Yolanda U. Trapp
The purpose of this curriculum project is to encourage and foster creativity, sensitivity, and originality in the elementary students when reading poems and stories of different cultures that inhabit the United States.
Proposed Audience and Time Frame for the Unit
This curriculum unit has been developed for kindergarten to fourth grade students. I am a Special Education teacher and work with a multigrade classroom. I teach an average of 12 students ranging in grades K to fourth. It seems to be the most demanding position in the profession, but is also the most rewarding. Routines are clearly understood and followed. Students learn to help others and serve as positive role models. There is a vast variability in students' needs. More advanced students learn together in mixed-age groups and less developed students are given the time they need to master skills at their own pace. At other times, children are put into groups of differing levels of ability to learn from each other. I have faced the challenge of balancing the teacher's further preparation and student's learning. The activities and experiences I am offering in this unit are based on "Developmental Appropriateness" giving emphasis to the particular needs and interest of each child.
Time Frame for the Lessons
At first, the time to read to the students may be short, and when they know to read, with practice, children can sit and read for up to thirty minutes each day. The aim is to establish regular reading habits. When the activity demands that the teacher reads first, the activity could be extended with discussions - variety of responses, monitoring, etc. Time must be flexible according to the interest of the children.
Teachers who would be interested in this unit probably will ask a fundamental question: Why is she explaining all the topics written in the unit? And my response would be: "Because this unit plan is intended to help teachers and prospective teachers to receive more specific information about cultures I chose, when reading selected books to the students." I wish also that after reading all this information, the teachers might become more comfortable in sharing ideas with their class like concrete and detailed discussions about the topics. When children start asking questions, what kind of responses would they expect? What kind of difficulties will the teacher find in her/himself? With this information I intend that the teacher would be able to diagnose where the child's logic was off, and be better able to help him or her.
This Unit will embrace the reality of multiculturalism in American Society by providing a balance between learning the common core of dominant cultural knowledge (English language, democratic values) and knowledge of minority cultures. Respectfully, we will expose children to poetry and stories connecting learning to the child's individual world. With the design of this Unit using the multicultural literature of different authors, our children will become the competent readers, writers, speakers and listeners they need to be, stimulating their imagination, and challenging youthful energy in a new direction. This program is an ambitious one, rich in introducing people, places, events, ideas, concepts, and artistic productions that have shaped the country in terms of racial/ethnic composition. General information of some cultures of a region will be given briefly in a separate section. These cultures include Africa, Native American, Asian, Latin American, Caribbean, and European. The United States enjoys the folklore of all cultures and has been influenced in many ways, but in this Unit the emphasis will be given in trying to extract the differences and also the similarities of the themes I have selected for the elementary grades. There are many other common threads like celebrations, arts and crafts, games, food, songs and dance. This Unit will give us the opportunity of comparing stories - when we bring all these themes together.
This Unit intends to be an adventure, creating interest in cultural understanding rather than memorization of detailed facts. It is not designed to melt the cultures together; on the contrary, it is designed with the purpose that each culture will be studied and valued for its unique and individual characteristics while sharing some common threads. Allowing children to appreciate the uniqueness of various cultures, opens the possibilities for future understandings. It will help them to see and appreciate the richness of the increasing diversity within their communities, their nation, and their world.
This Unit will be divided into two sections:
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1.
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Sharing some common threads.
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2.
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Multicultural discovery. (The variety of cultures)
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3.
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History of reading. (Reading to children)
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Part II:
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1.
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Goals and objectives for the Unit.
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2.
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Lesson plans.
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3.
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Teachers' and students' bibliography.
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4.
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Teachers' and Students' reading list.
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