For class. I wish I could make this private.

1. Zachary New
1/27/15
CI 350
Professor Blanco
Question 2
A- My classroom has children that are probably 8-9 years old, who are preparing to grow into
adolescents. The classroom is very diverse, with a blend of many different cultures being
represented in this classroom. The boy to girl ratio is nearly 1:1, so it is unwise to teach to one
gender or the other. It may be necessary to determine how the class as a whole understands the
mainstream holiday traditions first, and if there is a satisfactory understanding of the material, I
should focus more on holiday traditions of other countries. In particular, the traditions of the
lesser represented children in my classroom. I believe it is crucial to teach tolerance and respect
for other cultures, especially in a classroom such as this where the children will likely progress
with each other throughout their education.
S- The students will demonstrate a working knowledge of holiday traditions not only celebrated
in their home countries, but also countries around the world. The children must behave
respectfully while discussing holidays of other cultures.
S- The children will learn about these other holiday traditions by reading stories about the
holiday traditions, celebrating some of the holidays we learn about, watching movies about
holidays, asking children to share their own personal experiences with the holidays, and by
creating a holiday. My students will perform this mastery with a 80% mastery.

2. U- I will attempt to compensate for many different learning styles throughout all of my uses of
technology. For example, I will give out a worksheet for children to work on about the movie
that children will have to write about what they watch. I will also pause the movie every so often
in order to ask them what they saw and how they feel about what they watched in order to make
the material interesting and relevant to them.
R- By creating their own holidays and sharing them with the class, the children will be able to
use their creativity in a fun assignment. By sharing them with the class, the children will
hopefully discover that their religions vary significantly from one another. I will parallel this
with the real world, and show that while they may differ from each other, they are all valid in
their own ways. I believe that involving the students in this way is important to making the
material relevant to them. Also, by celebrating some of the holidays first hand, the children can
enjoy holiday traditions that they wouldn’t ordinarily experience. For example, having a mock
Hanukkah would expose many students to part of the Jewish culture. By having children discuss
their own experiences with their own holidays and traditions, they can better teach about the
traditions and customs of their culture. This is an unique perspective that I could not give my
students unless I also celebrated the holiday.
I think that the plan I have devised could potentially be very effective. The weakest part of my
plan in my opinion is the create your own holiday thing. I feel that while it could be effective
there may be a better means to emphasize the point of the validity of different holidays. On the
other hand, I believe that celebrating some mock holidays would be extremely effective in
communicating holidays to my students. It sounds like a lot of fun, even to me as an adult.
However, I could perceive parents becoming offended over their children celebrating another
culture’s tradition and culture without consent.