Lesson

2: Our Classroom CommunityTogether, Not the Same!

Behavioral
Objectives

Social-Emotional Learning
Week Two, Tuesday (Day 2)
Grade 3 or 4
35 40 Minutes

1. Students will watch an Android Commercial and consider what the
message of the commercial is for our classroom (not for consumers).
2. Students will work in random groups to discuss how food is a part of our
identity, that we each have different food identities, and to capture
these ideas on a chart or poster.

What can we learn by studying food?
How is food connected to my identities?
How does the food we eat tell a story?

Essential
Questions

Lesson Goals

My ultimate goal for this lesson is for students to explore what it means to
appreciate diverse perspectives and experiences within our classroom
community. The video depicts unlikely pairs of animals working together, and
the video ends with the tagline: Be together, Not the Same. This is a wonderful
mantra to set the tone for the terms of engagement during this study. Students
will tackle challenging questions with each other, and this learning experience
at the front-end of the unit will increase students comfort with each other (and
hopefully, therefore, their willingness to share and participate).

Participation
Strategy

Food is often a very personal topic. This learning experience is designed for
students to celebrate their personal food traditions or to investigate their food
traditions. Students will work with their table partners or through randomized
grouping to discuss the video and to create a poster to hang in the classroom
throughout the unit study.

Classroom Set
Up and
Materials

The video will be pre-loaded onto the Smart Board, and students response
journals will be handy. The materials for the poster markers, pencils, etc. will
be organized into basket bins for students to take to their tables. The basket
bins will be numbered according to the group, and on the Smart Board or black
board, students names will be listed according to the group they are assigned
to. Students will need to have choices of spaces to work in with their group: a
table, the floor, the classroom rug, the hallway, etc.

Materials:
1. Commercial (on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnVuqfXohxc)
2. Student Group Sheet, projected or written on the board
3. Student Response Journals

4. Poster Paper
5. Basket of Markers, Post-Its, Pencils, and other materials

The Plan

Hook

Students will be seated in their rug spots. Using clipboards and pencils, students
will have the choice to take notes in their response journals. I will have the
video pre-loaded so that it is ready to start. Students will have some thinking
time to focus on the graffiti walls and to warm-up their brains.

Video: Together, Not the Same

1. I will play the video twice (it is quite brief). Students may not attend to the
greater message of the video the first time that they view it. After two views, I
will ask students to think about why I chose to show this video with them. After
some thinking time, students can stop-and-jot in their journals.

2. At this point, I would ask students to think about the connection between this
commercial and our class. After some laughter about our class being a room full
of animals, I would then challenge students to brainstorm some ideas about
the message of the commercial. Students would be able to chat with their Turn
and Talk partner, and then have a whole-group share.

3. Once students have had sufficient time to share their thinking with a partner,
they would be dismissed to their random grouping (whether it is their tables).

Engagement: Group Work

1. I will explain to students that we will work together and study food as a
community of diverse people. I will express how beautiful and wonderful it is to
be together but not to be the same that would not be quite as special! Once I
am confident that students comprehend the message of the commercial and our
discussion, I will ask students to create a poster that will remind us to be a
respectful community and to appreciate each others experiences and
perspectives.

2. I will monitor student work at their groups and offer any guidance as
necessary.

Closing Group Share

When students are completed, each group will present their poster and explain
their thought process. Some closing circle questions would be: How will we be
respectful community members? What does it mean to me that different people
have different food traditions? I will share with students that in the following
lesson, we will share our own food stories and traditions.

Assessment
Strategies

Teacher
Reflection

In this lesson, I am assessing how students are able to work together to create a
visual representation of an abstract idea. I will observe their posters and their
process of creating the poster with others. I will then use this information to
scaffold future group work projects.


For this unit to be successful, the classroom culture is very important. Students
will have had regular practice working in groups, but one of the culminating
tasks requires students to create one product. I anticipate that this will be a
challenge for some students. Whenever students are grouped, they are flexibly
grouped to ensure that no one student assumes one position or identity.
Some of the questions I will consider after this lesson include:

o Were the participation strategies helpful for the intended learners?
What other supports might be necessary in the future?
o Was the commercial appropriate and successful in conveying an idea to
students?
o How well did students work together? Why or why not?
o Were students able to independently problem-solve while working in
their groups, or did they rely on teacher direction? Were students
motivated to complete their tasks?
o Were all students able to be successful in their own way? How should
students be grouped for the next learning experience?
o What are the next steps? What were students particularly or especially
curious about? What did they not respond to?
o How can this lesson be improved?