CULTURE

1
CULTURE

• A Unit Plan Integrating Social Studies the
  Arts

Featured Cultures Hopi Indians Maasai Tribe of
Kenya Ancient Mayans Grade Level 3-5 Length
6-9 weeks
By
2
What is culture?

• NCSSs definition of culture has been used as a
  framework for creating this unit
• The study of culture examines the socially
  transmitted beliefs, values, institutions,
  behaviors, traditions and way of life of a group
  of people it also encompasses other cultural
  attributes and products, such as language,
  literature, music, arts and artifacts, and foods.

3
Rational for creating this unit

• The arts encompass all subjects of study, and
  especially lend themselves to the study of
  history and people.
• As a classroom teacher, I see a strong need for
  curriculum that will engage my students and allow
  them to participate more in their own learning.
• In a single classroom there are a variety of
  learning styles among the students thus their
  teacher should teach in a variety of ways thereby
  maximizing the success of all students.
• Due to the pressure for pubic school students to
  be proficient on standardized tests in reading
  and math, social studies and the arts (as well as
  science), are being taught less than math and
  reading.
• I believe that the current trend in American
  education is focusing far too much on passing
  these two-subject standardized tests - thus our
  students are not receiving a comprehensive
  education which includes untested subjects.

4
Why should we teach culture?

• By understanding the lives of others we can more
  readily empathize with their needs as well as
  become more in touch with our own. By studying
  how others live within our world we can gain a
  broader understanding of what it means to be
  human.

5
Cultures in this unit
Ancient Mayans
Maasai
Hopi Indians
6
These cultures were chosen For their

• Varied geographical locations
• Unique characteristics
• Relevance to ancient history, recent history and
  current events
• Differences when compared to one another
• Potential for broad application to New Mexico
  state standards in social studies and the arts

7

Part i the hopi indians10-12 days
Students will begin by critiquing and analyzing
images of the Hopi people and aspects of their
life. During this process students will make
observations and generate questions about the
Hopi culture. Questions will be categorized based
on student specified criteria.
8

• For the remainder of this portion of the unit
  students will
• Work in small groups, researching and discovering
  answers to their own questions.
• Record their findings in research notebooks
• Create timelines on Hopi history
• Make pop-up model houses in the style of the
  Hopi
• Work as a group to create a presentation
  covering their groups questions
• Present their findings to their classmates

9
Hopi Assessments

• Group Presentation Rubric (Teacher created and
  evaluated)
• Groups will be assessed together by the teacher
  on their overall presentation, accuracy of the
  facts and their overall presentation display.
• Pop-up House Rubric (Teacher created, student
  evaluated)
• Students will individually self assess their
  pop-up Hopi houses based on the accurate style
  of the house, their quality of work and the
  elements of art

10
Part ii maasai tribe 10-12 days
As an introduction to the Maasai, the class will
be read a book called 14 cows for America. This
is a true story of the Maasai offering the U.S. a
generous gift of 14 cows, upon hearing of the
September 11, 2011 terrorist attacks. This book
serves as the introduction to the Maasai and
their way of life. The book closes by saying, No
nation is so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a
people so small they cannot offer mighty
comfort.
11

• For the remainder of this portion of the unit
  students will
• Create a rhythmic chant using hand held musical
  instruments, their voices, and words from 14 Cows
  for America
• Interact with a guest speaker who has spent time
  with the Maasai in Kenya
• Read part of Facing the Lion an autobiography
  by a Maasai man about growing up Maasai
• Apply their knowledge about the Maasai and the
  coming-of-age lion hunt to create and draw story
  boards based on Facing the Lion

12
Maasai assessements

• Informal assessments on rhythmic chants
• Teacher will collaborate with students to create
  a rubric to assess storyboards

13
Part iii Ancient Mayans10-20 days
Students begin this final section of the unit by
analyzing and critiquing images of Mayan art,
artifacts and architecture. Students move on to
discover the Maya for themselves through images,
video and books, while also generating questions
about the Maya. Before starting this section
students should acquire background about what
historical museum exhibits looks like
14

• For the remainder of this portion of the unit
  students will
• Implement their knowledge of the Maya by
  creating replicas of artifacts or models of Mayan
  structures
• Invent ways to create artifacts or models out of
  everyday materials
• Apply prior knowledge about historical museum
  exhibits and create a museum style exhibit with
  their artifacts and models
• Install their exhibit in a predetermined space
  and open it to the public

15
Mayan assessments

• Teacher will collaborate with students to create
  two rubrics
• One for teacher to assess each students research
• One for student groups to self-assess their
  process of creating the exhibit and their final
  presentation in their section of the exhibit

16
Possible lesson extensions

• - Invite a local Hopi person to speak with the
  class, or go on a field trip to see a showing of
  Hopi art
• - Contact the board of directors at the
• Maasai American Organization (MAO)
  http//www.maasaiamerican.org/links.htm
• The class could work with this non-profit
  organization and decide on a project or
  fundraiser that the class could do to support the
  work of MAO.
• - Students could display their Mayan museum
  exhibit in a public location, such as the public
  library, a local bank or local art gallery.

17
Final Thoughts

• I need to learn more about differentiating
  instruction in order to better meet the needs of
  students with varying learning styles and
  multiple intelligences.
• I need to go into more detail about the art
  lessons in the unit.
• The unit will likely take longer than 6-9 weeks
  to teach.
• Change museum exhibit assignment to include
  entire unit.
• Make clay Mayan masks as the art assignment for
  the third section on the Ancient Maya.

18
Resources

•  
• Deedy, C.A., Naiyomah, W.K., (2009). 14 cows for
  America. Atlanta Peachtree Publishers.
•  
• Lekuton, J.L., (2003). Facing the lion. National
  Geographic Society.
•  
• Levstik, L.S., Barton, K.C., (2005). Doing
  history third edition. Mahwah Lawrence Erlbaum
  Associates, Inc.
•  
• Obenchain, K.M., Morris, R. V. (2007). 50 social
  studies strategies for K-8 classrooms second
  edition. Upper Saddle River Pearson Education,
  Inc.
•  
• http//www.maasaiamerican.org
•  
• http//www.socialstudies.org
•  
• http//www.socialstudies.org/standards/strands
•  
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopi
•  
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai
•