in status, rights, and opportunities. Equality is important to teach to students
as it is something always fought for throughout history to today. Some modern day examples are
the feminist movement, immigrants from Syria, and the black lives matter movement. This
lesson would ideally take place in a 5th grade classroom.
I think it is important for students to discuss equality because as they learn the definition
they are open to the realization that equality isnt so black and white and there are numerous
factors that play an important role to it. Students learn just because certain groups have certain
rights, it doesnt mean they are viewed as equal. Some students are already aware in todays
world that they arent treated as equal because of their gender, race, size, or status as a citizen.
This is always highlighted in news, TV shows, or even in their own homes.
Two main components I would like to use to drive this lesson, as well as a majority of my
lessons are current events and Disney. As many might find these two components polar
opposites, I believe they are tied to one another as Disney tries to address important issues that
often go over others heads. Even if its not with their movies, but their shows on Disney
Channel also try to address important current situations and encourage equality, peace, and
kindness. Current event usage helps keeps students up to date in the world and real life events.

Ramadhin 2
With open discussions in classrooms it allows students to express their thoughts on the matter,
ask questions, and open their mind to a situation.
There are different educational philosophers that come into play in my lesson. Howard
Gardner theory of multiple intelligence defiantly played a huge role when I was developing my
lessons Howard Garden believed that intelligence was separated into different modalities and
each student succeeded in different ways fitting the modalities. These modalities are musical,
visual, verbal, logical, bodily, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential. It is well
known that each student learns and translates their work and understanding best in different
ways. I would like to give students a fair opportunity to explain their topic of choice through
anyway they feel best. When looking at Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice, it helps
show that ones moral intelligence has a heavy role in the way students learn and its important
to appeal to that sense of emotional learning.
A next philosopher that helped influence my lesson was Daniel Goleman who developed
the idea of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to preserve emotions to
access and generate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth. I believe once a
student feels an emotional connection to their topic, they will be more passionate when doing
research and working on their presentation. The five components of emotional intelligence are
self-awareness, self-regulation, internal motivation, empathy, and social skills. When learning
about equality, it is important to have these skills when discussing equality. In his book he states
it is the emotional mind that captures the upper hand, swamping the rational mind (pg 9) This
highlights that a student needs to be emotionally in touch in order to better build their thinking.

Ramadhin 3
Vygotsky belief that social interaction plays a fundamental role in education is definitely
the backbone to this lesson. Students will be required to discuss their topic of choice with their
groups and fellow students. This will help them further develop their thoughts and research.
Without discussion, students will be stuck on a one way mindset. In Thought and Language, it
states Vygotsky was an important developmental tool leading children toward self-regulation and
voiceless verbal thinking. (pg 16) This means that Vygotsky helps children think of different
ways to help without voicing their opinions.
For this lesson, students will read as a class The Sneetches and Other Stories. This story
helps explain how inequality is demonstrated in the world in a friendly matter. Before the
reading, students will discuss what they believe is the definition of equality and provide
examples rather it be from their personal life or their favorite books and movies. Students will
then recall from their past learnings some groups that fought for equal rights and the teacher will
write them on the board as they will be referred back to later in the lesson.
Different students will have different definitions of equality and different subjects they
are interested in based of their backgrounds and lifestyle. Students will also discover fellow
classmates who have the same interest which will make the project fun for them. Each group
presentation will be unique as students are given all creative rights with no limits as long as then
address the main components of their topic. It is the student's job to address the history of the
group they are discussing, how far their fight has gotten them in todays time, an organization
that helps support their cause, and what can be done in order to secure equality remains constant.

Ramadhin 4
Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice. Basic books.
Goleman, D. (2006). Emotional intelligence. Bantam.
Vygotsky, L., Hanfmann, E., & Vakar, G. (2012). Thought and language. MIT press.