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Multicultural Lesson Plan: Our Awesome Differences!

Jaecyn M. Salomon

College of Southern Nevada

EDU 280

Professor Christensen

May 8, 2022
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Multicultural Lesson Plan: Our Awesome Differences!

1. Lesson Objective

Grade Level: 2

Subject: English: Celebrating Differences

• Observable objective for purpose of activity: Students will be able to identify physical

and personal traits of an individual.

Multicultural Goal: Develop an educational environment that promotes respect for differences.

• Observable objective for multicultural goal: Students will be able to validate that each

person has their own physical and personal traits and develop a positive, accepting

attitude towards each person’s differences.

2. Materials

o Book: “It’s OK to be Different” by Sharon Purtill

o “Mini-Me” Puppets

o “This is Me” Handout

o Craft Supplies: Markers, crayons, scissors, construction paper, glue, stickers,

glitter, felt, googly eyes, etc.

o Anchor Chart

o Bulletin Board
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3. Instruction-Learning Process

Do First: Gather all students to the reading area of the classroom. Start the lesson by asking

“What makes you unique?” Students will follow by answering questions about their traits.

Introduce the lesson for the day.

Mini-Lesson: Start the lesson by popcorn reading, “It’s OK to be Different” by Sharon Purtill.

Popcorn reading will keep the students focused and engaged in the lesson. After reading,

demonstrate how the book mentions how physical traits are on the outside, such as skin color,

hair color, eye color, shape, and size, and personal traits are on this inside, such as hobbies,

interests, actions, words, and thoughts. Again, ask the students “What makes you unique?” and

see how their answers change.

Guided Practice: Together with the teacher, the class will create an anchor chart. The anchor

chart will be a t-chart, one side listing physical traits and the other side listing personal traits. The

students will take turn giving examples of physical and personal traits and the teacher will add

the answers to the chart.

Independent Practice: Students will be given a “Mini-Me” puppet. They will create their own

“Mini-Me” puppet by demonstrating both of their physical and personal traits. For example, a

student would use craft supplies to color their Mini-Me to look like them, but also add a football

to demonstrate that they enjoy football, write the word “helpful” on their shirt to show that they

are a helpful person, or perhaps their flag to highlight where they are from.

Exit Slip: Students will write 5 sentences on the “This is Me” handout explaining their Mini-Me

puppet and their traits. The teacher will collect the “Mini-Me” and “This is Me” handouts and

attach it to the “Our Awesome Differences!” bulletin board in the classroom.

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4. Resources

Purtill, S., & Saha, S. (2019). It’s OK to be Different: A Children’s Picture Book About

Diversity and Kindness (Illustrated ed.). Dunhill Clare Publishing.

5. Reflection

1. What specific subject concept and skills were taught and how were they taught?

The main concept that was taught throughout the lesson is that every person has their

own physical and personal traits, and this is what makes people unique. From this,

students learn that everyone around them is different, and it is awesome to be different.

2. What specific multicultural knowledge, skills, etc. were achieved?

With reading the book about differences and bringing their differences to life on their

own Mini-Me puppets, students achieve a positive and accepting attitude toward their

own differences and everyone else around them. Students will take this knowledge with

them as they grow and learn how to accept all people of society.

3. Evaluate the active student learning during the “Instruction-Learning Process”

The instruction-learning process was designed for students to be active and engaged.

First, the lesson opens with a question that allow students to think and share. Secondly,

going into the mini-lesson, students are asked to popcorn read the book out loud to the

class. This ensures that the students are focused and engaged, and the teacher is not the

only one doing the reading. Finally, after the lesson, the students are using their

knowledge and ideas from what they learned from the lesson to create their own puppets.

I think that this activity is not only informative, but also engaging because it is fun and

personal for the students.

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4. List the strengths and weaknesses of this activity.

Strengths:

- Students are actively engaged throughout the entire process.

- Students learn about themselves and their peers.

- Students learn about physical and personal traits and how each person is different

because of their traits.

- Students develop positive, accepting attitudes toward others.

- “Our Awesome Differences!” bulletin board creates an environment for respecting others

in the classroom, like the multicultural goal asks for.

Weaknesses:

- One lesson cannot entirely change a person’s perspective about others, but students can

surely learn how to change their perspective.

- The Mini-Me puppet may take longer than 15 minutes.

- Lesson should be altered to also highlight cultural differences, if possible.

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Name: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

This is Me!
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Mini-Me Puppets