Medea E. Lamberti-Sanchez
The proposed unit,
Citizenship and Identity through the lens of the Presidential Campaign
, will be taught to my sixth-grade Language Arts and Social Studies students at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School in New Haven, Connecticut. I am a Regular Education teacher. My classes are rich in diversity. My students fall into three categories: Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic. The ability levels of the students range from basic-leveled learners to advanced-leveled learners. The students have wonderful conversations about their experiences, cultural backgrounds and ethnicities. Students can share common perspectives, and learn from each other’s unique perspectives. These student-led conversations help stimulate richer relationships.
Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School is a middle school for students in grades five through eight. It serves urban and suburban students from surrounding areas of New Haven. Betsy Ross is founded on the principle that through the arts, students will think, learn, and see their academics in an innovative, challenging way. Our students are artistic, creative young people with a strong interest in the arts that is shown through their poetry writings, group presentations, and performances in the theatre, dance showcases, and the annual arts shows. The school provides a performance platform for the students to showcase their ideas artistically through portraits, sculptures, videos, etc. For this reason, the unit will include visual aids like videos, photographs, images, and entertainment focal points (e.g. music or dance.) In addition, technology will be incorporated throughout the unit so that the students can type responses in Google Chrome in order to create a slideshow or document.