Ability Privilege Lesson
11th grade, 12th grade, college and beyond Sharon Pennock 11th grade, 12th grade, college and beyond Sharon Pennock

Ability Privilege Lesson

This activity is designed for students to reflect on their own lives and their privilege status. Unfortunately in our society certain groups can navigate with ease, while others must fight for their basic rights. Students will reflect on how their ability (able-bodied or disabled) affects their lives and how they can use their privilege to help others.

Image Description: various heights of different colored bars lined up next to one another. The words “Ability Privilege” towards the top.

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Analyze a Poem for Theme - DEE the Chickadee
3rd grade, 4th grade Sharon Pennock 3rd grade, 4th grade Sharon Pennock

Analyze a Poem for Theme - DEE the Chickadee

This lesson will help students to analyze the theme of a poem. Students will compare their understanding of how they view disability before and after reading the poem. Students will compare the message and theme of the poem and contrast the bird in the poem to the life of a person with a disability.

Image Description: Chickadee sitting in a baseball hat

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Analyzing Text Structures with "Everyone Can Play" Lesson by CommonLit
3rd grade Sharon Pennock 3rd grade Sharon Pennock

Analyzing Text Structures with "Everyone Can Play" Lesson by CommonLit

In this text, students will learn about how video games are being adapted to meet the needs of players with disabilities. Students will practice analyzing text structures. They will understand how paragraphs build on one another and how authors organize their writing using specific text structures such as subheadings.

Image Description: Logo of CommonLit which looks like an open book

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Build A Web - Interdependence Lesson
Kindergarten Sharon Pennock Kindergarten Sharon Pennock

Build A Web - Interdependence Lesson

Students identify with each other some things they like and pass around a ball of twine. The twine represents a web and every student will be holding a part of it to keep it strong. Students will reflect on their own webs in their lives and create their own webs using crafting materials.

Image description: spider web

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Calculating the Distance Lesson by Rick Hansen Foundation
5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade Sharon Pennock 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade Sharon Pennock

Calculating the Distance Lesson by Rick Hansen Foundation

In this lesson, students complete grade-appropriate math problems using facts and figures from Rick Hansen’s Man In Motion World Tour. Students will examine mathematical problems evolving out of the day-to-day challenges of Rick Hansen’s Man In Motion World Tour. Students will apply multiplication and division skills to real-life math problems. Students will apply conversion skills to real-life math problems.

Image Description: Logo of Rick Hansen Foundation.

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Circle of Friends Lesson
9th grade, 10th grade Sharon Pennock 9th grade, 10th grade Sharon Pennock

Circle of Friends Lesson

Students will participate in an exercise and discussion on disability and segregation. In this lesson students will map out social interactions in their everyday lives. After they complete the exercise the teacher will facilitate a discussion on segregation. Students with disabilities who grow up in institutions are effectively segregated from the rest of the population, so their social circles tend to look very different from the students in class.  This lesson is split into two class periods. 

Image description: Overlapping circles with various disability icons inside each circle

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Concentric Circles Lesson
11th grade, 12th grade Sharon Pennock 11th grade, 12th grade Sharon Pennock

Concentric Circles Lesson

In this lesson students will contemplate how they perceive disability and explore stereotypes and misconceptions of disability through a circle discussion activity. This lesson is intended as an introductory activity on disability. Students are just beginning the discussion on disability. 

Image description: rainbow concentric circles

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Disability and Disability Arts - Physical Disability and Accessibility- Coloring Book - “A Day of Questions”
Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade Sharon Pennock Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade Sharon Pennock

Disability and Disability Arts - Physical Disability and Accessibility- Coloring Book - “A Day of Questions”

Disability and Disability Arts - Physical Disability and Accessibility- Coloring Book - “A Day of Questions”

This is a three part lesson to introduce the student to disability and a disabled artist's work. Disability arts is an art form where the context of the art takes on disability as its theme. Disability art is about exploring the various realities of what it's like to be disabled. The theme of disability may be used in a variety of ways in how the artist chooses to represent the theme in their work. This lesson uses a coloring book created by Wendy Elliot Vandivier.

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Disability Justice Lesson Plan - Education Amplifier

Disability Justice Lesson Plan - Education Amplifier

In this lesson plan, you’ll find six modules that you can mix and match, that all teach about different aspects of disability rights and disability justice.

Image Description: Education Amplifier’s illustration of Lydia X.Z. Brown

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‘Emmanuel’s Dream’ Lesson Plan
3rd grade Sharon Pennock 3rd grade Sharon Pennock

‘Emmanuel’s Dream’ Lesson Plan

Students will read ‘Emmanuel’s Dream’ by Laurie Ann Thompson, the true story of Emmanuel, a boy from Ghana who could only use one leg. Students will then complete a worksheet with a blank tshirt on it where they will write a word or phrase about how they are different but they are proud of that difference.

Image description: Cover image for “Emmanuel’s Dream”

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How to be a Kind Helper Lesson
Kindergarten, 1st grade Sharon Pennock Kindergarten, 1st grade Sharon Pennock

How to be a Kind Helper Lesson

This lesson teaches students the qualities of being a Kind helper and how to put them into practice. Students will listen to a person with a disability and their personal assistant about what it means to be a Kind helper. After the talk, students will have a chance to ask questions about helping. Students will learn that open communication is key to a Kind helper relationship. Students will learn that a person with a disability can live full productive lives with the help of their personal attendant.

Image description: 9 raised hands with the words “How to be a Kind Helper”

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Identifying Main Ideas and Central Idea with“College students with disabilities are too often excluded” by CommonLit
11th grade Sharon Pennock 11th grade Sharon Pennock

Identifying Main Ideas and Central Idea with“College students with disabilities are too often excluded” by CommonLit

In this text, students learn about the experiences of people with disabilities in college and the actions that can be taken to create more inclusive campuses. Students practice finding the main ideas of each paragraph or section and then the article’s overall central idea.

Image Description: Logo of CommonLit which looks like an open book

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