Mix It Up Schools: Southern Poverty Law Center

Is your school a "mix it up school"???

http://www.tolerance.org/mix-it-up/map


How to Participate in Mix It Up at Lunch Day

1. What is Mix It Up?

Mix It Up is a national campaign to improve intergroup relations, reduce prejudice and build inclusive learning communities.

Students thrive—socially and academically—in schools that are inclusive. Mix It Up encourages students to identify, question and cross social boundaries that separate them from other students.

This year, Mix It Up at Lunch Day is Tuesday, November 9. Students identify the cafeteria as the place where divisions are most clearly drawn. The Day is a simple call to action, asking students to move out of their comfort zones and connect with someone new over lunch.

2. Getting Started

Register It’s easy, answer a few questions about your school and put it on the Mix It Up Map. We’ll take it from there. We’ll confirm your participation and sign you up to receive our Teaching Tolerance newsletter and other helpful resources to make your Mix It Up at Lunch Day a success.

Join Teaching Tolerance’s online community at www.tolerance.org, Facebook and Twitter to share ideas and strategies.

Organize Mix It Up at Lunch Day is a school-wide effort. The most successful events involve teachers, counselors, students, administrators and staff in planning the day.

Ask administrators and cafeteria staff to put Mix It Up at Lunch Day on the school and district calendar. Reach out to school clubs, before- and after-school programs, parents, student leaders, athletes and coaches early in your planning process.

3. Building Support Enthusiasm is contagious! Social scientists have shown that interactions across group lines can help reduce prejudice. When students interact with those who are different from them, biases and misperceptions can fall away. That’s good stuff!

Engage parents and teachers by sharing how Mix It Up works to help students develop an appreciation for difference and equips them with the skills to learn and grow in an increasingly diverse world.

4. Create Buzz On and Off Campus Don’t wait until Mix Day to advertise, build buzz early and often! Download free Mix It Up poster tiles for a fun class or club project and plaster them all across campus. Print the flier and send to district and community leaders inviting them to be a part of your Mix Day. Encourage your local television and radio stations to spread the word about Mix It Up at Lunch Day—and invite them to come to your school and report on the Day.

5. Involving Your Students Take a walk across most any school campus and you’ll find the social groups are easily identified. The athletes sit in this corner, the outcasts in the opposite corner, and the preppies in the middle. Students know the rules: enter the cafeteria and take a seat with your group—don’t deviate.

Educate students about Mix It Up concepts like social boundaries and cliques. Use our easy to implement lessons and activities, like the school survey, that prompt students to identify and examine divisions within their school community. Tabulate the results and build your own “Mixer” lessons and activities to address your school’s unique needs.

6. Mix It Up at Lunch Day Remember, thousands of other schools all across the country are Mixing up today, too. Your school is now part of a national movement to encourage students to get to know someone new by taking a new seat at lunch.

Start the day with an announcement from the school intercom system. Check the Mix It Up Map to find out how many other schools are participating and which schools in your area are Mixing It Up. Spread the word across campus. You’re not alone. Gather together your volunteers, and implement your Mix It Up at Lunch Day plan.

Visit the Teaching Tolerance webpage, Facebook page and Twitter for updates all day long. And, don’t forget to submit stories and pictures about Mix Day at your school.