No More

It is imperative that teachers build community in their classrooms and across their academic teams and grades in order to make school a safe and supportive place for adolescents. Teachers must help their students acknowledge that they belong to a group together, that they are part of a “we” or “us,” and that any differences—divergent talents, backgrounds, experiences, cultures, and skills—only make “us” stronger and better.

No More “Us” and “Them” delineates what steps educators can take to create an atmosphere where adolescent students feel accepted, included, and valuable to themselves and to their peers. The goal of this book is to change adolescent attitudes to lead to not just acceptance and tolerance, but toward an expansion of “us” and respect for their classmates that will serve to spread an even wider net of respect.

This book provides ideas for lessons and activities that can be integrated into existing curricula and that meet a variety of content area standards in language arts, social studies, science, mathematics, foreign languages, physical education, art, and music, while also proposing ideas for advisory or homeroom periods and class, team, and grade gatherings to build respect in our classrooms, our schools, and our communities.

Lesley Roessing was a middle school teacher for over twenty years. She is author of The Write to Read: Response Journals That Increase Comprehension. Ms. Roessing now teaches pre-service middle-level teachers in the College of Education at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia, and works with teachers in all grade levels and content areas in her role as director of the Coastal Savannah Writing Project.