6 Exciting Lessons making it easy to bring disability representation into your classes!

Sharon Pennock
Mon, 27 Jan 2025 16:49:14 +0000

We’re back with 6 more lessons. 6 more exciting ways to bring disability representation into your classes!

Astrophysicist Dr. Wanda Diaz-Merced: Introduction to Sonification - 2nd to 4th grade, STEM and Arts

This is a lesson about Astrophysicist and Computer Scientist Dr. Wanda Diaz-Merced who is a blind scientist who studies the stars by listening to data converted into sound through a process called sonification.

“Different: A Great Thing to Be!” - Similarities and Differences Lesson - this is a second lesson for this book, be sure to check them both out! K-3rd grade, ELA, Social and Emotional Development and Character Development

This lesson has five activities which can be spread between multiple days as time allows within English Language Arts blocks. Through a teacher-led interactive read aloud and whole class discussion of the story: “Different: A Great Thing to Be” by Heather Avis, students will be encouraged to identify similarities between themselves and the main character in the story, Macy, and their classmates, as well as embrace differences within themselves, Macy and their classmates.

Exploring Nancy Polette’s “The Spy with the Wooden Leg: The Story of Virginia Hall” with the help of a reading journal - 4th to 7th grade, ELA, Social Studies - History - Civics

The students will learn how to use a reading journal to aid their exploration of a biography “The Spy with the Wooden Leg: The Story of Virginia Hall” which will be read as a class and individually. This reading will be slow in order to help support students’ discovering how to read, process, and reflect upon biography in the form of a chapter book and use this information to enrich their study of History. Many aspects of this lesson are flexible and can be adapted to the needs of your students.

Mechanical Engineering: Wheels and Gears - How One Invention Can Lead to Another featuring Ralph Teetor - 3rd grade, STEM, ELA, Social Studies

This lesson is a STEM lesson followed by a History lesson with an ELA activity. The STEM lesson explores basic concepts of mechanical engineering and physics while showing that the parts, knowledge and skills used to develop old, even ancient machines can be used to create new machines.

Global Development of Disability Rights: Timeline and Maps - 9th and 10th grade, Social Studies - History - Civics

High school students will explore the development of disability rights within various countries and time periods. Working together in groups, students will select a country of focus. Each group will collaborate to create timelines and maps, trace key events, legislation, and influential figures surrounding disability in their country.

This lesson fosters a deeper understanding of how geographical and historical contexts have shaped the accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities. Through research and analysis of primary and secondary sources, students will develop their skills in historical inquiry and geographical interpretation, while gaining a comprehensive view of the global disability rights movement.

Into the Woods: Exploring Disabilities in Fairy Tales and Classic Stories - 9th - 12th grade, Social Studies - History - Civics, Arts, ELA

Using Amanda Leduc’s book “Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space,” as inspiration students will consider different representations of disability in fairy tales and classic stories. They will watch an interview and a reading with Leduc, read 2 texts referenced in her book and learn to identify issues with how disabled people are presented and stereotyped. Students will produce two written assignments. One is an update to a classic story (either Beauty and the Beast or the Little Mermaid); the students will rewrite the classic tale to center and honor experiences of all bodies and abilities. The second assignment is a choice assignment. Students will either rewrite a second tale, or write a 1 page autobiographical story in the style of a fairy tale.