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Unit III Discovering the Obvious: Our Lives as "The Folk" Lesson 2 The School: School Culture Across Louisiana
I went to school at St. Andrews [Baptist Church]. After that--well before that, the preacher and his wife was living in the quarters and she was teaching us. Her name was Sarah Brown. Her husband was our pastor, and she was our teacher. . . . When the time was up we'd go in the fields, the school was closed then. I'm surprised if kids were learning anything then, I'm telling you the truth. And when it was time to pick cotton, you stopped. There was no more school then. When we could go, we were there. But when the time came, we had to hoe that cotton. I remember my little brother was a baby, Mama had to go, and I had to go home and nurse the baby and go to the field. I remember that. --Lizzie Johnson, Natchitoches Parish Grade Level 4-8 English Language Arts, Social Studies
Purpose of Lesson Students identify and research school customs and folk groups through discussion and interviews. They learn that traditional culture exists within other cultural contexts, such as the academic world of school, and in combination with popular culture. They investigate the name, history, and stories of their school and others' school traditions.
Lesson Objectives/Louisiana Content Standards, Benchmarks, and Foundation Skills 1. Students identify various folk groups within the school community.
2. Students research and compare school traditions and customs today and in the past.
3. Students explore how folk traditions exist within an academic (or elite) cultural setting such as school and in combination with popular culture.
4. Students use interviews and primary source research to study local school history and traditions.
Time Required 2-5 class periods
Materials If your students will be doing fieldwork, you may need digital cameras, audio recorders, or video recorders in addition to notepads and pencils as well as appropriate fieldwork forms. Print out and duplicate any worksheets or rubrics that you will be using.
Technology Connections Internet Resources
Student Worksheets Assessment Tools
Evaluation Tools/Opportunities Process
Summative Products
Background Information for the Teacher A complex of unofficial rules and traditions overlays official school rules and practices. Perhaps Friday is free reading day in one class or extra recess in another. A couple of Louisiana examples focus on local culture. The start of squirrel hunting season in one parish means no school because of "budget day." Another parish closes school for the Stock Day parade. In every class in every school, students and teachers create different communities with different customs, from classroom and teacher lounge decoration to student behavior with substitute teachers. The custom of attending Friday night high school football games still draws people from whole communities in parts of the state, as do beauty pageants, talent nights, and step shows. Researching school names, histories, and traditions can lead to a new understanding of a school's importance to a community, folk groups and traditions within an academic setting, and some of the functions of folklore (it's fun, it teaches something, it defines cultural borders, it releases cultural tension).
To Prepare Have a couple of school traditions in mind to start students' brainstorming. Describe some school traditions from your own school days. For Step 3, review Unit II. Choose one or several of these assessment
tools/opportunities to use with students during this lesson, and prepare
the required materials:
Portfolios - list of games,
interviews of adults, graphs, worksheets, oral and written reports,
artwork, cooperative group presentations, online research, etc. Print
and duplicate the Rubric for Portfolios and use to
assess the quality of students' portfolios. Plan for students to arrange
displays of their portfolios. Print and duplicate the Rubric for Portfolio Exhibits and
distribute to students before beginning the lesson. Instruct students to
refer to the Performance Indicators while planning their exhibits.
Print the Rubric for Research Papers and assign
students to work in pairs to assess first each others research paper,
then their own. 4th Grade
Activities 1. Brainstorm school customs and
traditions with students. Some may be specific to your class; others may
be school-wide. Share customs from your own school days. Discuss what some
folk groups in your school might be: teachers, kindergartners, crossing
guards, girls, boys, etc. Is there a school song? Emblem? Mascot? What
happens during an assembly? What are some unspoken school
rules? 2. Ask students to fill out the School Customs Worksheet. Then they
can draw pictures, collaborate on a mural, or write a story about school
traditions. 3. Invite an older teacher to class for
students to interview about earlier school traditions or arrange for
student teams to interview other school employees such as crossing guards
or cafeteria staff. (Be sure to read Unit II and practice first.)
Students should enter notes in a computer or notebook. 4. Document some school traditions through
the year or a semester and display research results in a classroom or
school exhibit, scrapbook, or computer program. Create a timeline of the
events. 5. Research the school name, age, and
history through interviews, community and school newspapers, town
records. 6. Have students research the topic of
school lore using local and school newspaper archives, yearbooks, retired
teachers, former students, parents. 7. From what they have uncovered about
their school and classroom folklife, students can create a welcome kit to
help new comers. Items could include a school history; map of special
places and unofficial rules, celebration, and a "Welcome to Our School"
gretting card. 8. If students have begun portfolios for
this unit, have them add products from this lesson to them. Use the Rubric for Portfolios to assess the
quality of students' portfolios and assign points. 8th Grade
Activities 1.The move to middle school means lockers
and lots of other challenges. Set the stage for the lesson by asking the
following questions: Are students in your school allowed to decorate their
lockers? Do students decorate friends' lockers on birthdays? What are
sports traditions at your school? Homecoming, pep rallies, trophies, old
team photos? Are there special occasions, such as crazy hat day? Do
students act differently with substitute teachers? When do students try to
pull pranks? Are there any school legends? 2. Ask students to brainstorm school
traditions and discuss what aspects might be folk culture and what might
be popular culture. For example, the Homecoming dance might feature pop
music, but it also features traditions passed on by example from year to
year. Have them develop the table below by drawing or using a word
processor and record the traditions in the table.
3. Ask students to work in teams or individually to choose a school tradition to document, researching through interviews, photos, yearbooks, school and community newspapers. What does this tradition say about the school? The community? 4. The Montana Heritage Project website describes some of the community explorations Montana students are undertaking. One example is an ongoing research project on old high school trophies and sports team photos as starting points for investigating school culture and history. Have students visit the Next Generation, Montana Heritage Project online magazine to find data to include in their reports. See Our School or Hallway of Memories. Have them contrast these Montana traditions to those at their school, or the old and new traditions.
5. Distribute copies of the Rubric for Portfolios and direct students to work in pairs to assess first each other's research paper, then their own. Students should make indicated changes to improve their reports. Teacher should score the research papers using the rubric after students have edited them. 6. Students work in groups to design a presentation of their findings. They could create a slide show or bulletin board presentation, invite guest speakers, include school traditions on a school webpage, or write an article for the school paper. Use the Rubric for Portfolio Exhibits to grade the presentations. For a process evaluation, have students rate their own products. For a summative evaluation, teacher scores the exhibits using the rubric and assigns grades. 8th Grade Explorations and Extensions 1. Interview local "sports heroes" or people in the community who once played sports at your school to find out how sport traditions are the same and how they are different. 2. A cheerleading collection project could uncover changes in chants and cheers. 3. Research school colors, changing uniforms, sports rituals. 4. Make a "Welcome to Our School" kit to help new students understand your unofficial school culture. What would you want to know before entering your school? 5. School customs such as beauty pageants, step shows, class plays, halftime shows at football or basketball games can symbolize an era or a community's values. Analyze the structure and procedure of such performances to determine associated cultural values as they change over time or map a segment of a performance.
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