Educational activities by
Janet Salmons.
Salmons and Associates

Photographs by
Joanna B. Pinneo

Leader’s Guide: LeAnne

LeAnne’s story easily lends itself to a rich exploration of several important topics relevant to girls’ lives.

Topics to Explore:

1.The Role of Religion in our Lives

2. Body Image and Beauty Pageants

3. Mother-Daughter Relationships

Whether you’re a parent, classroom teacher, or youth leader, you know the importance of engaging young people in a variety of in-depth learning experiences and activities that help them to "process" and to better understand the material being taught. While simply reading each story may be sufficient for some girls to prompt self-reflection and learning, others may need additional support.

Grrlstories.org offers this support through a variety of structured activities related to each Exploration Topic. Parents who wish to organize meaningful learning experiences for (and with) their daughters can use these activities at home. Teachers and/or youth leaders who wish to engage groups of young women in active learning and discussion can use them in the classroom.

1. The Role of Religion in our Lives

A. "One Nation Under God..."

Suggested Use: This activity is useful to familiarize girls with the numerous women who have persevered to create change in their own lives and in society.

Goals and Learning Objectives

To provide an opportunity for girls to reflect on the role of religion in our lives.

To build awareness about the many religions existing in society, and in the local community.

To develop a sense of religious tolerance and build awareness about the right to religious freedom in the United States.

To practice research, writing, and presentation skills.

Materials Needed

A phone book or other community directories.

Ability to travel throughout town or local region.

Access to a library and/or the internet.

Camera (optional – Polaroid or digital would give immediate results)

Directions

1. First, identify the various religious faiths of the girls in the group (if they feel comfortable discussing it).

2. Have a conversation to compare and contrast the differences.

3. Have them discuss the role of religion in their own lives and in their families’ lives. How do they participate? What is their level of commitment? What meaning does it have for them?

4. Have the girls look in a local phone book under "Churches," "Synagogues" or "Temples." Identify all of the different religions and churches listed in the community. Identify the locations.

5. Take a field trip, and go to visit churches or religious organizations. You may want to visit those represented by the group, as well as one not represented. Take a picture of the building. Try to schedule an interview with a representative from the church (Note: Have the girls develop a set of interview questions before they visit each church).

6. When each religious organization has been visited, ask the girls conduct additional research to find out more about each religion. Be sure to include an analysis of religious freedom as it is described in the First Amendment.

7. Compile the findings into a notebook – have the girls each write a report for at least one religious organization, and have them each evaluate the final notebook.

8. Finally, create a brochure that can be distributed throughout a local school to promote awareness about various religions in the community.

Variations

Hold a conference on "World Religions" at a local school or community center.

Invite someone from an interfaith association to visit the group.

Continue adding to the notebook – including members of each church, a history of the particular religion, etc.

Have the girls each attend a different event at each of the religious organizations (optional) and report back to the group.

Resources

Visit the "Teaching Tolerance" website, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center to find additional resources and classroom activities related to religious freedom and tolerance. You can find these resources at: http://www.splcenter.org/teachingtolerance/tt-index.html

Visit Beliefnet for links to sites about many religions and an interfaith perspective. Their motto is: "Because we all believe in something." http://www.beliefnet.com.

This archive provides full text of books and articles on a broad variety of issues for different faiths, including the Bible, the sociology of religion and local worship. http://www.religion-online.org/

Visit the Worldwide Holidays and Festivals site to learn about ways that people celebrate around the world. http://www.holidayfestival.com/

2. Body Image and Beauty Pageants

A. Beautiful Girls

Suggested Use: This activity is useful to help expand our concept of "beautiful" beyond physical attributes.

Goals and Learning Objectives

To expand girls’ concepts of what is beautiful beyond physical attributes

To promote a positive self-concept and body image

To help girls appreciate the beauty with in all girls.

Materials Needed

Access to the "Newmoon Magazine" article "25 Beautiful Girls." Find this article at: http://www.newmoon.org/nmg/2001%2025_girls.htm

Directions

Have the girls read the article, "25 Beautiful Girls" from the Newmoon Magazine website. This article profiles 25 girls who demonstrate "beauty" in various ways.

After reading the article, lead a discussion about how the group demonstrates various elements of "beauty." Be sure to emphasize non-physical beauty in the discussion.

Send the girls on a "beautiful girl" scavenger hunt in the community or school. Instruct them to identify at least 5 episodes or situations where girls are being beautiful. Have them document these in a notebook.

