Celebrating Diversity

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INTRO

Have you ever struggled to teach your kids or students how to talk about differences? We often tell them differences are good, but when a child points out someone in public who looks different, we quickly hush them and tell them not to point out differences. Well, which is it? Differences are good, or they are so bad we can't even mention them?

Being different isn't bad- but how we talk differences is what matters.

I've created this outline to help parents and teachers approach this topic in a kid-friendly way that takes out some of the confusion. If you want a no-prep interactive PowerPoint to teach this, sign-up for my newsletter and the free lesson will be delivered to your inbox.

HOW TO TEACH

1) Why We Hide Differences

We are all different. We have different interests, looks, nationalities, culture, religions and personalities. These differences are important and good, but sometimes instead of celebrating them, we hide them. Sometimes other people make us feel like we need to hide our differences, and sometimes we hide them ourselves so we can blend in.

2) We Need Diversity

I compare differences to an ice cream sundae. Our differences are like the ingredients we add. We all have something different to add and together it makes something wonderful. If everyone added the same thing, we wouldn't have a sundae anymore. Anytime someone feels like they need to hide part of themselves to fit in, the whole group suffers.

The differences we have are meant to connect us together. But the way we talk & think about differences is important.

Big

We can talk about differenes in away that celebrate and connect people.

Or we can talk about them in a way that excludes and hurts people.

4 WAYS TO CELEBRATE DIVERSITY

I introduce these 4 guidelines to students for talking about diversity in a healthy way that connects people.

1) See the Person First

When we talk about diversity, it’s important to focus on the person first, not the differences. We are all equal, even though we’re different. We can focus on what we have in common first…and then celebrate our uniqueness.

I give several examples to help them decide what puts the person first. Here's an example:

Arya is a new girl at school. She is partially deaf and sounds different than others when she speaks. Two kids came up to talk to her at recess. Which one focused on the person first?

I like to jump rope too! Do you want to play together?

2) Don't Stereotype

Here's how I explain stereotyping to young children: Our brains like to classify and sort things into groups, but this can become a problem when our brains try to sort people. We all have different characteristics and groups we belong to- things like gender, race, religion, abilities, how you look, or where you’re from. Sometimes we assume things about someone based on one trait they have. This is called stereotyping. But people aren’t like objects. Each person is unique and doesn’t fit into a box. You have to remind your brain about this when it tries to stereotype people.

3) Use Belonging Words, Not Excluding Words

Try to talk about differences in a way that makes people feel like they are part of the group, instead of using words that make them feel like they don’t belong. Here's an example question below to help kids choose what belonging words looks like.

Which of these responses help the person feel like they belong?

First response: That's weird. Why do you wear that? Second Response: Cool! I've never worn something like that. What's it called?

4) Ask, Listen, & Learn

Everyone has a different life and a different way of seeing things. Each perspective is kind of like a flashlight. When we ask, listen, and learn about other people’s lives, it’s like we get to share their light. We play an interactive game available in this free PowerPoint download where we split into two groups that must work together to figure out what key goes in a key hole, but each team can only see half of the keyhole with their flashlight. They have to share their "light" to figure out the answer.

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Thanks!

-Eve

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