Dissolving Stereotypes Lesson Plan
Objective:
Students will find they impose stereotypes (oversimplified views of people or a mold that you believe all people
must fit into), and will discuss methods to change their perceptions of people. The purpose of the lesson in
general is to build empathy among students.
Time & Materials:
15-20 minutes to answer questions, discuss, then walk out to the quad to take part in the “Dissolving
Stereotypes”
Prior to activity: Generate “Group Norms” to make the following discussion to take place in a safe
environment. Here are some ideas:
 Allow people to say mistakes
 Allow people to say the wrong words
 Do not judge
 What is said here stays here
 Ask class for others…
Step One: Ask students to write down one word/phrase that you think of immediately that describes the
following:
 Asian People
 Jewish People
 African-American People
 Gay people
 Transgender people
 Caucasian people
 Native American people
Step Two: Have students share their responses with a partner.
Step Three: Generate a list of students’ responses on the board.
Step Four: Ask students if they believe all these response are true. Allow for discussion:





Looking at our responses we've recorded on the board, what is similar or different about them? Why?
Does it matter that most of you have had some experience with an Asian, Jewish, Gay, etc. person during
your lifetime? Why or why not?
Would your responses change if you were around your group of friends and not in a classroom? If yes,
explain how.
What do you think we can learn from what we've done here?
Could some of our responses be seen as hurtful?
Step Five: Ask students to reflect on actions they can take to stop judgment of people based on their ethnicity,
or their sexual orientation. Ask them to quietly write down one thing they can do different.
Step Six: Discuss students’ responses as a class.
Step Seven: Explain the Dissolving Stereotypes Pool that is out on the Quad. Students will write a stereotype
on a piece of rice paper. Students then put the pieces of paper into the pool of water. The marker ink bled off the
paper and dissolved, symbolic to the non-hate environment that the student is deciding to promote. All the
materials (rice paper, pens, pool, etc) will already be on the quad.
Optional discussion prompt (courtesy of Lynne Navarro): After the in-class discussion, but before walking
out to the stereotype pool, I had them put their heads on the desks, close their eyes and think of the one
stereotype that they hate the most, the one they would banish from the planet if they had the power to do so.
After we visited the stereotype pool, we regrouped in a circle. In the circle I told them that the activity does no
good if they don't actively do something to reduce stereotypes for real in their own lives: To stop themselves
from doing it, to call their friends on it—even do something really revolutionary and have a conversation with
their parents about what stereotypes they hate and what they do to try to make a difference. I debriefed this piece
with them a few days later, to see what conversations they’d had or what they had noticed since the activity.