LESSON 9

What does it mean to belong?

INTRODUCTION

Overview

In Lesson 8, students explored issues of membership and belonging through a fictionaland historical example. “The ‘In’ Group,” a short reading included in this lesson, bringsideas about inclusion and exclusion to a more familiar context—a middle school play-ground. The narrator of the story, Eve Shalen, recounts her experience as an outcastamong her peers. She highlights a moment in eighth grade when she was invited to jointhe “in” group. At times a victim of ostracism, Eve is confronted with a difficult choiceabout how to behave. Should she join the “in” group in taunting another classmate?Should she stand by as they read a classmate’s diary? Should she try to stop them fromviolating her classmate’s privacy? As students predict what they think Eve will do, theycan identify the different roles people play in a community. Words such as victim, perpe-trator, bystander, and upstander help students describe the behavior of individuals andgroups they will study in world history. This vocabulary also helps students think abouttheir roles and relationships within their own communities.

Eve’s story also highlights the universal desire to belong to a community—a desire thatcan be seen in the behavior of ancient Egyptians as well as Mayans. In those societies, likemany others, ostracism and exile were considered to be the harshest penalties. To achievea sense of belonging, individuals often choose to conform to the norms and behaviors ofthe group. Indeed, Eve Shalen joins the “in” group in mocking a fellow student eventhough she knows that this behavior is wrong and hurtful. Throughout their study ofworld history, students will recognize examples of conformity to established customs, reli-gious beliefs, and patterns of behavior. At times, conformity may serve a civilization wellby maintaining stability and a sense of cohesion, whereas at other times conformity maylead to a society’s decline, especially in times of environmental, economic, or politicalchange.

Learning goals

• Students will identify a range of responses individuals have at their disposal whenreacting to exclusion, discrimination, and injustice. Students will be able to define thewords bystander, perpetrator, victim, and upstander.

• Students will understand the terms belonging and conformity.

Materials

• “The ‘In’ Group” reading • Signs for barometer activity (optional)• Lesson 9: Warm-up questions (optional)

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LESSON PLAN

Warm-up

Before students read Eve Shalen’s story, have them spend a few minutes writing abouttimes when they have felt included and excluded. To guide students’ reflections, a set ofwarm-up questions have been included in this lesson plan.

Main activity

We have divided the reading “The ‘In’ Group” into two parts. This way, students can pre-dict what Eve Shalen will do and discuss what they think she should do before they actu-ally read about her decision.

Begin the activity by distributing a copy of Part 1 so students can read along while you ora student volunteer reads aloud. This story can also be read as a round robin read aloud.This strategy keeps students accountable for following along with the text because all stu-dents participate in reading. Typically, one student volunteers to read the first sentence,then his or her neighbor reads the next sentence, and so on.

After the class finishes reading Part 1, ask students to consider the question, “What areEve’s options?” As students list various choices Eve could make in this situation, recordtheir responses on the board. Students may mention that she could participate in readingthe diary, she could walk away, she could ask the “in” group for the diary so she can giveit back to its owner, or she could tell the teacher. When you have a range of responseslisted on the board, students can answer the following questions:

· What do you think Eve will do?· What do you think Eve should do?· What do you think you would have done in this situation?

Next, have students share their answers to the first two questions. One way to structurethis sharing is by using the barometer strategy. This teaching method asks students torespond to a question by standing on a specific point along a continuum. For this lesson,create an imaginary line in your classroom. The line should be long enough to allow allstudents in the class to stand on it. Tell the students that one end of the line represents,“Eve takes a stand against the ‘in’ group” and the other end represents, “Eve makes fun ofthe girl whose diary was taken.” You can post signs in the room labeling the two ends ofthe continuum. Then ask students to stand at the point on the line that best representswhat they think Eve will do. If students think that Eve will join the “in” group but notmake fun of the girl, they can stand near the middle.

Facilitate a discussion in which students at various points along the line explain what theythink Eve will do and what leads them to this conclusion. As they listen to their peers’comments, students can change their position on the line. If you have time, repeat thisactivity, but change the prompt so that students stand on the point along the continuumthat represents what they think Eve should do. Again, ask students to explain their posi-tion on the line. After the barometer activity, students can return to their seats and readPart 2 of “The ‘In’ Group.” Then have them respond to the following questions in writ-ing and in a class discussion:

· What did Eve do? · Why do you think Eve made this decision?

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· What does Eve mean when she writes, “Often being accepted by others is moresatisfying than being accepted by oneself”? · Do you agree or disagree with this idea? Why or why not?

Follow-through

“The ‘In’ Group” provides an opportunity to discuss themes such as conformity, peerpressure, and belonging—themes that resonate with students’ own experiences and thathave shaped the behavior of individuals throughout history.

