The following three lesson plans are offered as more detailed instructions for teaching ideas for projects suggested in this unit. It is hoped that each teacher will develop additional individual lessons and projects suggested by the material included within this paper.
Lesson One: Let’s Make A Poster
Subject Matter Areas
Science, Art, Language Arts
Vocabulary
Effective, eye-catching, lettering.
Objectives
To develop the ability to transfer scientific information acquired during the initial stages of this unit to a poster advocating positive behavior and/or attitudes relative to AIDS and its victims.
To understand and apply the elements of effective poster making.
Children will have been presented with a variety of scientific information regarding: 1. The body’s systems, especially the immune system. 2. Communicable diseases, their transmission, prevention, and, often, cure. 3. AIDS: How it may be acquired. How it invades the immune system. What may be done to slow its progress.
After this has been done and pupils have a reasonably adequate understanding of these areas, they will be asked to create posters covered by any of the following categories.
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1. Preventing communicable diseases.
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2. Preventing AIDS in particular.
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3. Understanding how AIDS is NOT transmitted.
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4. Promoting AIDS education.
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5. Encouraging further AIDS research.
Each of these areas will be discussed, with possible additions included. Children will suggest subtopics for each of these categories. The group will then be shown some examples of effective posters. These are easily available form newspaper or magazine advertisements. Effective slogans, appropriate lettering, and eye-catching illustrations will be shown and discussed. How ads and posters in general attract attention and make their point will be examined.
Pupils will then decide on the topic and objective of their poster and create their first draft. If the project is done with fifth or the other third grade participating in the “team” children will work in pairs with careful ground-rules laid out. After a mutual evaluation with the teacher, and perhaps the whole class, the final poster will be produced on more appropriate poster material. The results will be shared, discussed, and displayed, probably as part of the “team’s” culminating activities.
Lesson Two: Let’s Write A Letter
Subject Matter Areas
Language Arts, Letter Writing, Social Development
Vocabulary
heading, greeting, salutation, paragraphing, closing. signature
Objectives
To develop a more personal understanding of the emotions felt by AIDS victims and those who are emotionally connected to them.
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To develop the ability to communicate in an hones, yet positive, manner to people who have AIDS.
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To understand and apply the formal structure used in writing a friendly letter.
There are a variety of materials available which show examples of letters written by children who in some way have been affected by AIDS. (See bibliography.) Some are written by the children of victims, while some authors are victims themselves. Some are written to relatives who are victims and are alive, while in others the love-one has dies. Some speak to the victim; many speak to God. All are quite moving. Most express a range of emotions including hope, resignation, fear, and anger. They open many opportunities for discussion, particularly in speculating on the writer’s motivation and intention. They should help children to see that the victims of AIDS are real people, similar in many ways to the pupils themselves. They also clearly show that not all “victims” have AIDS.
Children will be read a number of letters appropriate to their grade level. Following each reading there will be discussion in which pupils will draw personal conclusions about the writer. Pupils will then select a letter to answer. This should be preceded by a group discussion concerning what should or shouldn’t be said: “Should unreasonable hope be offered? Should reprimands be given for anger or jealousy?” Ultimately, pupils will be allowed to make a personal decision relative to their own letter regarding the content to be included.
First drafts will be written without concern for the rules of appropriate letter form. Following a proof-reading conference with the teacher, the appropriate structure followed in writing a friendly letter will be presented to the class. This should be available in their language arts or reading texts.
In the next step, pupils will rewrite their letters including the proper heading, greeting, paragraphing, and closing, all containing acceptable punctuation. Though these letters can not be mailed, they will be shared with the class and perhaps will be part our “team’s” interchange among classrooms and in our culminating activities.
Extension of this lesson will involve a letter written to any character in The Ryan White Story and possibly some type of pen pal correspondence with individuals connected with a local AIDS project. The latter will hinge on availability and the maturity of the individual class.
Lesson Three: Let’s Make A Quilt
Subject Matter Areas
Social Development, Art, Historical research
Vocabulary
quilt, memorial, characteristics
Objectives
To further develop an understanding of AIDS victims as real people.
To construct a Memorial Quilt based upon this understanding.
To use research to increase understanding.
To develop and conduct an appropriate ceremony in presenting the quilt.
Throughout this unit, pupils will learn many people who are or were victims of AIDS. Some will be real, while others will be fictitious creations. Hopefully, pupils will come to know and care for at least some of these people. This lesson will attempt to allow pupils to express this knowledge and emotion by creating their own Memorial Quilt. Since they will have seen
Common Threads
, they will understand the purpose and process involved in making such a quilt.
To begin, the class will list the names of people from stories they have read and films they have seen. This list will include famous people who are known to have died from AIDS. These individuals will include famous people who are known to have died from AIDS. These individuals will then be assigned to groups of pupils who will attempt to assign personal characteristics and interests to each. Where appropriate pupils will research people such Arthur Ashe, Ryan White, and Rock Hudson. If contact is made with a local AIDS help group, I will attempt to gain information on anonymous but real victims.
Pupils will then create a panel for each victim. The first draft will be shared and critiqued by the group. The final quilt could be made from paper, but hopefully cloth material and parental assistance will be available to make the final product. A unit on quilt making 95.04.04 might prove a valuable resource.
Once the quilt is assembled, it will be displayed for the culminating activity with an appropriate reading of the panel names conducted. If possible, the pupils will develop film segments similar to those shown in the video. In these, pupils will discuss the individuals who are memorialized in the panels. This will require considerable planning and rehearsal but should provide a meaningful for pupils and should result in an effective culminating activity.