Belonging Lesson Plan

Based on the Guide for Students: Lesson #1

A Resource from the Virginia Department of Education and the Partnership for People with Disabilities

The students will be able to...

Describe what **belonging** means
Utilize a belonging assessment to understand their strengths and needs related to belonging

**ELA 8.1c:** Collaborate with others to exchange ideas, develop new understandings, make decisions, and solve problems.
**ELA 10.1i:** Access, critically evaluate, and use information accurately to solve problems.
**ELA 12.5b:** Identify and synthesize resources to make decisions, complete tasks, and solve specific problems.

Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Process:

Identify the resources needed to address specific problems and synthesize new information to make decisions and complete tasks (e.g., completing employment, college, and financial applications; compiling résumés; creating portfolios).

Virginia College and Career Readiness English Performance Expectations:

Collaborate with others to exchange ideas, develop new understandings, make decisions, and solve problems. (#50)

Make four signs to hang in the corners of the classroom—**Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree**.
Handout: Guide for students: How do I know I belong?
Handout: Guide for communities: Tips for creating a welcoming place
Printed or digital version of the **Planning for Belonging assessment** from the Belonging Guide for Students.

Before students arrive, hang one sign in each of the four corners of the classroom—Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree.
Prepare the room so students are physically able to move to each of the four corners during the activity.
When students arrive, explain: "Think about a place in the community where you go or group you join. It could be an extracurricular group (sports, theater, club, etc.), a business like a restaurant, a place where you work or where someone you know works, or another community space."
After students think, ask them to give a thumbs up when they have a place or group in mind. Then, ask them to share their ideas with the class.
Read some statements (like those below) and ask students to move to one of the four corners based on their agreement with each statement about their place or group:
- Can people with mobility devices get in the building?
- Do people with disabilities participate currently?
- Is there someone people can talk to about their access needs?
- Are people comfortable welcoming people with disabilities?

For all activities, make adaptations and modifications as needed to meet the needs of students.
For all students, share the class agenda on the board and use meaningful repetition, including restating comments from classmates.
During the warm-up activity, write or project each statement on the board with supporting images so students have visual access.
For students who are blind or visually impaired, describe any images that are used and provide support with marking their responses to the belonging assessment if needed.

After the four corners activity, ask students to think, discuss in pairs for 2 minutes, then share with the class some thoughts they had during the activity.
Read the following quote aloud and ask students to think, discuss in pairs for 2-5 minutes, then share with the class: "What does this quote mean to you? What are examples of when you felt a sense of belonging?"
Quote from Brené Brown's *Daring Greatly*:

On page 145, I defined **belonging as the innate human desire to be part of something larger than us**. One of the biggest surprises in this research [on human connection] was learning that **fitting in and belonging are not the same thing**. In fact, fitting in is one of the greatest barriers to belonging. Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be in order to be