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LESSON PLAN (Grades 8-10) – STOP HATE SPEECH POSTER

This lesson is designed to allow students to express themselves creatively while learning about the connection between hate speech and genocide. Students will consider how each individual is responsible for confronting hate speech.

OBJECTIVES

By completing this assignment students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate visually a connection between hate speech and genocide.

  • Consider audience and purpose (for creating the poster) in designing a visual message.

  • Express their understanding of Hate Speech with the use of mixed media.

  • Create an appropriate composition that illustrates the dangers of hate speech.

RATIONALE

By completing this lesson, students will find themselves more aware of hate speech and its effects. The UN’s website page on hate speech states the following:

“Hate speech is in itself an attack on tolerance, inclusion, diversity and the very essence of our human rights and principles. More broadly, it undermines social cohesion, erodes shared values, and can lay the foundation for violence, setting back the cause of peace, stability, sustainable development and the fulfillment of human rights for all” (un.org).

TIME EXPECTATIONS

Introduction, discussion and videos = 30-60 minutes
Poster Design and Creation = 1-3 hour class periods

LESSON

(See Stop Hate Speech Poster Activity Prompt below)

Younger students will need more guidance and background before tackling this project. The following is a step-by-step process to facilitate that guidance. Adapt and/or modify as needed, depending on your own students.

Lesson Day One (1 hour class period)

  1. Hand out the Stop Hate Speech Poster - Thinking Sheet. Give students a few quiet moments to jot down their ideas in any of the boxes on the sheet, without discussion. Students are encouraged to leave room for more ideas that will be generated throughout the discussion.

  2. Share out ideas that have been generated so far. (You may begin by having students share with an elbow-partner first, before sharing with class.)

  3. Click on the following link (or copy and paste into URL): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnbcQT-b8ak

    This will take you to a short (2:23) video clip, entitled “Interview with Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide on Stopping Hate Speech.” Watch the video clip.

  4. Go back and add any new ideas/information onto the Thinking Sheet.

  5. Next, click on following link: https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/. Then click on the heading “The UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech” (under Key Documents). In this May 2019 document United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech it states:

    “Around the world, we are seeing a disturbing groundswell of xenophobia, racism and intolerance - including rising anti-Semitism, ant-Muslim hatred and persecution of Christians. Social media and other forms of communication are being exploited as platforms for bigotry. Neo-Nazi and white supremacy movements are on the march. Public discourse is being weaponized for political gain with incendiary rhetoric that stigmatizes and dehumanizes minorities, migrants, refugees, women and any so-called ‘other’” (un.org).

    “Hate speech is in itself an attack on tolerance, inclusion, diversity and the very essence of our human rights and principles. More broadly, it undermines social cohesion, erodes shared values, and can lay the foundation for violence, setting back the cause of peace, stability, sustainable development and the fulfillment of human rights for all” (un.org).

    In listing the 13 Commitments for action, number two states, “Tackling hate speech is the responsibility of all…starting with individual women and men” (un.org).

  6. Go back and add any new ideas/information onto the Thinking Sheet.

  7. Click on the following link (or copy and paste into URL):  https://www.commonsense.org/education/videos/teen-voices-hate-speech-online

  8. Go back and add any new ideas/information onto the Thinking Sheet. (There is a Digital Citizenship lesson and a video discussion activity on the CommonSense.org website with the video. If you have time and feel your students can benefit, you may choose to do those activities as well.)

  9. Look at the attached Sample Posters or find more poster ideas on Pinterest to share. Go back and add any new ideas/information onto the Thinking Sheet.

  10. Hand out the Stop Hate Speech Poster Activity Prompt. Review the assignment and the rubric.

Lesson Days Two and Three

Students work on their designs and create their poster. As students design their posters, have them refer back to their Thinking Sheet as well as consider the following questions:

  1. How would you define hate speech?

  2. What do your peers at school need to know to better understand the effects of hate speech?

  3. Who is responsible for stopping hate speech?

  4. What can we each do to have an impact?

  5. If you were to witness hate speech, what might you do? If it is beyond your ability to get involved and speak up safely, who might you go to?

After the class has created the posters, find places on campus to display them. Discuss the response that students get from their peers.

COMMON CORE STANDARDS

English Language Arts Standards » History/Social Studies » Grade 8

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7
Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

English Language Arts Standards » Speaking & Listening » Grade 8

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.2
Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.3
Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and relevance and sufficiency of the evidence and identifying when irrelevant evidence is introduced.

English Language Arts Standards » Writing » Grade 8

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 

English Language Arts Standards » History/Social Studies » Grade9-10

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.7
Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.

English Language Arts Standards » Speaking & Listening » Grade 9-10

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.2
Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.3
Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.

English Language Arts Standards » Writing » Grade 9-10

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.