|
by Nanci Douglas & Mary Ruddy |
This lesson will be used as part of a unit
on celebrations and rituals in a required Communications Skills class.
The primary purpose of the class is to improve oral and written communication
skills. Along with the improvement of these skills, this lesson seeks to
encourage tolerance and acceptance of all cultures through the exploration
of christening, wedding, funeral and holiday rituals which serve to unite
a particular group by preserving cultural identity and heritage. Students
will
have had previous instruction in listening, speaking and research skills.
Motivator: |
The class will be divided into groups of 4 students. Each student group will be given wedding photographs from the American Memory South Texas Border Collection along with photographs of Asian and African American wedding couples. Students will be analyzing the photographs using a Material Analysis Guide. Students will discuss similarities and differences of the events. | |
|
Introduction:
|
Students will use 5 minutes to write down the answers to the following
questions:
Tell students they will be investigating their family traditions. |
|
|
Activity 1:
|
Lecture and visuals on christening, wedding, funeral and holiday customs.
Discussion of attributes common to many rituals. |
|
|
Activity 2:
|
Schedule library time to use American Memory resources. Students will
access American Memory Collections. Lecture on how to search collections
and how to limit search to photographs, text documents, sound recordings
or film. Students will also be shown the American Memory synonym
chart, collection subject lists and pull down menus.
Teacher will show students American Memory documents of a German wedding and a Spanish wedding from the American Life Histories collection. The titles of the documents are Cecilia Richards Alvarez and Catherine Margaret Weber. Students will work at library tables using MLA Style Citation Format for American Memory Text Document, Using MLA Style Citation Format and Written Document Analysis. Teacher will ask students to find the author, interviewee, title of
collection, protocol, address, and date of interview as wedding documents
are read aloud to students.
|
|
Activity 3: |
Students will listen to and read lyrics to wedding and funeral music from: Students will compare and contrast themes, gender roles, and religious overtones in the music using VENN Diagram Form. Students will also complete an Intercultural Music Activity worksheet for bibliographic information. | |
Activity 4: |
Students will create Intergenerational Interview questions, and use Intergenerational Interview Form to obtain information from parents and/or grandparents regarding christening, wedding, funeral and holiday customs in which they participated as children. A letter will be sent to parents and guardians explaining the assignment. The letter will be translated to Spanish for Spanish speaking parents and guardians. English Version Letter and Spanish Version Letter | |
Activity 5: |
Students will choose and present orally one christening, wedding, funeral or holiday ritual from their ethnic group to the class. They will demonstrate their knowledge of the particular custom by imparting information to their classmates. Requirements for the oral presentation are visuals, outline of presentation and student question for test. Student test question will be used to encourage active listening. Teacher will explain Oral Presentation Rubric. | |
|
Activity 6:
|
Student will also compare and contrast the ritual they have chosen
with a historical counterpart
using American Memory Collections. Students will be given search terms to use with the specific collections. Students will use the American Life Histories-Compare and Contrast worksheet to help find information for this assignment. This 3 page essay must include historical differences, modern similarities and reasons for continued popularity or disappearance in culture. Schedule library time for research. Essays will be evaluated by Compare/Contrast Rubric. |
Teacher will
evaluate students on oral presentation and written essay by rubric.
Students
will also be evaluated by student generated test questions.
Extension
may include portfolios and cultural fairs.
|
|
|
|
|
and Extension |
Feburary 19, 2000
