Catie Larson

11/12/12

Cultural Heritage Concept Formation - Russian Cultural Heritage

Context:

Background/Topic: Cultural Heritage is the inherited objects that show the human intellectual achievement in a certain society. While learning about the geographical region of Russia/Central Asia, we will cover what cultural heritage means along with part of SOL WG.4 The student will locate and analyze physical, economic, and cultural characteristics of world regions – Russia and Central Asia Cultural heritage: Ballet, Faberge Eggs, Music, Icons, Matryoshka dolls, Oriental carpets, Samovars. The SOL is very low level comprehension, the state merely wants the students to memorize the objects they have defined as cultural heritage. I would like for the students to be able to understand why these particular objects are used to define the Russian culture. Before learning this lesson, most of the students would have taken World History II and should be familiar with some of the historical concepts, such as Tzar Peter the Great, which will be covered in the lesson. The day before this lesson, they will have covered the physical characteristics of Russia/Central Asia, which will help them visualize and map out where in Russia/Central Asia each object is predominately found. For the Russians (and Central Asia) this cultural heritage is a blend of both the East and the West. So it is key for the students to understand where an object is coming from to understand how it fits into Russia/Central Asia’s cultural hertiage

Class: World Geography

Time: 90 Minutes

Instructional Model

The Concept Formation lesson plan is designed to teach students the intricacies of a certain concept. The concept used in this lesson is “cultural heritage.” World geography is not just a class about maps and where places are in the world; it is also about different cultures. To understand a culture properly, the students need to know a society’s cultural heritage. The lesson starts out with the students filling out a Data Retrieval Chart that leads the students to the definition of the concept. After that, the students must take that knowledge of the concept and apply it using one of four methods identifying an example/non-example, creating their own example, finding the examples/non-examples in a list, or correcting a non-example. My students will be creating their own examples in their letters compare/contrasting American and Russian cultural heritage.

Objectives:

Define Cultural Heritage

Discuss the French influence on Russian culture, including Tzar Peter the Great’s role in westernizing Russia

Discuss the influence of Far Eastern cultures on Russian cultures

Compose a letter comparing/contrasting American and Russian cultural heritage

Compare/Contrast Russian Cultural Heritage to American Cultural Heritage

Identify aspects of American Cultural Heritage

SOL WG.4 (See above)

Materials needed:

Prezi

Icon

Nesting Dolls

Copies of Chart

Projector

Computer/internet

Content and Instructional Strategies:

1)  Cultural Heritage - The inherited objects that show the human intellectual achievement in a certain society

2)  Hook – Write “Russia” on the board. Have the students come up and write things that they associate with Russia on the board. This could be cities, ideas, people, etc. This could be in a word document and I type it. Or on the interwrite tablet.

3)  Data-Retrieval Chart and Example Analysis

  1. Pass out the Data-Retrieval Chart (appendix A) to all of the students
  2. Go through the Prezi with the students
  3. http://prezi.com/eflb3tx3aq5w/russian-cultural-heritage/
  4. On computer/jump drive if internet is not working for some reason
  5. While going through the Prezi loosely follow the script below, but also make sure to go over the answers to the chart with the students.
  6. Faberge Eggs – What language does Faberge sound like? Does it sound Russian? NO. It is French. Do you remember Peter the Great? Do you remember anything he did? He wanted to emulate Western Europe, especially France. What holiday do we dye eggs for? Easter. The tradition of egg dying comes from Russia, where people who couldn’t afford the fancy eggs would dye eggs instead. Here are two examples of Faberge eggs at the Richmond Fine Arts Museum (play videos). The first one is the Imperial Peter the Great Easter Egg. The second one is the Imperial Czarevich Easter Egg.
  7. Dance (Ballet and Ballroom) – Russians are known for their magnificent ballet and ballroom dance skills. Where do you think that Ballet is from? SURPISE, its from France, again. This dance was developed in the French court for aristocrats. Have any of you seen a ballet? Here is a clip from the ballet Swan Lake. The Russians originally learned of ballet and ballroom from Europe, but they are known for perfecting both dances. During the Soviet era, the Soviet government put a lot of money into Ballroom dance in Russia, and Eastern Europe. This is a Russian couple dancing the Quickstep.
  8. Music - Anyone know any Russian composers? Can anyone pronounce this name? This is one of Russia’s most famous composers. He took the French and Russian traditions and blended them together. We are going to listen to the French national anthem and then a piece of music by Tchaikovsky. This is a piece called the 1812 Overture. I want you to listen for the French national anthem and the non-traditional instrument.
  9. Icons - (Pass the Icon around) Anyone remember what religion Russia is? They are Eastern Orthodox Catholic. Icons are very important to the Eastern Orthodox church. They have icons everywhere. In their homes, in their churches. Looking at this icon, what do you think an icon is? An icon is a visual representation of Jesus, or a saint that Eastern Orthodox Catholics use to worship. It comes from the Byzantine Empire in central Asia/Turkey. On the Prezi is an icon from the St. Sophia Cathedral.
  10. Dolls - (Pass around the nesting dolls) Have you seen these before? When do you normally see them? These particular dolls are Christmas dolls. The nesting dolls are originally from Siberia.
  11. Oriental Carpets - Does anyone have a carpet like this at home? These are handmade carpets, with very intricate designs. The oriental carpet originally comes from China and Vietnam, but it has spread to central Asia.
  12. Samovars - What is this thing? Any ideas what it does? This contraption is a samovar. Which is just a fancy way to say water boiler. These are used in Russia for tea time. What other culture is really big into tea? Where does tea come from? So, we have a little bit of the East and a little bit of the West coming together in Russia.
  13. Definition – What do you think this means? (break down definition by parts)

