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Celebrating Diversity Through the Study of Nine American Holidays

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Celebrating Diversity Through the Study of Nine American Holidays Curriculum Units by Fellows of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute 1998 Volume V: Reading Across the Cultures Celebrating Diversity through the Study of Nine American Holidays Curriculum Unit 98.05.08 by Bonnie Bielen Osborne RATIONALE Major change is occurring in the ethnic composition of the people who make up the United States. No longer are we a nation where the majority of us trace our roots to European countries. "White" Americans will soon be a minority, as racial and cultural diversity continues to expand. The students we teach, and the colleagues we teach with, are an exceptional mix of individuals with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Helping students to understand the benefits of interacting with others, from different backgrounds, is a challenge. Students may be hostile to those different from themselves. They tend to associate with groups only of their own kind. Being with people who are "different" can be an anxiety provoking experience. It is more comfortable to remain with the known. However, in our rapidly changing world we will need to feel comfortable with each other in order to interact successfully in both the workplace and in social situations. We all need to embrace values which include tolerance, respect for others, and a sense of responsibility for the common good. Understanding between cultural groups must be cultivated. I believe that this is the first step toward acceptance of others who are different from ourselves. A beginning step in the process toward inclusion of all people is to gain some knowledge of other ethnic or racial groups. Learning about the customs, celebrations, and holidays associated with diverse cultures is one small way of achieving that goal. Studying the ways of people different from oneself can be an enlightening and positive experience. This learned knowledge can enhance communication and promote mutual understanding, which in turn can lead to multicultural strength and unity. STUDENT POPULATION This curriculum unit is designed to be used in a special education classroom within a small inner city public secondary school located in an urban community. The school provides an alternative academic setting for pregnant teens and young mothers. Students, ranging in age from twelve to twenty, are enrolled in grades six through twelve. Instruction is provided through a selection of academic subjects, as well as through courses offered in home economics, life skills, and computers. All students participate in parenting, prenatal and Curriculum Unit 98.05.08 1 of 18 postnatal classes. Students transfer into the school throughout the year, depending on individual circumstances. Most students stay for at least two marking periods, others remain until the end of the year and then return to their sending schools. Because of the ongoing population flux, curriculum planning needs to be elastic as well as flexible. The special education population attending the school includes students who are mentally retarded, learning disabled, brain damaged, and or seriously emotionally disturbed. Ability levels within the special education classes cover a wide range. Most of the students have limited reading and writing skills. Some students tend to exhibit negative behaviors, which are best addressed in small groups within a highly structured setting. Many of these students have a history of poor school attendance, which has resulted in significant gaps in their learning. Whole sections of information may be missing from their fund of knowledge. Individual educational plans, which address specific strengths and weaknesses, are implemented in teaching the curriculum to the special education population attending the school. Although the unit is designed to be used in a special education setting, it could be modified for use in regular classes as a unit of study to be included in an English class, history class, social development program, or as part of an arts curriculum. Various outcomes may be achieved by building on the core holiday background information. The unit may be presented to students in its entirety, or as separate mini units which explore individual holidays. Presentation and study should be based on the particular needs and interests of the population being served. UNIT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Unit Goals To promote harmony and mutual understanding among people with diverse backgrounds To promote exploration of multicultural literacy Unit Objectives Students will demonstrate a basic understanding of various cultural traditions through the study of nine selected American holidays. Students will demonstrate academic progress and developmental growth in reading through the study of children's literature relating to selected holidays celebrated in the United States. Curriculum Unit 98.05.08 2 of 18 Students will demonstrate academic progress and developmental growth in writing through the process of responding to written assignments relating to selected holidays, and cultural diversity. Students will demonstrate creative expression and developmental growth in art through the process of creating objects and works of art relating to artifacts representing various cultural celebrations. INTRODUCTION TO TEACHING THE UNIT The unit goal, to promote harmony and mutual understanding among people with diverse backgrounds, is based on the assumption that knowledge is a necessary component in achieving that goal. Learning more about the people of various cultures, through the study of their holidays and celebrations, is one way of gaining understanding. The core foundation of this unit is the use of children's literature to explore facts and fictions associated with the selected holidays. Each section includes a brief history, and further explanation of the particular holiday being cited. There follows a listing of interesting and appropriate books for classroom use. I have chosen children's books from town libraries and local bookstores. Other titles could easily be interchanged with those which I have suggested. An abundance of books depicting the major holidays is readily available. More difficult to find selections include children's books on the celebrations of Three Kings Day, and Cinco de Mayo. Children's books which tell about Kwanzaa are well represented. The selection of reading material will be influenced by the individuals within the group. Many of my students are limited in their reading ability. Therefore, the use of children's books as a remedial activity is a strategy which I will employ throughout the curriculum unit, to both improve reading skills and to build funds of information. During the presentation of the unit, we will discuss, practice, and prepare for reading to younger children. Concerning my particular students, I will continually stress the importance of reading to their own children beginning at a very early age. I believe that all students need to hear that message. In our school students may put it into practice sooner, rather than later. The unit will be taught as a series of mini units, each representing a specific holiday. This will be done in a timely fashion, as holidays approach, throughout the school year. Approximately two weeks of fifty minute classes will be devoted to each of the nine holidays selected. Background information, described in detail within the unit plan, will be presented by the teacher. This will be augmented by the exploration of children's literature which will be available to students in the classroom. Books encompassing a variety of reading levels will be included. The use of children's books plays an integral part in the teaching of the unit by providing sustained reading practice, along with the presentation of factual information. In addition, the knowledge gained by learning about holiday traditions different from their own, will help the students to better understand their classmates and others in the community. Classroom projects, including arts and crafts activities, and written assignments, generated by the unit of study, will be used to represent each holiday celebration. A wide range of product outcomes are to be expected because of the various ability levels within Curriculum Unit 98.05.08 3 of 18 my classes. As an example, written assignments might be as simple as expressing a thought in a full sentence for some students to creating a complex story of two or three pages for another student. Selected finished products will be displayed within the classroom, and throughout the school building. A second option to teaching the unit is to present the unit as a whole, encompassing the study of all the holidays cited over a period of two to three weeks, during fifty minute classes. Here the emphasis would be on comparing and contrasting holidays by focusing on their similarities and differences. An example might be to illustrate one or two of the differences between Christmas and Three Kings Day, two holidays with many similarities occurring during the winter holiday season. Students might choose a particular holiday to present to the group. Individual or group research papers could be assigned. Books, representing particular holidays, might be read to the class by individual students. Projects would focus on the variety of holidays being studied concurrently, and could culminate in a comprehensive display of the end products. In our school we plan a yearly multicultural luncheon. The completion of the unit could be planed to coincide with such an event. UNIT TOPIC: NINE SELECTED HOLIDAYS The following background information is intended to provide the reader/teacher with a somewhat detailed explanation of nine holidays celebrated in the United States today. These selected holidays were chosen because each is associated with a particular group of people, such as Hispanic, African American, Irish, Jewish, Chinese, etc. These cohesive groups of individuals reflect the broad cultural diversity currently present in America. Book suggestions for classroom use, research or pleasurable reading, are listed at the end of each holiday section. These book selections are fully credited and annotated in the bibliography. Labor Day Labor Day has come to mean parades, family celebrations, and the end of summer to many Americans.
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