Instructional design is a concept teachers learn in undergraduate or graduate studies. It is an incredible resource as a teacher because it provides valuable insight into classroom instruction and learning.
Somehow after graduation, there is never enough time to develop quality lesson plans. There are so many things to focus on and so many requirements that the lesson plan becomes overwhelming and feels like a daunting task. As a result, the lesson plan is quickly modified and with experience rarely used.
Wherever you are in your instructional design journey, this article and our diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) lesson plan project ask you to rethink your approach and encourage you to share wonderful lessons with others so all Latin teachers can benefit. By concentrating on just a few central ideas to guide your lessons, you can immediately pivot the impact of your lesson through this intentional planning.
Planning a lesson
When planning a lesson, you first need to establish what general components you need to identify before starting the lesson plan. What is important to your state, district, school, department and, most critically, you?
- Select appropriate teaching frameworks such as intercultural competence, comprehensible input (CI), social emotional learning (SEL), culturally responsive practices (CRP) or universal design for learning (UDL)
- Align to standards set by state, district, and national organizations.
- Consider techniques such as the use of technology, language functions, and target language
Once you have clarity on the items above, you can dive into the design and identify an essential question and evaluation, as well as lesson goals and objectives. Take some time to pause and spend a few more minutes intentionally thinking about your lesson and the role that social justice plays within the content you are teaching.
The Social Justice Standards
The Social Justice Standards from Learning for Justice (2014) are a set of anchor standards and age-appropriate learning outcomes divided into four domains—Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Action (IDJA). The standards provide a common language and organizational structure for teachers to guide curriculum development and for administrators to make schools more just, equitable, and safe.
The standards are leveled for every stage of K–12 education and include school-based scenarios to show what anti-bias attitudes and behavior may look like in the classroom.
At this point, we encourage you to select the appropriate Social Justice Standards to include in your lesson plan. Since language teachers across the United States will be using these lesson plans, we modified the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) lesson plan template to include the four anchor standards in the area of “connects with other standards” with connections, comparisons, and communities.
In this section, you can blend the ACTFL intercultural standards with the Social Justice Standards. By integrating the Social Justice Standards for Learning with World-Readiness Standards and instructional planning, you can create a more accessible classroom experience, build equity through individualized learning and differentiation, and represent diversity in the curriculum and in engagement strategies.
Intentionally using Social Justice Standards in your lesson design can help you:
- Identify and reflect on any biases or inequities that you might have about the content you are teaching
- Engage in critical self-reflection
- Handle distractions and redirect to your lesson-learning outcomes when necessary
- Focus on a path ahead to address challenging topics in the language classroom
- Build empathy and understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion in your classroom
- Acknowledge, appreciate and respect the uniqueness of every individual
- Integrate different perspectives as needed to ensure that you meet learning outcomes
- Navigate conversations with other colleagues, administrators and parents knowledgeably and with confidence
- Lead your department and school in anti-bias curriculum and awareness
- Invest in your instructional design plans for years to come
DEI lesson plans
As part of our 2022 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Latin Classroom, we worked with five talented teachers to revise one of their favorite lesson plans with this approach and clearly identify learning outcomes that are based on at least one of the Social Justice anchor standards (Identity, Diversity, Justice and Action). You can access the lesson plans here or on the series website.
- The Prince Who Never Saw Women by Kristin Masters looks specifically at bias in literature and society
- Memorialization, Justice, and Diversity by Abbi Holt explores how oppression is employed by individuals and communities
- Constructing Identities through Foundation Stories by Diana Pai dives deep into how foundation stories shape identities
- Roman Foods and Modern Slavery By Katy Reddick investigates how human rights are connected/related to the food we eat
- The Queen of Nubia and Enemy of Augustus and Ceres and Ascabalus: A Story of Xenia and Hospitium by Emma Vanderpool looks at the hidden history of Kandake Amanirenas and her repelling Roman forces
We are preparing lessons to teach students that will graduate in 5-10 years. While it is hard to predict the exact skill sets students need to be successful, we know that emotional intelligence and intercultural and global competencies are important. Making social justice standards a priority in lesson planning will foster greater awareness, knowledge, empathy, perspective and purpose in your learners.
In our world, time is a commodity. What could be better than creating meaningful and magical lesson plans that clearly align with best practices for using standards to guide teaching and learning? Our answer – sharing them with other teachers to maximize time and learning.
