Promoting Awareness of Cultural Diversity in the Classroom Margaret Smith Kaitlyn Wilbur Ed 200 Curriculum Project Fall 2006

Context The following lesson plan is meant for a sixth grade classroom and will be carried out over the course of five days. It incorporates lessons in history, geography, and writing pertaining to immigration and cultural diversity.

Objectives Students will learn about the history of immigration to the United States and apply this knowledge to the specific reading assignments. Students will evaluate multiple stories about immigration to the United States by comparing and contrasting them and assessing each story based on guidelines given to them.

Objectives Students will analyze their own individual background, culture, and experiences in comparison to each other, looking for patterns among their cultural stories and backgrounds. In doing so, students will gain awareness that all people are unique due to differences in their background, culture, and experiences.

Objectives Students will reevaluate their assumptions about the spatial representation of the world through a mapping activity. Students will develop their own opinions and be able to cooperate with classmates, who hold both different and similar views.

Justification The Connecticut State Department of Education states that schools should be promoting the following for students in grades 5-8: –An understanding of major events and trends of United States history and local history (e.g. immigration) –Identification of various causes and effects of movements of groups of people –A demonstration of how personal experiences influence an individual ’ s perception of places –The development of written narratives from investigations of source materials –The use of maps to analyze distributions and patterns –Recognition of the ideas of others and the validity of differing views. –The ability to persuade listeners of their judgments and opinions.

Weekly Plan Monday –Begins with a classroom lecture on the history of immigration to the United States as well as the current issue centered on the opposing metaphors of America as a “ melting pot ” or “ salad bowl ” –Using Slavin ’ s Jigsaw II cooperative learning technique, students will form 4 groups, in which they will learn and answer the questions provided to them about their group ’ s particular immigration story

Weekly Plan Tuesday –Continuing with the Jigsaw II activity from Monday, students will form new groups and learn the other 3 immigration stories from their peers –The students will be evaluated on their knowledge of all four immigrant stories in the form of a short objective quiz –For the following day, the students should come to class prepared with stories and/or memorabilia about their families ’ cultural background attained by interviewing family members

Weekly Plan Wednesday –Students will write narratives on their families ’ background and culture based on the information they retrieved and in accordance with their knowledge about immigration –Students will share their narratives with the class in order to seek similarities and differences among one another, as well as become more understanding of their peers ’ lives

Weekly Plan Thursday –The teacher will assist the class in labeling a world map –Students will use pushpins to represent their family ’ s country or countries of origin, as well as those of the immigrants from the stories they studied earlier in the week –The teacher will prompt the students to view the world in perspective

Weekly Plan Friday –Students will be reintroduced to the opposing metaphors of the United States –They will develop their own opinions on which metaphor is most appropriate using the knowledge and insights they have gained throughout the week ’ s lessons –The teacher will allow the students to have an open-forum discussion, in which they will debate their views –Through persuasion and collaboration, students will try to convince their peers of their viewpoints regardless of whether the class reaches a conclusive decision

Evaluation Written narrative about his or her personal background, culture, and experiences Participation and level of rich thinking in Friday’s debate

The End