Can stereotypes ever be good? - Sheila Marie Orfano and Densho
- 531,735 Views
- 11,100 Questions Answered
- TEDEd Animation
Let’s Begin…
Create and share a new lesson based on this one.
Classroom Activity 1: Media Representations of Japanese Americans
Purpose: To help students learn to identify stereotypes and think critically about how they can be harmful.
Before World War II, Japanese Americans were stereotyped as being inhuman, diseased invaders. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, they were scapegoated as threats to national security. Both of these views had extremely negative connotations for Japanese Americans. After the war, when Japanese Americans were expected to reintegrate into American society, they were cast as being the model minority.
In this activity, students will critically examine propaganda images and photographs. They will be asked to identify words, symbols, or other visual techniques that are used to construct stereotypes in those images. The activity closes with a series of questions designed to guide classroom discussion and critical thinking. This activity will take approximately 25 minutes, including time for discussion.
Click here for Classroom Activity 1 instructions.
Classroom Activity 2: Blackout Poetry with Primary Sources
Purpose: To analyze primary sources about the “model minority” stereotype and to distill the text down to key ideas and themes.This activity utilizes primary source texts from the Pacific Citizen, a newspaper published by the Japanese American Citizens League. The activity combines two different thinking routines, which are simple strategies that teachers can use to cultivate thinking and deepen learning for students.
The first part of the activity, Phrase-Word, is adapted from a thinking routine from Making Thinking Visible by Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison. The Phrase-Word thinking routine helps students identify and hone in on the essence of writing about the “model minority” stereotype.
After students have identified the parts of the text that “speak” to them, they use a second activity, Blackout Poetry, to distill the essence of the text even further. Blackout poetry is created when someone takes a document, reads it, and crosses out, or redacts, a majority of the text, leaving a “poem” that reveals new layers of meaning. Versions of blackout poetry date back to the 1700s, but it has been made popular in recent years by Austin Kleon’s book, Newspaper Blackout.
Activity Two closes with a series of questions designed to guide classroom discussion and critical thinking. This activity will take approximately 40 minutes, including time for discussion.
Click here for Classroom Activity 2 instructions.

Create and share a new lesson based on this one.
More from The Way We Think
108,499 Views
Why change is so scary — and how to unlock its potential - Maya Shankar
Lesson duration 13:32
212,818 Views
298,860 Views
1,073,657 Views