Finding Belonging in Our Passions and Interests
Students read and analyze nonfiction narratives that explore how interests and passions create a sense of home.
![Street signs with the sunset behind it](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-08/javier-allegue-barros-C7B-ExXpOIE-unsplash.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=Q4bIae0Z)
Redefining Home
This culminating lesson invites students to analyze two new poems and revisit their thinking across the unit to explore how they are redefining “home.”
![a person standing on a mountain with the sun setting against the blue night sky](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-08/iStock-1484278497.jpg?h=140710cd&itok=KLpOfOSI)
Exploring Identity and Belonging through Poetry
Students prepare a choral reading of a poem about the costs and benefits of fitting in versus standing out in order to introduce the unit’s central topic of belonging.
![Students in classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-03/FHAO_2019_Summit_044.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=D_qa0YXt)
Identifying and Affirming Core Values
This values-affirmation exercise helps students identify their core values and reflect on how these values impact their sense of belonging.
![Amanda Gorman on stage at the 2021 InStyle Awards At The Getty Center](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-03/GettyImages-1353568867.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=UxlskjKf)
Fitting In Versus Belonging
Students examine the difference between belonging and fitting in and the ways in which we may sacrifice our values in order to seek acceptance from others.
![A green chameloen poses in green grass](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-03/pexels-nandhu-kumar-312826.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=Z0IZp6Va)
Group Membership and Belonging
Students examine the human need to belong and how it impacts the behaviors and decisions people make when seeking group membership.
![Students holds paper in classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-03/facing-history-sf-drew-bird-a-115_0.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=1lpsQUqa)
The Dangers of Being an Outsider
Students analyze a clip of poet Ada Limón on The Slowdown podcast and a poem by Hazem Fahmy to consider what’s at stake when someone is perceived as an outsider.
![Students in classroom (FH2109016)](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-03/FHAO_2019_Summit_063.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=ckoicFZO)
Navigating Social Hierarchies
Students analyze a short story by Misa Sugiura to consider the invisible barriers that divide “in” and “out” groups and how our efforts to seek belonging can conflict with our values.
![Students in classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-03/FHAO_2019_Summit_093.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=WZKVs69w)
Negotiating Belonging in Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime
Students analyze a chapter from Trevor Noah’s memoir Born a Crime to consider how cultural, linguistic, and racial borders influence one’s sense of belonging.
![Student writes on Starburst Identity Chart](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-03/230913-0035.jpg?h=2cea9ccb&itok=cXvQBaaF)
Belonging on Your Own Terms
Students explore what it means to seek belonging on their own terms, and in alignment with their values, by reading and discussing personal narrative essays.
![Students discuss in classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-03/20150813_TreyClark_0193.jpg?h=c6cb2754&itok=B5zupv_3)
From Fitting In to Belonging Assessment Ideas
Create a culminating experience for your students that helps them draw new connections between the concepts and ideas presented in this text set, themselves, and the world today.
![Yellow hexagons](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-03/pexels-andreea-ch-11889329.jpg?h=fa1456f8&itok=Sa5Hkwjb)