Zachary New

1/27/15

CI 350

Professor Blanco

Question 2

A- My classroom has children that are probably 8-9 years old, who are preparing to grow into

adolescents. The classroom is very diverse, with a blend of many different cultures being

represented in this classroom. The boy to girl ratio is nearly 1:1, so it is unwise to teach to one

gender or the other. It may be necessary to determine how the class as a whole understands the

mainstream holiday traditions first, and if there is a satisfactory understanding of the material, I

should focus more on holiday traditions of other countries. In particular, the traditions of the

lesser represented children in my classroom. I believe it is crucial to teach tolerance and respect

for other cultures, especially in a classroom such as this where the children will likely progress

with each other throughout their education.

S- The students will demonstrate a working knowledge of holiday traditions not only celebrated

in their home countries, but also countries around the world. The children must behave

respectfully while discussing holidays of other cultures.

S- The children will learn about these other holiday traditions by reading stories about the

holiday traditions, celebrating some of the holidays we learn about, watching movies about

holidays, asking children to share their own personal experiences with the holidays, and by

creating a holiday. My students will perform this mastery with a 80% mastery.

U- I will attempt to compensate for many different learning styles throughout all of my uses of

technology. For example, I will give out a worksheet for children to work on about the movie

that children will have to write about what they watch. I will also pause the movie every so often

in order to ask them what they saw and how they feel about what they watched in order to make

the material interesting and relevant to them.

R- By creating their own holidays and sharing them with the class, the children will be able to

use their creativity in a fun assignment. By sharing them with the class, the children will

hopefully discover that their religions vary significantly from one another. I will parallel this

with the real world, and show that while they may differ from each other, they are all valid in

their own ways. I believe that involving the students in this way is important to making the

material relevant to them. Also, by celebrating some of the holidays first hand, the children can

enjoy holiday traditions that they wouldn’t ordinarily experience. For example, having a mock

Hanukkah would expose many students to part of the Jewish culture. By having children discuss

their own experiences with their own holidays and traditions, they can better teach about the

traditions and customs of their culture. This is an unique perspective that I could not give my

students unless I also celebrated the holiday.

I think that the plan I have devised could potentially be very effective. The weakest part of my

plan in my opinion is the create your own holiday thing. I feel that while it could be effective

there may be a better means to emphasize the point of the validity of different holidays. On the

other hand, I believe that celebrating some mock holidays would be extremely effective in

communicating holidays to my students. It sounds like a lot of fun, even to me as an adult.

However, I could perceive parents becoming offended over their children celebrating another

culture’s tradition and culture without consent.