Celebrating Multi-Cultural Heritage!!
So, often it seems that in history courses the contributions of those from multicultural backgrounds are either widely ignored or not given the attetnion they rightly deserve in textbooks so I want for my students to teach each other about important figures from a multicultural background of their choosing and explain the significance of this person to their culture and to our world..
For this assignment, I will have to do some explorations with the students on conducting research and how to pick and choose credible, reliable sources. I will also go over the importance of citing references being used in their work and how to go about doing so. Students will also need to become familiar the different presentation tools that they may use on their computers with pre-installed software or through the use of free software and presentation programs via the Internet.
In order to give students an idea of to build their ideas upon, I will show my own digital story. This story will be inclusive of all elements including video, sound, graphics and audio. As we all know, our students often times are light years ahead of us in these areas, and I'm sure they will be able to take basic ideas to the next level if given the opportunity.
With this project, I want students to be able to develop and fine tune their research and writing skills. I want them to understand all the elements involved in creating and telling a story and how to use technology to do so. I want them to show themselves true digital learners and teachers!
Your project that you have plan for your students sounds like a great idea to help student get to know each other's culture. It reminds me of a class project that I had to do in my multicultural grad class. The professor had us selecting a culture that was different from ours and we had to emerge ourselves in a day in the life of that culture. I chose buddhism and I truly gained a great amount of understanding and clarification on the various preconceived notions that I one had.
ReplyDeleteAllowing your students to undertake such a highly sensitive project can be risky and it important that you set up boundaires and ensure your students knows how to collects credible sources.
You are absolutely correct about ensuring my students understand the importance of integrity while conducting research. I plan to thoroughly cover this and even show them policies held by colleges and universities on plagairism and things of that sort. I know that some times in certain climates, talking multicultural could get sticky, but once again, clear boundaries will most definitely be set in regards to this as well.
DeleteMatia,
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point. I feel like multi culture should be celebrated and not ignored like you mention. Maybe have a day or two when you celebrate each of the student's culture that way your students will learn to respect each other's culture (and future ones) and learn about it too (just as an example)!
Absolutely!! I think we need to learn to value others, and not just ourselves. There's an entire world outside of our windows and I'd like for my students to understand that. I feel that there are many technological things that they can incorporate into this project from songs, to video and graphics. I think they may actually enjoy it and find it fun and creative.
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