Mascot,

Learning Goals

• Identify the central conflict in Mascot: students debating whether their school's Native-themed mascot should change.
• Compare how two student narrators express different perspectives through their words and feelings.
• Explain how a mascot can affect people's sense of identity, belonging, and respect.
• Use evidence from selected poems to discuss a character's perspective and propose a respectful school symbol.

Activity Steps

1. 1.Introduce Mascot as a novel in verse by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell about six middle-school students responding to a debate over their school's Native-themed mascot. Explain that Native peoples are diverse, living communities, not costumes or symbols. For K–2, use a teacher-prepared, age-appropriate explanation of the conflict; for grades 3–5, use selected excerpts.
2. 2.Read aloud two short, contrasting student-narrator poems about the mascot. Ask students to notice each speaker's feelings and word choices. Younger students can draw a feeling; older students can mark a phrase that reveals the speaker's perspective.
3. 3.Create a class chart labeled 'Speaker,' 'Perspective,' and 'Evidence.' Record what each narrator thinks and which words support that interpretation. Ask: 'What experiences might shape this perspective?' and 'Who is affected by the mascot?'
4. 4.Discuss how the school could listen respectfully to people affected by its symbol, including Native students and communities. Establish that students may examine characters' opinions without debating whether any group deserves dignity.
5. 5.Have pairs design a new school mascot based on an animal, plant, or shared value rather than a cultural identity. Students draw the symbol and write or dictate a short free-verse poem explaining how it represents belonging. Share designs and connect each choice to something learned from the book.