1. Content:

This lesson plan is built around the idea of a school/extracurricular field trip to the Children’s Theater of Charlotte (CTOC), North Carolina for students in the Greater Charlotte area. Specifically, The Kindness Project is a program that is run by CTOC that seeks to commission plays for young audiences specifically for the purpose of spreading kindness. As of now, they have held the world premieres of six different plays in this program, with a seventh premiere on the way. The activity below runs the sort of program that could be proposed to get students exposure to this initiative and explore how kindness is a value that could be expanded in their own lives.

This is a link to the CTOC website with general information regarding field trips
For the specifics on the kindness project, click here.

2. Context:

While part of this lesson’s goal is to have students think about new mechanisms of how they can be kind to one another, another comes from the final dialogue about community and how they can begin to build their own beloved communities in their own unique contexts both in and outside of the classroom.1

5. Audience:

Charlotte Students: Charlotte has a wide variety of students from different socioeconomic areas that have their own unique and diverse experiences. There are also many schools in the area that integrate students from both wealthy and poorer neighborhoods where students might have very different cultural experiences. Kindness and community building work can both strengthen their own neighborhoods outside of school, but also connect these communities that are divided by economic or racial differences through getting kids to reflect on how they can take this information to others and cross lines of difference.

Teachers: Teachers might find capacity building for kindness to be a useful tool in providing a creative way for students to build community in the classroom which could limit disruption and violent conflict between students on top of the general expectations that educators set at the beginning of the school year. This activity could also expand to having a community vote on how they can do a participatory community project in their own school.

CTOC has shows for all ages, however, community building methodology might be best used by an age group that can understand and apply the language in the dialogues/activities. This activity recommends students be ages 10 and up for this reason. This is also because of the subject matter and background around the holocaust. This activity could also expand to other performances because of CTOC’s active initiatives to have performers both come to schools and also have students come to their location in uptown Charlotte.

3. Implementation:

Field Trip Logistics: While the idea of kindness could be used in a broader sense, implementation might depend on the show itself. For example, the show, Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba could be a means of educating kids both on the lasting impacts of discrimination and genocide, while also teaching them about how perspective taking is an important skill that allows for someone to realize that many people are going through very different conflicts and challenges that may not exist in your own life.
For history teachers, it is important to set the field trip up when you are teaching the specific era of history for students. If the play is fictional by contrast and doesn’t really have a historical basis, it may be good practice to have students go and see the performance towards the beginning of the year while they are still building relationships with their peers.

Complimentary Activities: Writing a one page reflection may not actually allow for students to participate and engage with the material that they saw. Especially when most students see field trips as a break from school. Instead, it is recommended that you provide opportunities for dialogue before and after the performance(s) to empower students to speak up about kindness in their lives. Below is an example of some dialogues/tactics using Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba as the example play.

Dialogue [30 minutes before bus ride to CTOC]: Have the teacher split the class into small groups of 5 or 6 and print out possible questions about the subject matter of the play.

Ex.

What ideas/tactics, in your personal experiences, have been useful to you when learning about the experiences of others? What about when those experiences are hard to hear?

What, in your eyes, makes someone a hero? What do they act like? What do you think they feel in tough situations?

What have you heard about the holocaust previously from other classes or people in your life? What about the country of Cuba?

Were there times where kindness looked different to you then it did to another person? If so, when?

Before Bus Ride [Last 5 Minutes of the Dialogue]: Have students jot down a sentence or two on a sticky note about a question they have going into the play. Make sure they keep it with them throughout the day. (For younger kids, collect them and put them into a folder to pass out again. Make sure they write their names for efficiency)

Field Trip [Approximately 3-4 hours]: Have the students go to CTOC and watch the performance/have lunch. Leave a little bit of time in case the actor(s) want to speak to the class about the content/their own processes in the performance.

After Bus Ride/Following Day in Classes [30 Minute Discussion]: Pass back out the sticky notes from before the production and see if their questions were answered. Split them back up into different small groups to explore alternative opinions on the subject matter. Below are sample questions. They should address some of the key themes from before while building on what they have now seen from the production.

Ex.

Did your beliefs/views on holocaust survivors and Cuba change after the play? Why or why not?

What sort of perspectives existed in the play? How did they change as the stories went on?

Have you ever had a time in your life where one person’s act of kindness impacted your opinion on them in a positive way?

What does a community look like that is built on kindness, generosity, and people who are able to take other people’s perspectives?

How can you display kindness towards others in your own community? How can you work towards that community that you envisioned earlier?


How might you bring this idea to others that you don’t already know within your neighborhood and family?





4. Goal:

Textual Resources:

Romano, Arthur. Racial Justice and Nonviolence Education: Building the Beloved Community, One Block at a
Time. Routledge, 2022. Introduction and ch. 2.