Curriculum Modifications
Teachers will be instructed to eliminate certain traditional projects
from the curriculum for alternative, adoption-friendly projects.
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Lesson Plan
Objective: to expand the definition of family
1) Watch and discuss a few of the short videos about different family structures. (Preferrably from the POV "This is My Family" series)
2) Ask students questions about their "family," one by one, such as:
4) Ask students if they were surprised by anyone else's responses to any of the questions.
5) Ask students how their opinions about the definition of family have changed.
1) Watch and discuss a few of the short videos about different family structures. (Preferrably from the POV "This is My Family" series)
2) Ask students questions about their "family," one by one, such as:
- What are the first thoughts that come to your mind when you think of "family"?
- Who is your "family"?
- What is your personal definition of "family"?
- What are the most important things to you, your family and your community (defined as broadly as you like)?
- What are some of the things you do as a "family"?
4) Ask students if they were surprised by anyone else's responses to any of the questions.
5) Ask students how their opinions about the definition of family have changed.
(Adapted from Adoption Stories: Lesson Plan, 2010)
Strategies for Educators to Help Adopted Students
- Use positive language when the topic of adoption arises. For example, avoid using the terms "real" or "natural" parent; instead, use birth parent and biological parent.
- Invite an adoptive parent or adult adoptee to speak to the class.
- Allow students to voice questions and concerns about adoption, but step in if an adopted child is asked a question about adoption that they are uncomfortable answering.
- Intervene if an adopted child is teased or taunted about his or her adoptive family or birth parents and reinforce the idea that adoption is not an abnormal family structure to prevent this from happening.
- Have books on adoption available for the children to read in the classroom:
Books for Pre-School Children
Adopted Like Me by Jeffrey LaCure Adoption by Fred Rogers Adoption Stories for Young Children by Randall B. HicksResources Beginnings: How Families Come to Be by Virginia Kroll I Am Adopted by Norma Jean Sass My Real Family by Emily Arnold McCully Story of Adoption: Why Do I Look Different by Darla Lowe Twice Upon a Time: Born and Adopted by Eleanor Patterson |
Books for Elementary Students
A Forever Family by Roslyn Banish Adoption by Judith Greenberg Adoption Is For Always by Linda Walvood Girard Being Adopted by Maxine B. Rosenberg Did My First Mother Love Me? by Kathryn Ann Miller Families Are Different by Nina Pellegrini How Babies and Families Are Made by Patricia Schaffer How I Was Adopted by Joanna Cole Mario’s Big Question: Where Do I Belong? by Carolyn Nystrom The Mulberry Bird: A Story of Adoption by Ann Braff Brodinsky Real Sisters by Susan Wright We Are Family by Sandra D. Lawrence |
Books for Junior High Students
Growing Up Adopted by Maxine B. Rosenberg Molly By Any Other Name by Jean Davies Okimoto The Long Journey Home by Richard Delaney The Rainbow People by Laurence Yep We Don’t Look Like Our Parents by Harriet Langsam Sobol Who is David—A Story of An Adopted Adolescent and His Friends by Evelyn Nerlove |
Books for High School Students
The Adoption Reader by Susan Wadia-Ells, Ed. Coping with Being Adopted by Shari Cohen Filling in the Blanks: A Guided Look at Growing Up Adopted by Susan Bagel How It Feels to Be Adopted by Jill Krementz Perspectives on a Grafted Tree: Thoughts for Those Touched by Adoption by Patricia Irwin Johnson Why Didn’t She Keep Me? Answers to the Question Every Adopted Child Asks by Barbara Burlingham-Brown |
References
Adoption Stories: Lesson Plan. (2010). Retrieved from POV: Documentaries with a point of view: http://www.pbs.org/pov/adoption/lesson_plan.php
Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association (IFAPA). Adoption Basics for Educators: How Adoption Impacts Children & How Educators Can Help. http://www.ifapa.org/pdf_docs/AdoptionBasicsforEducators.pdf
Mitchell, C. (2007). Adoption awareness in school assignments: A guide for parents and educators. Retrieved from http://www.adoptionpolicy.org/Adoption_Awareness_Schools.pdf.
Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association (IFAPA). Adoption Basics for Educators: How Adoption Impacts Children & How Educators Can Help. http://www.ifapa.org/pdf_docs/AdoptionBasicsforEducators.pdf
Mitchell, C. (2007). Adoption awareness in school assignments: A guide for parents and educators. Retrieved from http://www.adoptionpolicy.org/Adoption_Awareness_Schools.pdf.
Illinois State University |TCH 210 Sec 001 Spring 2014 | Amy Frederick, Spanish Education | Grace Heim, Speech-Language Pathology & Spanish | Created 3/26/14 | Last Updated 4/1/2014