4)  Defining and Labeling the Concept

  1. The definition is the last part of the Prezi, as seen above. The students should work together as a class to come up with a workable definition of Cultural Heritage that makes sense to them.
  2. Allow for questions

5)  Classifying (Type 3)

  1. The students will then have the rest of the class period to write a letter to a friend describing what cultural heritage is. This should include 3-4 examples of American cultural heritage.
  2. Turn in at the end of class.

Assessment:

The letter that the students will write will serve as their summative assessment of this concept. By having the students describe the concept of cultural heritage to a peer will show that they have not just memorized the definition, but have actually internalized it and have synthesized the given definition with prior knowledge. As the lesson is going along, questions and going over the chart will help me to formatively assess how well the students understand the material.

Differentiation:

There will be a mix of visual, audio, and tactile aids to help all kinds of learners in the classroom. Within the curriculum, this allows for students who excel at writing in the first person show off their skills. In other lessons, I will allow for students to write formally, take tests, and to express their creativity through audio or visuals. Since the writing is being done in class, I will be able to help students one-on-one with their letters.

Accommodations:

This class has some students with ADHD and the combination of different presentation aids along with the fast, interactive pace of the lecture portion will help these students learn the material.

Teaching Reflection

This lesson was so much fun to teach. The students got really into the Prezi and they were very responsive to the lesson as a whole. With the World Geography class, they are generally a fun class, but it early and it can be hard to engage them. They did everything wonderfully. They asked questions and added much more than I expected to the class discussion. One student who is usually fairly unengaged, loved this lesson and was super excited to show off what he knew. The one snag that I had was that the students did not know what prevalent meant (on the chat). With a little bit of help from my CT, I was able to help them out and change the discussion direction to include more about what EXACTLY the students should write on their charts.

Technology Reflection

  1. This lesson has some hints of UDL elements. In the “lecture” portion, I have included tactile objects to pass around, videos to watch, and a lecture to listen to. With the writing portion, the students will not really have a choice in what they are doing, but there could be some differentiation implemented if a teacher wanted to do so.
  2. Technology should be a means to an end, not an end itself. In Social Studies, there are many ways you can bring technology in as a way to enhance the learning of content. For every type of learner, there is some sort of technology that would ease the learning of content. There are a lot of facts to give, so sometimes it is just not possible to use whatever kind of technology a teacher wants to use. All-in-all, I am a big fan of technology use in a smart way.
  3. I really see myself using technology mostly as a way to present content. For example, mostly using with Prezi, PPT, Smart boards, interwrite tablets, etc. I do want to use technology to have the students create content maybe about once a semester. I see this taking the form of making videos, blogs, or songs, but I am still very open to all ideas. I am still really exploring how I want to use technology in the classroom.
  4. In this particular lesson, the technology is used to make the content more fun. The technology really backed up the content. I was able to present what I wanted to the students in a way that kept the class under control, but we were still able to have a real conversation about the content. I want my students to be active learners and I don’t know that the technology made it that way. BUT, I think I was more confident knowing that I had a technological product that I really liked.
  5. I like that Prezi is so easy to make look pretty without being overwhelming. I think that sometimes PPT’s special features can be overwhelming for me, so Prezi is a good alternative. I was able to go through the Prezi and know that when I clicked next, the video would automatically start and that was really good for the way that this lesson was set up. The students were able to get a good visual representation of something that is hard to define and that they had never really seen before.
  6. I didn’t really like the Learning Activity Types approach. I think because this is a lesson that we had to do for our methods class, so I really knew exactly what I wanted to do in the strict parameters that were already in place. I am really still exploring with technologies, and for me it works better to just try and do a lot of things before I figure out what works and doesn’t work. It was good for gaining ideas for other potential lessons.

Where in Russia is this object prevalent? / Do you see this object today? Where? / Did this object come from somewhere outside of Russia? Where? / Do the Russians make this object on their own?
Faberge Eggs
Ballet
Music
Icons
Matryoshika Dolls
Oriental Carpets
Samovars