LA #1 Talia's Sightseeing Tour

Learning Activity # 1 - Talia's Sightseeing Tour

Learning Activity #1: Talia’s Sightseeing Tours

Learning Activity #1: Talia's Sightseeing Tours (pdf Download)

Focus Areas: Geography, History, Art/Architecture, Information Literacy

Standards Addressed: DCPS Standards 12.DC.14 - Describe the historical developments in Washington, DC during the first half of the 20th century.

Grades: 7th-9th

Objective(s): (LW - Learners Will)

Define culture and describe ways in which a city’s history and culture can be expressed.
Research the monuments and sights of Washington, DC or Morelia, Mexico.
Design and present a sightseeing tour for one of the two cities discussed in Talia’s reflection.

Preparation:

Prepare the classroom for group work;divide students into manageable groups. Four students per group would be an ideal size, but teachers of larger classes may want to increase the size of each group to limit the overall time spent on presentations at the end of the learning activity.

Arrange chalk talk paper or put the prompts on the board (see Step 1 in the Procedure section below).
Reserve library, computer lab, or laptops and gather print resources for research – see references in “Additional Resources” section below. It is highly recommended that teachers access print guidebooks for Morelia and/or Mexico because the Internet resources in English are slightly more limited than those available for Washington.
Copies of (1) student handouts for sight-seeing tour assignment (includes project description, roles and responsibilities and project checklist) and (2) pathfinder for internet research and/or (3) internet checklist, the (4) self and peer evaluation for group work, (5) the Venn Diagram for wrap-up (all attached), (6) teacher-made presentation and group work rubrics (not attached)
Gather necessary materials for final walking tour presentations such as poster board, markers, rulers, and paper. Teachers may choose to have students do PowerPoint presentations, brochures, or a travel show depending on the resources and time available.

Reflection Prompt

Talia writes, “Like Washington DC, Morelia, which is located in the Mexican state of Michoacan de Ocampo, has a similar abundance of history and is characterized by the magnificence of its monuments that recognize different historic periods and people.”

Procedure

Step 1: Talk About It

Begin class with the chalk talk activity. In this activity, students leave their seats to record their responses to these three prompts on the board or on chart paper. An excellent description and rationale for chalk talk in the classroom can be found by clicking here. Instruct students to return to their seats after they have responded at least once to all three prompts. For a variety of formal definitions of the word “culture,” use this link to access online dictionaries.

Define “culture” in your own words.
List/describe ways in which culture is expressed.
In (your city/town), what buildings, monuments, or structures best express culture?

Step 2: Defining Culture
Using the student responses from the chalk talk activity (using paper will ensure that the chalk talk “conversation” is recorded), come up with a working definition of culture as a class. For purposes of designing a walking tour later in the lesson, the definition should include 3-6 specific ways that culture, or the common experience of a people, is expressed, such as language, history, art/architecture, laws, government, and religious beliefs. This definition will serve as the basis for the walking tour assignment, so it is important that your class develop a definition that will allow them to work at their level.

Step 3: Getting Organized

Each group will be assigned, or choose, to design a sightseeing tour of either Morelia or of Washington, DC. Distribute the handouts—Talia’s Sightseeing Tours: Project Description, Roles and Responsibilities, Project Checklist— and review them as a class, filling in the class definition of culture so that students can refer back to it as they work.
Once the assignment details have been discussed and student questions have been answered, students should complete the roles and responsibilities chart included in the handouts.
Finally, using the checklist, have each group fill in the culture “categories” based on your class definition of culture. Having 3-6 of those categories will ensure that the project and presentation are rich explorations of both Morelia and Washington, DC.

Step 4: Research! - Using the print resources in your school library and/or the Internet resources listed on the pathfinder, allow student groups time to research the history and geography of their assigned city.

NOTE: If your students have more advanced information literacy skills and you would prefer that they search for information on their own, have them complete the Internet checklist to ensure that they are using websites with reliable and credible information. This step might also be an excellent opportunity to collaborate with other departments if time and schedules allow – students might benefit from talking to or hearing presentations from art teachers on types of architecture or from the Spanish teacher about other aspects of Mexican culture.

Step 5: Create - When research is completed, students may return to the classroom to prepare their project and presentation materials, or, if you have chosen to have them work in the computer lab to design their tours and maps, they should continue working.

Step 6: Present - When project and presentation materials are completed, have students present their sightseeing tours to the rest of the class. The presentation should highlight a connection between each stop on the tour and the class definition of culture.

NOTE to teachers: rely on the project description, roles and responsibilities, and project checklist to design presentation and group work rubrics appropriate for your students.

When all of the group work has been completed, teachers may wish to have each student complete self and/or peer evaluations of individual contributions to the group.

Step 7: Wrap-Up Discussion - Compare Morelia and Washington, DC by posing the following discussion question to the students, all of whom have seen varied examples of sights and monuments in both cities: “Do you agree with Talia that Morelia and DC have many similarities?” For a more structured discussion, use the Venn-diagram to compare the information from student presentations.

Checking for Understanding:

Steps 1-2: Students will demonstrate understanding in this part of the lesson through their participation in the chalk talk and the class discussion of the definition of culture.
Step 3: Students will demonstrate understanding by explaining in their own words what the process for task completion is and what the requirements are for the finished product and presentation.
Step 4: Teachers will check for understanding through informal observation of the students working in their groups.
Step 5: Students should self-check (using the Project Checklist) to make sure they have successfully completed their deliverable project materials and prepared for their presentations.
Step 6: Teachers will use the attached handouts to design their own presentation and group work rubrics to assess projects and the presentations.
Step 7: Students will demonstrate understanding by participating in the wrap-up discussion.

Global Action Activity:

The historic center of Morelia is a designated United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site, one of 878 cultural and natural sites in the world that have been chosen and protected because of their outstanding universal value. Visit UNESCO World Heritage to learn more about the designated areas and see how you can help protect the sites closest to you.

Extension Activities:

Using the information at the UNESCO website about the criteria used to designate places as a world heritage site, have students generate a list of places that they feel should be included. This list may vary depending on your students; successful lists may have a local, national, or global focus or a mixture of all three. For homework or an additional class work activity, have students write letters to UNESCO defending their choices and explaining the reasons that they believe it has universal value and should be protected for future generations.
Have students design a monument that reflects their personal cultural heritage. This could be given as a writing assignment (as a more figurative exploration) or as an art project using artifacts from the students’ lives.
Take a tour of Washington, DC with the History Channel using the film “Great Monuments of Washington, DC.” This film is an exploration of Washington DC in three parts: The White House, the presidential memorials, and the war memorials in the Nation’s Capitol. This film explores the history of the buildings and the men and women who inspired and designed them. This video is available at Amazon and was produced by A+E Home Video.

Additional Resources:

For internet resources, please refer to the Internet Pathfinder for the Sight-Seeing Tour Assignment
Suggested Print Resources

        o Rough Guide to Mexico. 7th ed. Rough Guides, 2007. ISBN: 978-1843538431
        o Penczer, Peter R. The Washington National Mall. Oneonta Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0962984136
        o Fodor’s Washington, DC 2008: With Mount Vernon, Old Town Alexandria, and Annapolis. Fodor’s, 2007. ISBN: 978-1400018093

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LA #1 Talia's Sightseeing Tour

Learning Activity #1: Talia’s Sightseeing Tours

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