How Do Communities Define We & They?

• Students will understand the relationship between membership and community and will be able to identify ways in which communities define membership.
• Students will be able to define the word perspective.
• Students will consider how membership in a particular group can influence how people view those outside of that group.
• Students will be able to identify examples of we and they distinctions in their own lives.

This lesson is designed to fit into one 50-min class period and includes:

• 3 activities 
• 1 handout 
• 2 readings
• 2 extension activities

Begin class by having students share what they learned about the history of Memphis from interviewing someone in their community. You can structure this as a timeline exercise. As students share information about the history of Memphis, record the events they describe at the appropriate place on the timeline, noting whether an event represents a moment of unity or division in Memphis. The concept that communities change over time—with moments of cohesion and separateness—is a theme students will explore in the main activity.

The story of the star-bellied Sneetches provides an opportunity for students to talk about how communities can break down when members are told they do not belong or they are inferior. You can read students the book or show them the video, pausing at two key moments to check for comprehension and to allow students a few minutes to discuss the issues of membership and belonging. (You can borrow The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss from your local library if your school does not have copies. You can also find print and animated versions of the story online.)

Pause #1: Before Sylvester McMonkey McBean enters the scene (page 8)

Questions:

• Why do you think the star-bellied Sneetches decide to remove their stars?
• How have the rules of membership changed? Why have they changed?
• What do you think will happen next?
• After you finish the story, ask students to meet in small groups to discuss what the story tells them about membership and belonging. Each group can be responsible for responding to particular questions:
• What are three ideas this story reveals about communities, membership, and belonging?
• The media always depicts teenagers as forming cliques. Compare the way the Sneetches treat each other to the way teenagers treat each other. What is the same? What is different?
• Whom do you respect more, the Sneetches at the beginning of the story or the Sneetches at the end? Explain why.
• Often stories are written to express a moral or teach a lesson. What is the moral of this story?

Curriculum connections: Many of the questions above can be used to help students better understand societies they will study in world history. You can use these questions while also making reference to the Sneetches. For example, as students study a particular society, ask them to compare that society to the Sneetches. Students can identify the communities that act like the star-bellied Sneetches and those that are like the plain-bellied Sneetches.

When students understand how communities make choices regarding membership, they are ready to think about how belonging to a community shapes the way people view the world, especially how they view people who live outside of their community. The poem “We and They” by Rudyard Kipling reinforces the idea of in-groups and out-groups that is a central theme in The Sneetches, while also introducing the concept of perspective.

Distribute the poem to students. Read it aloud or ask students to volunteer to read a stanza. After you read the poem, have students create a list of the words Kipling uses to describe we as well as the words he uses to describe they. Encourage students to notice verbs as well as nouns and adjectives. Students can use their lists to help answer the question, “What is the difference between we and they, according to the poet?” The “We and They” Worksheet included with this lesson is designed to guide students’ analysis of the poem.

Next, write the word perspective on the board. See if any students can define this term. Or you can give them the following definition: Perspective is your point of view. Perspective is how you see and understand the world and the people around you. Explain that we each have a perspective that is influenced by our unique identity as well as the communities to which we belong.Before students think about how their identities and communal affiliations influence their own perspective, ask them to apply the concept of perspective to Kipling’s poem. Tell half of the class to imagine that they are members of the we community described in the poem and the other half to imagine that they are members of the they community. Then have all students answer the following questions: Whose practices are proper? Whose practices are disgusting? After students representing the we group and the they group share their responses, as a class you can discuss the meaning of the final stanza of the poem:

But if you cross over the sea,

Instead of over the way,

You may end by (think of it!) looking on We

As only a sort of They!

Have students identify a group or a community. It could be a sports team, a school, a family, a neighborhood, a religion, or a nation. Next, ask students to select an object or event that represents this group’s experience. The students’ assignment is to write a paragraph describing this object or event from the perspective of a member of that group (the we perspective). Then, have students write another paragraph in which they describe the same object or event from the perspective of someone who is not a member of that group (the they perspective).

Identify a community to which you belong. How might your ideas be different from those of people who are not part of this community? How does being a member of this community shape the way you view those outside of your community? How do you think people from other communities view the ideas or practices of your community?