High School Health Diversity Lesson Plan

Embracing Gender Identity and Cultural Differences

By Cecilia Gonzalez
Book title: The Moon Within
Author: Aida Salazar
Publication date: February 26, 2019
Culture: Latinx, Indigenous, Women, and LGBTQ+ culture
Topic: Puberty, Gender Identity, and embracing differences
Grade Level: High School Health (9th grade)

Social Justice Standard(s):

1. Identity Anchor Standard #3. Students will recognize that people’s multiple identities
interact and create unique and complex individuals.
2. Diversity Anchor Standard #8. Students will respectfully express curiosity about the
history and lived experiences of others and will exchange ideas and beliefs in an
open-minded way.
3. Diversity Anchor Standard #10. Students will examine diversity in social, cultural,
political, and historical contexts rather than in ways that are superficial or oversimplified.
Nevada Academic Content Standards
For High School Health
● PCE.HS.3 Analyze the importance of accepting the similarities and differences of self
and others as it relates to personal, community, and environmental health (without
discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, national origin,
disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity or expression, per NRS 651.070).
● HRS.HS.1 Analyze the role hormones play within the structures and functions of the
human reproductive systems.
● HRS.HS.2 Analyze how brain development has an impact on cognitive, social, and
emotional changes of adolescence and early adulthood.2
Objective(s):
● Students will be able to identify key similarities and differences within cultures and how
they impact one another by using examples from the book and their own lived
experiences with 95% accuracy.
● Students will be able to analyze and dissect their own biases/assumptions about puberty
and gender through group discussions and written responses with 90% accuracy.
Materials:
● Physical copy or audio recording of The Moon Within
● Notebook/piece of paper
● Index cards
● Pencil
● Tape
Procedure:
1. Introduce The Moon Within by Aida Salazar. Ask students if they have ever thought
about what gender is, and how people of different genders and biological sexes
experience different things within varying cultures.
2. Read the book over the course of two weeks. Some chapters will be assigned to read
independently, some will be read in small groups, and some chapters will be read during
class by the teacher to facilitate class discussions while reading the book.
3. Discuss:
● Fishbowl arrangement: “Four to five chairs are made into a small inner
circle (the fishbowl). Then the rest of the chairs are placed into bigger circles
outside of the fishbowl. Students volunteer to sit inside the fishbowl to
participate in the discussion, leaving one chair open to allow someone from
the other chairs to switch. The teacher introduces the discussion questions
and the participants start discussing the topic, the rest of the students watch
and can take notes.
● What is gender?
● How do different cultures view gender?
● What are some ways that bodies change during puberty?
● Have you ever felt like all of these changes, both physical and emotional,
were overwhelming and like they were incredibly hard to deal with?
● Have you ever applied gender or cultural stereotypes to someone else?
Moving forward what are some ways that we can work on actively
fighting against those stereotypes?
● In what ways can we make sure we are supporting and magnifying
marginalized people’s voices (transgender people, Indigenous people,
etc)?
1. Activities:
● The fishbowl discussion I mentioned above is one of my activities for this lesson
plan and also a part of my discussion. The best way for students to comprehend
these abstract topics is to discuss and ask questions.
● For the second activity (I got the idea from this lesson plan but changed it up a little and
added some things)
● hand out 5 index card to each student and ask them to write out (one on each
card):
● An adjective to describe the way teenagers act (talkative, friendly,
aggressive, etc)
● A clothing item that teenagers wear (hats, baggy jeans, tank tops, etc)
● A hobby that teenagers like to partake in (dancing, playing video games,
basketball, etc)
*save the other 2 index cards*
Then collect all of the index cards, and draw a scale on the whiteboard like this:
Feminine ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Masculine

Shuffle the cards then hand them back out to different students. Then one by one, have the
students go up to the board, read the card, and then tape the card where they think it goes on the
scale. Encourage respectful conversation when students disagree. Ultimately, it is up to the
person holding the index card where they place it. Once every card is placed have the students sit
back down and facilitate the discussion.
Discuss:
● Was this activity difficult? And were you surprised by any of your classmates’ choices?
● What are some notecards that you would move on the scale, where would you move
them? Why?
● Do any of your choices reflect gender stereotypes?
● Do you think everyone is ever going to agree on what is masculine/feminine, or that
everyone has their individual view of gender? Why?
Once the discussion is over, clear off the whiteboard and ask the students to write on the leftover
index cards:
● One negative thing they’ve experienced due to their gender
● One positive thing they’ve experienced due to their gender
Also, explain to students that they can and should write specifically how their experiences due to
their gender might be specific to their culture. Oftentimes these identities overlap and it’s
important to acknowledge and talk about that.
Then collect the cards and read them off. Tell the students that if they’re comfortable doing so,
they can raise their hand when they have also experienced what is written on the index card.
After reading the cards, have these questions displayed on the board, give students some time to
write down their answers in their notebook/piece of paper. Then discuss:
● How did it feel when you raised your hand and saw you weren’t the only one?
● How does our community or culture influence how we view gender?
● In what ways do you wish people were more understanding of your gender?
● In what ways are you going to be more understanding towards other genders?

Assessment:
● Students will be assessed on the Fishbowl Discussion based on their participation and
how well they understand the concepts. Their effort to answer questions and ask
follow-up questions will also be graded.
● Students will be assessed during the Index Card activity based on their participation in
writing index cards and placing the cards on the board. They will also be assessed based
on their effort put into the group discussion and the paper turned in with their answers to
the discussion questions. Since not all students are comfortable actively participating I
will still give credit for putting notable effort into the written response.