Teaching Tolerance to the Gifted
We are a nation of many skin colors, religions, types of family units, economic levels, languages, physical and mental abilities, political persuasions, ethnicities, customs, and so forth. It is important that young people learn to understand those who may not look, act, or think the same as they do. That does not mean that they always need to agree with those who are different, but it also doesn’t mean that they should belittle or bully people who are not the same. Instead, kids need to discover what they can learn from one another. By incorporating tolerance at home and at school, we develop environments where young people feel safe and appreciated. We also open up their minds to different cultures and ideas. All of this enhances general learning.
There are some excellent websites that help both parents and educators teach kids tolerance. Here are a few.
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Teaching Your Child Tolerance—Explains to parents why their own discomfort with the subject of tolerance should not get in the way, why tolerance is important, and how it can be taught at home.
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Teaching Tolerance—A wealth of information is provided to use with students of all ages. The current featured activity is
Discrimination on the Menu.
Discrimination on the Menu provides lesson plans for grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Discussion questions are challenging and thought provoking for even your brightest students. In other sections of the website, you will find articles from past issues of
Teaching Tolerance magazine, classroom activities, teaching kits, and recommended resources.
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RaceBridges for Schools—This website provides videos, theatre games, lesson plans, and resources that build relationships and promote understanding of many different ethnicities. Be sure and scroll to the bottom of the first page of the website and click on “Other RaceBridges Projects” for even more ideas.
Teachers who are beginning to plan for the next school year will find many community-building activities at these websites. The activities are valuable no matter what your teaching environment may be—regular classroom, gifted classroom, or gifted pullout.