Teacher's guide to In My Heart, I Am a Dancer
by Debora Kodish and Deborah Wei
Part Three: Lesson 8 (K-4): Take a stand Worksheet
Chamroeun Yin has come to perform at your school. There will be a performance in the auditorium during school. When you get to school this morning, Chamroeun is just arriving and is carrying in his costumes. You see some students laughing and pointing at him. You cannot hear all of what they are saying, but you hear one of the children say "ching chong". Some teachers are standing nearby and probably heard some of what the students said, but they are busy organizing their students for the day and do not say anything.
Later, in the auditorium for the performance when the curtain opens, many of your classmates are excited by the beautiful costumes, but you hear some students laughing again. A student near the back of the auditorium says "faggot" very loudly. No one knows who said it.
Now it is after the performance, and you have returned to your classroom with your classmates. In your group, discuss what happened. Develop a plan for confronting teasing with your group based on the questions below.
Choose someone from your group to be a recorder. Make sure to write down all the ideas that come up in your group.
Choose someone else to be the group facilitator. This person's job will be to make sure everyone has a turn to talk and that everyone is listened to. This person also makes sure that the group gets through all its tasks.
In your group, discuss the following questions:
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Do you think it was wrong for the students to laugh at Chamroeun in the morning. Why or why not?
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Do you think the teachers who heard the laughing should have said anything to the students? Why or why not?
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Do you think you should have said something to the students? What would stop you from saying something to them? Imagine that you were required to say something to them. What would you say?
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How do you think Chamroeun felt when he heard the students laughing? How do you think he felt when someone yelled "faggot" during his performance?
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What should teachers have done to respond to what happened in the auditorium? What should students have done?
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What kind of things could the school develop to help prevent students from teasing?
After your discussion, your group can move on to the group project!
Take a stand: Group project
Design an anti-teasing campaign for your school. You need to:
- Develop a slogan for your campaign
- Develop a poster for your slogan
- Develop a series of activities for the campaign
Design a policy around teasing for your school. The policy should include:
- Rules about teasing
- Responsibilities for students, teachers and other members of the school community that hear teasing
- Consequences for members of the community who violate the rules
- A plan for how to carry out your anti-teasing campaign which you developed.
