Making it to Christmas
So our last week of school before winter break seemed to fly by, partly because of how fun it ended up being. I put on my second all-out Culture Week of the year, this time on Cuba - obviously something that I know a bit about. I tried to make sure my students would really get a lot out of the week, so that meant plenty of planning and trying some unique lessons that would be memorable for them.
I started off the week by showing a slideshow of pictures I took during my travels to Cuba, including the photojournalism project I completed last year. I started off the lesson by using Google Earth to show a high-res satellite image of our school and different sites around Baltimore, before panning out and having the kids direct me to Cuba. They went NUTS. All but a few of them thought that I had actually used my "special camera" to take the pictures myself. Kids were out of their seats screaming and trying to give me directions to their houses. It's amazing what exposure to a little technology can do to a classroom of kids who have rarely (if ever) used a computer before... The rest of the presentation was a hit, and I was thrilled with the questions and enthusiasm I got from all of them.
Tuesday was "The Cuban Experience" and it was hell for them... though hilarious for me. I switched classrooms with Ms. LaMarca for the day, forcing my kids to sit in the room across the hall that is directly above the school's boilers. I stashed away all but 20 desks and 24 chairs for my 30+ students to share in each class, and crammed them all into one half of the room. So it's at least 100 degrees, some kids are sitting on the dirty floor, and everyone is squeezed close together sweating it out. They hated me, but surprisingly they understood why they were in that situation. Throughout the class they watched different documentary clips and weighed the pros and cons of life in Cuba, while experiencing a bit of it themselves. Some highlights included when one student raised her hand and asked who John F. Kennedy was and no one else in the class could give her an answer. Another favorite was when everyone thought the picture of Che Guevara I had posted on the board was of Bob Marley. I was shocked to later find out that, as miserable as Tuesday's class was for them, many of them actually said they got the most out of it and enjoyed it the most from the entire week.
Wednesday we looked at Afro-Cuban religions like Santeria and I tried my best to explain the parallelism to Spanish Catholicism, though I think I failed miserably. They didn't seem to get it, and it didn't help that they couldn't make the connection between African slaves bringing African culture with them to Cuba. I did my best to summarize the key points before letting them loose on art projects where they decorated different folklore depictions of orishas - the Santeria versions of Christian saints. It's amazing how just letting them use crayons and markers to color in a drawing can intrigue them so much... whatever works!
Because my attendance was starting to sputter out with only a few days left before break, I decided that Thursday would be Cuban music day and we watched Buena Vista Social Club so they could hear a little traditional music, as well as see what it's like to wander the streets of Havana. Judging by their bewilderment with how decayed and impoverished the city appeared, and how well they could relate to a community in shambles, I think the movie had a really positive impact on them. For the first time yet this year, they could see something similar to their own lives in a culture they knew to be so different. Oh, and they saw black people speaking Spanish for the first time, which was a real shocker.
Finally, we made it to Friday for our salsa dance lessons and fiesta. While not all of them participated in full force, those students who got up and tried a few dance moves loved it! Even those who were too embarrassed to try got a kick out of watching me and the rest of the class dancing like fools in the middle of the classroom (the picture is of Leroy and Tynesha burning up the floor and making the rest of the class feel like total idiots in comparison). We rounded out the day by sampling some different Cuban foods - rice and beans, Cuban sandwiches, and some tropical fruits and juices. Food always seems to do the trick when trying to get them excited about something. While the rest of the day was pretty worthless, with only a few students actually staying the entire day and several other teachers leaving early, it was a pretty easy-going way to finish up an otherwise hectic week.
Finally, time to head home for the holidays and start planning for our big mid-year project for January. Stay tuned for more when we get back in a week!
I started off the week by showing a slideshow of pictures I took during my travels to Cuba, including the photojournalism project I completed last year. I started off the lesson by using Google Earth to show a high-res satellite image of our school and different sites around Baltimore, before panning out and having the kids direct me to Cuba. They went NUTS. All but a few of them thought that I had actually used my "special camera" to take the pictures myself. Kids were out of their seats screaming and trying to give me directions to their houses. It's amazing what exposure to a little technology can do to a classroom of kids who have rarely (if ever) used a computer before... The rest of the presentation was a hit, and I was thrilled with the questions and enthusiasm I got from all of them.
Tuesday was "The Cuban Experience" and it was hell for them... though hilarious for me. I switched classrooms with Ms. LaMarca for the day, forcing my kids to sit in the room across the hall that is directly above the school's boilers. I stashed away all but 20 desks and 24 chairs for my 30+ students to share in each class, and crammed them all into one half of the room. So it's at least 100 degrees, some kids are sitting on the dirty floor, and everyone is squeezed close together sweating it out. They hated me, but surprisingly they understood why they were in that situation. Throughout the class they watched different documentary clips and weighed the pros and cons of life in Cuba, while experiencing a bit of it themselves. Some highlights included when one student raised her hand and asked who John F. Kennedy was and no one else in the class could give her an answer. Another favorite was when everyone thought the picture of Che Guevara I had posted on the board was of Bob Marley. I was shocked to later find out that, as miserable as Tuesday's class was for them, many of them actually said they got the most out of it and enjoyed it the most from the entire week.
Wednesday we looked at Afro-Cuban religions like Santeria and I tried my best to explain the parallelism to Spanish Catholicism, though I think I failed miserably. They didn't seem to get it, and it didn't help that they couldn't make the connection between African slaves bringing African culture with them to Cuba. I did my best to summarize the key points before letting them loose on art projects where they decorated different folklore depictions of orishas - the Santeria versions of Christian saints. It's amazing how just letting them use crayons and markers to color in a drawing can intrigue them so much... whatever works!
Because my attendance was starting to sputter out with only a few days left before break, I decided that Thursday would be Cuban music day and we watched Buena Vista Social Club so they could hear a little traditional music, as well as see what it's like to wander the streets of Havana. Judging by their bewilderment with how decayed and impoverished the city appeared, and how well they could relate to a community in shambles, I think the movie had a really positive impact on them. For the first time yet this year, they could see something similar to their own lives in a culture they knew to be so different. Oh, and they saw black people speaking Spanish for the first time, which was a real shocker.
Finally, we made it to Friday for our salsa dance lessons and fiesta. While not all of them participated in full force, those students who got up and tried a few dance moves loved it! Even those who were too embarrassed to try got a kick out of watching me and the rest of the class dancing like fools in the middle of the classroom (the picture is of Leroy and Tynesha burning up the floor and making the rest of the class feel like total idiots in comparison). We rounded out the day by sampling some different Cuban foods - rice and beans, Cuban sandwiches, and some tropical fruits and juices. Food always seems to do the trick when trying to get them excited about something. While the rest of the day was pretty worthless, with only a few students actually staying the entire day and several other teachers leaving early, it was a pretty easy-going way to finish up an otherwise hectic week.Finally, time to head home for the holidays and start planning for our big mid-year project for January. Stay tuned for more when we get back in a week!
posted by Tom at 9:52 PM
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