Step+By+Step+Instructional+Strategies

**Description:** Students will examine, analyze, and study different cultures and races in our nation today within their respective English III American Literature classes. During this unit, each student will read a minimum of three American Literature pieces by authors of a different race or culture that is different from them. Each of these authors will either be immigrants and natural born citizens that reside and live in America. Students will then be divided into groups and provide summaries and reflection of the pieces that they have read on a collaborative wiki in they will share their opinions, thoughts, and ideas towards what was written. Students will also complete a modified Socratic Seminar using a classroom blog. In the process, students will reflect on their own culture and heritage and how other differing cultures impact it as well as society as a whole.


 * Goals and Objectives:** The goal of this assignment is to educate and help students to understand the importance of culture variations across the United States. Students will understand how culturalism not only impacts them currently as a student, but also as they graduate high school and enter the work force.

Why is learning about other cultures an important life skill for you as a student?
 * Essential Question(s):** **How is this an authentic question for your learners?**

This question is authentic because it allows the students to put themselves in the situation and this question is relating to how they feel about learning about other cultures and how this impacts them as a student. Students are able to relate learning about other cultures with real world experiences of cultures that they may experience as they go beyond high school.

The three classrooms will collaborate through the use of the online wiki. Each group will be responsible for creating the wiki and adding the appropriate pages to the wiki. For the collaboration activity, students will be broken into groups of 3 students. Each group will choose what author their group would like to read a story, poem, song, speech, etc. about. After choosing the authors, the students will then work as a group and write a summary about the story, poem, song, or speech in which they have read about. The summaries will be posted on the wiki for other classmates and groups from the other two classrooms to see. Since students will be choosing authors from a variety of cultural backgrounds, each group will be responsible for writing a bio for each author. This information will also be posted on the wiki. For the essential question, each group will be responsible for using the wiki in order to respond to the essential question. As a team, each member will put their responses together and post as a team response. The students will view 2 other wikis from the 2 other classes and then post their responses to the essential question.
 * Three Classroom Collaboration Activity: How will your three classrooms collaborate in answering the essential question? (one-paragraph description)**

(List the equipment needed to teach your unit)
 * Equipment:**


 * Computers with internet access
 * Collection of books from culturally diverse authors
 * Worksheets for authors bio
 * paper and pencil
 * earphones for songs

Describe each step you will follow in implementing your project, including a description of each activity. Describe the in sequential order and with enough detail that another teacher could pick up your instructional strategies and teach from them.
 * Step by Step Instructional Strategies:**


 * __Day 1__** (90 minutes)
 * The class will answer the daily guiding questions which will be written on the board at the start of class. (5 minutes)
 * 1. What is culture?
 * 2. What are some of your favorite meals during the holidays?
 * The class will discuss their definition of culture and the differences in the types of food they eat on the holidays. (10 minutes)
 * The teacher will discuss with the students the essential question and list the requirements and expectations for this collaborative project (10 minutes)
 * The teacher will assign students into groups according to cultural background to ensure a heterozygous mix (5 minutes)
 * Students will select an author they would like to write a summary about as well as read a work written by that author. (10 minutes)
 * Students will review in their group the authors work. (40 minutes)
 * Students will complete a 3-2-1 exit assignment on what they have learned, want to know more about and have a question on as an exit assessment. (5 minutes)

__**Day 2**__ ( 90 minutes)
 * The class will answer the daily guiding questions which will be written on the board at the start of class. (5 minutes)
 * 1. Which holidays do your family celebrate?
 * 2. List some contributions that people from your culture has contributed to the world.
 * The class will discuss their favorite holidays and share contribution from people in their culture. (10 minutes)
 * Students will create their wiki page and discuss their roles and responsibilities in their group (20 minutes)
 * Students will work collaboratively to write a rough draft of their summary of the author and the author's work they have selected. (40 minutes)
 * Students will complete a 3-2-1 exit assignment on what they have learned, want to know more about and have a question on as an exit assessment. (5 minutes)

__**Day 3**__ (90 minutes)


 * The Class will answer the daily guided questions which will be written on the board at the start of class. (5 minutes)
 * 1. List some characteristics of your culture?
 * 2. List some cultural differences between members of your group.
 * The class will discuss the differences in their culture and the similarities. (10 minutes)
 * Students will make corrections to their rough draft and upload their corrected summary on the group wiki (70 minutes)
 * Students will complete an exit assessment question about cultural differences. (5 minutes)
 * 1. How can people from different cultures benefit each other by working together?

__**Day 4**__ (90 minutes)


 * The Class will answer the daily guided questions which will be written on the board at the start of class. (5 minutes)
 * 1. contrast the type of music members of your group like to listen to.
 * 2. what are some stereotypes that you or members of your family have through?
 * The class will discuss their favorite music and review the different stereotypes they have witness (5 minutes)
 * The teacher will review the rubric and the peer assessments with the class. (10 minutes)
 * Students will make correction and finalize their summary on their chosen author. (70 minutes)
 * Students will complete an exit assessment question about cultural differences. (5 minutes)
 * 1. What steps are you willing to take to stop cultural bias in your family?

__**Day 5**__ (90 minutes)


 * The Class will answer the daily guided questions which will be written on the board at the start of class. (5 minutes)
 * 1. Characterize the culture of the author you chose to summarize.
 * 2. Give a overview of the story your author told in your group reading.
 * The class will discuss the differences and similarities of the cultural background of the author they summarized. (10 minutes)
 * Students will review the peers wiki, and assess the collaborative effort using the provided rubric (50 minutes)
 * Students will complete the two rights and a wish peer assessment for members of their group (20 minutes)
 * Students will complete an exit assessment question about cultural differences. (5 minutes)
 * 1. List two contribution people from your culture has made to our society?

The Questioning/Feedback form will be used a tool for formative assessment. The notecard form will be used for the students to document the progress of the group with the activity. The use of this card will assess different components of the activity and allow students to identify any assessment issue and any corrective action needed or provided.
 * Formative Assessment Strategy **

The creation of the entire activity and using the wiki will be used as the summative assessment strategy. Each group will be graded on areas specified within the wiki that are listed on the summative assessment rubric. The summative assessment final assignment has a total of 55 points that the students can gain at the most for the assignment where they can get a score ranging from 5-1 within the specific areas.
 * Summative Assessment Strategy **