When they are finished, have the girls share what they found. Keep track of the different "types" or categories of "beautiful" that they found and begin a "Beautiful Girls" scrapbook to keep in the class. This can become an ongoing log or record of "episodes" or situations where girls are beautiful throughout the year. Girls can log themselves (or you can) into the book when they do something that resembles "beautiful," and/or girls can continue to log stories about others who are beautiful girls. By the end of the year, you should have loads of examples to share and use for further reflection and learning.

Variations

Use a camera to take photos of girls wherever you can. Include these in your "beautiful" scrapbook.

Conduct a survey in the community to find out what other people think is "beautiful" about girls they know. Record and analyze the results.

Share the results with a group of younger girls to help them understand an expanded concept of what is beautiful.

For a list of books recommended by "New Moon’s" 25 Beautiful Girls, visit http://www.newmoon.org/nmg/2001%20check_it_out.htm

B. You are What You Eat: Healthy Habits for Good Nutrition

Suggested Use: This exercise is a good one to use with girls who are obsessed with dieting. It can help them become more conscious of what they are eating, as it relates to good nutrition rather than focusing on amount of food eaten or other forms of eating disorders.

Goals and Learning Objectives

To raise awareness about good nutrition

To promote healthy eating habits

To practice math skills

Materials Needed

Access to a grocery store

Calculator (optional)

Access to the internet to download the article: "On the Teen Scene: Food Label Makes Good Eating Easier," at http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fdlabel.html

Directions

1. Take a poll around the room to find out what each person usually eats on an average day.

2. Document these items.

3. Have girls bring in packages of what they eat (or, take a trip to the grocery store to purchase these items).

4. When the girls have all of their items for one day, have them look at the "Nutrition Facts" panel, which gives information about nutrients people are most concerned about today.

5. Have the girls document each "nutrition category," adding up the average nutritional value they gain from an average "eating" day.

6. Have the girls read the article, "On the Teen Scene: Food Label Makes Good Eating Easier." Note: You may want to have the girls conduct additional research on good nutrition, and daily nutritional needs for girls their age.

7. When this is finished, have the girls analyze the results of their personal eating habits based on what they’ve learned. Then, have the girls re-construct a "daily eating plan" using the nutritional labels on foods. The goal, generally, is to eat about 100 percent of the Daily Value for each nutrient each day (less, perhaps, with nutrients that are related to health problems – such as fat, saturated fat, and sodium). The girls can pick and choose from their favorite foods.

8. When finished, compile the results and share with the rest of the class.

Resources

About Face: A site about the media and body image: http://www.about-face.org/ , including Information for Parents and Educators http://www.about-face.org/changes/loved/index.html .

Girls Speak Out about What Makes them Special: http://thriveonline.oxygen.com/weight/hottopics/girls.html

Free Curriculum available at "Dads and Daughters" (www.dadsanddaughters.org)

Smile Pretty Filmmaker Carol Cassidy and her all-woman crew traveled the U.S. to spend more than four months with beauty queens from varied cultural backgrounds asking, "What qualities do we honor and encourage when we crown a beauty queen?" In SMILE PRETTY, the girls tell stories of quiet courage, exuberant victories, fun, ambivalence and loss. Find out more including the Broadcast Schedule at: http://www.itvs.org/girlsinamerica/shows2.html

3. Mother-Daughter Relationships

A. Changing Styles, Changing Times

Suggested Use: This exercise can be done with a group, or just with your own family.

Goals and Learning Objectives

To compare and contrast attitudes about beauty and fashion over time.

To encourage inter-generational dialogue.

To develop interviewing and listening skills.

Materials Needed

Pen and paper

Art supplies optional

Directions

1. Girls interview mothers and grandmothers, or other women from mother’s and grandmothers’ generations, about beauty and fashion ideals of their youth. They can ask questions such as these:

a. What was the popular image for the "ideal" when you were my age? Did YOU fit that image?

b. Did girls you know try to look like the ideal woman? What did they do to make themselves look like the ideal woman?

c. What kinds of advertising, pictures, movie roles were used to promote the image of the ideal woman?

d. What characteristics were seen as the sign of a beautiful woman?

e. Do you remember your mother or grandmother talking about the fashions when she was young? What did she tell you about them?

f. What were the views of adults toward styles girls wanted to wear? Did they approve? What rules did they make about what could or could not be worn? What did the adults consider "outrageous"?

g. What hairstyles were popular? What clothes were considered stylish for girls? For women?

2. Compare and contrast:

Images?

Attitudes?

Ways the images are/were promoted?

How those interviewed felt about fitting or not fitting the image of the ideal woman?

Variations

Visit a senior residence and interview elders.

Based on descriptions gained from interviews, draw pictures of fashionable images from each era.

Ask mothers and grandmothers to share pictures from their youth. If possible, create a collage of pictures (or photocopies of pictures.)