Puerto Rican and Mexican

Dance and Creativity Project

for 6th Grade Students

Curriculum Design by Kristina Xie and Bria Lewis

Educational Studies: Analyzing School 2013

Topic OverviewThe Puerto Rican and Mexican Dance and Creativity Project will serve to help students learn and practice traditional salsa and Mexican Hat dances after learning histories of both cultures. Through the Transformative Approach to a multicultural curriculum, students will reflect on their own identity and explore their creativity through collage making and a paper based on their experience in the unit. The curriculum will intrigue students to examine their neighborhood, cultural background and current issues that surround English Language Learners today. Students will think critically about the topic and use multiple types of intelligence to express what they have learned.

By the completion of this unit…

Students should be able to recognize that their own personal identities and culture as well as the identities and cultures of others are important enough to be inserted in their curriculum and are relevant in American society.

ContextMcDonough Middle School/ Moylan School 6th grade class15-20 students per class75 minute classes 5 day unit during end of April- beginning of May Heterogeneous grouping

Objectives:• Students will be able to learn basic dance moves from Salsa

and Mexican Hat Dance• Students will be able to understand the differences in cultures

from an ethnographic perspective• Students will be able to compare and contrast the two different

cultures and explain the similarities and differences• Students will be able to develop communication skills by

working collaboratively in groups and presenting what they learned

• Students will be able to articulate their understanding of different cultures through writing and rhetoric  

Explanations:• Bloom’s Taxonomy 1. T4 Analyze: Compare and Contrast

2. T5 Synthesis: Assemble, Arrange, Prepare, Write

3. T5 Evaluation: Argue, support, evaluate

Connecticut State Framework for 6th Grade History:

1.3 compare and contrast cultural contributions of a variety of past and present civilizations

1.13: compare similarities and differences of cultural groups in different regions (e.g. beliefs, values, traditions, institutions, etc)

• Describe how social, cultural and economic circumstances influence individual lives

Explanations Cont. • 2.5: Present social studies topic using visual forms of

evidence (e.g. maps, pictures, multimedia, video)

• John Dewey: Cooperative Learning

• “to engage students in meaningful activities where they have to work with others on problems” (Perspectives on Learning 56)

• “normal communication with others”- the process of communication in which the learner was interacting with others in purposeful activities or investigation of common interest” (Perspectives on Learning 56)

• Multiple Theories of Intelligence

• Musical Intelligence

• Bodily Kinesthetic

• Linguistic Intelligence

Day 1: Trip to Real Art Ways Gallery

• Activities: Real Art Ways: hosts a diverse group of artists and art. It has an “emphasis on supporting contemporary artists, fostering the creation of new art and working in creative ways with the community”. EX: Sabrina Marques’ exhibition “The Dream of Cuba” focuses on Cuban art.

• Art Ways provides an atmosphere that includes Hispanic and Latin American art.

• The purpose of this trip is to expose students to the different cultures that surround them in their community through art. It serves to kick start the curriculum and get students to think about cultural diversity.

• Students will tour the art gallery and answer prompts in journals about their experience.

Day 3: Immersion Video Cliphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Y0HAjLKYIShow on Wednesday (Day 3) students learn about Mexican culture and gain an understanding for issues concerning Second Language Learners (ELL) in urban schoolsStudents will learn that cultural differences and language barriers do not determine intelligence

Assessment: Creativity and Writing Project: Design a collage or poster in groups of 3 or 4 reflecting on what you have learned in this unit. This is will be presented in front of the class. Each student will write a 2-3 page paper that will compare and contrast what was learned about Puerto Rican and Mexican Culture. The paper will be graded on a rubric given to students. • Students will be able to develop communication skills

working collaboratively in groups and presenting what they learned

• Students will be able to articulate their understanding of different cultures through writing and rhetoric

Activities: Objectives:

Monday: Day trip to Real Art Ways

Gallery

• Sabrina Marques Exhibition focuses on her conversations with Cuban artists living in Miami

• Journal entry writing at gallery • Group discussion about Hispanic and Latin American

culture in the community and about journal entries

• Students will be able to develop communication skills working collaboratively in groups and presenting what they learned

• Students will be able to understand the differences in cultures from an ethnographic perspective

Tuesday: Trinity Dance Club

• present a PowerPoint about the history of Salsa• Performance by the Trinity’s Latin Dance Club• Club will show students basic dance steps • Homework: Write in your journals about families

festivities. Do you dance? Why or why not? Do you know how to dance? Is dancing even important?

• Students will be able to learn basic dance moves from Salsa and Mexican Hat Dance

Wednesday: Mexican Hat Dance

• present a PowerPoint about the national dance• learn and practice from a parent• Watch 12 minute movie “Immersion,” answer worksheet

questions and discuss responses in a socratic seminar)

• Students will be able to learn basic dance moves from Salsa and Mexican Hat Dance

• Students will be able to understand the differences in cultures from an ethnographic perspective

Thursday: Cultural Dish Day/ Group

Work

• Parents will cook cultural dishes from their background and talk a little about the dish

• Students will go over compare and contrast the two dances they learned

• Students will start their posters and collages in groups

• Students will be able to compare and contrast the two different cultures and explain the similarities and differences

Friday: Presentation Day

• Groups will present their collages and posters to the class based on a group work rubric to evaluate participation and group cohesion

• Each Students will also write a formal journal entry or make a collage or poster about any aspect from the unit (with a paragraph about what the collage is showing)

• Students will be able to develop communication skills working collaboratively in groups and presenting what they learned

• Students will be able to articulate their understanding of different cultures through writing and rhetoric

Resources: • Parents to chaperone trip • Gallery Access (Suggested donations)• Trinity Dance Club• Professor, faculty, student or parent to show

Mexican Hat Dance• Immersion Movie (Youtube)• Parents to cook meals/ order from a restaurant

Connecticut Frameworks for History