The following activity helps students develop a vocabulary they can use to analyze theirown actions, the behavior of those around them, and the actions of individuals andgroups in the past. Often when students think about acts of injustice, they divide thoseinvolved into two groups: the victims and the perpetrators. Yet others contribute to theprevention or the perpetuation of injustice. For example, a bystander is someone who wit-nesses or knows about an act of injustice but chooses not to do anything about it. On theother hand, when confronted with information about an unjust act, an upstander takessteps to prevent or stop this act from continuing. Introducing students to the termsbystander and upstander can help them recognize the consequences of their own actions(and inaction) and the choices of individuals and groups throughout history.

As a final activity, review the terms victim, perpetrator, bystander, and upstander with stu-dents, and ask them to apply these terms to “The ‘In’ Group.” Following are someprompts to help guide this discussion:

· In this story, who was the victim?· Who are the perpetrators?· Who are the bystanders?· Who are the upstanders?

In this story, Eve Shalen might represent a bystander. She did not steal the diary herselfor do anything excessive to torment its owner. Yet, although she knew that reading thediary was wrong, she watched while the “in” group read it without doing anything tostop them. An interesting question to ask students is, “What would an upstander havedone in this situation?”

To end this lesson, have students discuss the question, “Why do you think people donothing even when they know something happening around them is wrong?” This is anideal time to introduce students to the terms belonging and conformity. Often, becausepeople want to belong to a community, they will adopt the values and behavior theythink are most likely to be accepted by this group. Indeed, Eve Shalen wanted to belongto the “in” group so badly that she participated in reading the diary even though sheknew it was wrong.

Curriculum connections: You can use the terms introduced here (victim, perpetrators,bystanders, and upstanders) to help students understand and interpret events in world historysuch as the trial of Socrates or the Spanish invasion of the Mayan Empire.

Homework

Several important issues and new terms are introduced in this lesson. Allow students tochoose from one of the following questions to respond to in their journals:

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1. Pick a moment of injustice from your own life, from history, or from current events.Briefly describe this event. Then identify the victim, the perpetrators, the bystanders,and the upstanders. Finally, answer the question, “Why do you think people donothing even when they know something happening around them is wrong?”

2. Identify a moment when you did something to fit in with a group. What did you do?Would you do the same thing again? Why or why not? When can it be useful to con-form in order to belong to a group? When can conformity be harmful?

3. Write a short story in which the main character(s) deal with issues of conformity andbelonging.

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Lesson 9: Warm-up questions

Briefly describe a time when you . . .

1. Were included in a community or group:

How did this make you feel?

2. Were excluded from a community or group:

How did this make you feel?

3. Excluded someone else from a community or group:

How did this make you feel?

4. Did something that you thought might be wrong or stupid only because everyoneelse was doing it:

How did this make you feel?

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The “In” Group: Part 1

My eighth grade consisted of 28 students, most of whom knew each other from theage of 5 or 6. The class was close-knit and we knew each other so well that most of uscould distinguish each other’s handwriting at a glance. Although we grew up together,we still had class outcasts. From second grade on, a small elite group spent a large por-tion of their time harassing two or three of the others. I was one of those two or three,though I don’t know why. In most cases when children get picked on, they aren’t goodat sports or they read too much or they wear the wrong clothes or they are of a differ-ent race. But in my class, we all read too much and didn’t know how to play sports.We had also been brought up to carefully respect each other’s races. This is what wasso strange about my situation. Usually, people are made outcasts because they are insome way different from the larger group. But in my class, large differences did notexist. It was as if the outcasts were invented by the group out of a need for them.Differences between us did not cause hatred; hatred caused differences between us.

The harassment was subtle. It came in the form of muffled giggles when I talked, androlled eyes when I turned around. If I was out in the playground and approached agroup of people, they often fell silent. Sometimes someone would not see me comingand I would catch the tail end of a joke at my expense.

I also have a memory of a different kind. There was another girl in our class who wasperhaps even more rejected than I. She also tried harder than I did for acceptance,providing the group with ample material for jokes. One day during lunch I was sittingoutside watching a basketball game. One of the popular girls in the class came up tome to show me something she said I wouldn’t want to miss. We walked to a corner ofthe playground where a group of three or four sat. One of them read aloud from asmall book, which I was told was the girl’s diary.

What do you think Eve will do?

What do you think Eve should do?

What do you think you would have done in this situation?

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The “In” Group: Part 2I sat down and, laughing till my sides hurt, heard my voice finally blend with the oth-ers. Looking back, I wonder how I could have participated in mocking this girl whenI knew perfectly well what it felt like to be mocked myself. I would like to say that ifI were in that situation today I would react differently, but I can’t honestly be sure.Often being accepted by others is more satisfying than being accepted by oneself,even though the satisfaction does not last. Too often our actions are determined bythe moment.

What did Eve do?

Why do you think Eve made this decision?

What does Eve mean when she writes, “Often being accepted by others is moresatisfying than being accepted by oneself. . . .”?

Do you agree or disagree with this idea? Explain your answer.

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