Healing the Hate. A National Bias Crime Prevention Curriculum for Middle Schools.

This curriculum was designed for teachers in middle grades and for other professionals working with youth. It deals with the extent of hate crime in the United States and strategies that are proving effective in reducing hate crimes among youth. The curriculum was pilot tested in middle schools in Massachusetts and Florida and a Catholic school in New York City. It reflects the principles that violence and prejudice are preventable, that early intervention is key, and that empathy building, cooperative learning and critical thinking, and social responsibility can be taught. The curriculum is composed of 10 units, each of which contains one or more lessons, with the lesson time, its purpose and specific objectives, instructions for preparation, and lesson activities. Unit titles are: (1) "Hate Crime: Who Are Its Victims? Who Are Its Perpetrators?"; (2) "The Power of the Pen: The Journal's Place in the History of Hate Crimes and the Purpose of Student Journal Writing"; (3) "Hate Crime Perpetrators: Why Do They Do It?"; (4) "Turning It On: Examining the Media's Role in the Development of Prejudice"; (5) "What Can We Do? Coalition Building To Promote Social Change"; (6) "Why Differences Divide: Understanding Conflict and the Role of Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders"; (7) "How It Happens: The Development of Prejudice and Intolerance"; (8) "Seeing the Big Picture: Institutionalized Racism"; (9) "Acting Together for Change: A Dramatic Presentation on Hate Crime"; and (10) "What We Did: Sharing Our Community Project." Students develop projects to reduce prejudice and hate at the local level and then share them with the class in this unit. (SLD)