Students will also be evaluated by student-generated test questions.
Using photos, documents, and music from American Memory and other resources, students in a communications skills class investigate rituals and customs of various cultures.
They then interview family members to deepen their understanding of their own cultural celebrations. Using their oral presentation skills, students present one cultural ritual from their ethnic group to the class.
Students create Intergenerational Interview questions, and use the "Intergenerational Interview Form" to obtain information from parents and/or grandparents regarding christening, wedding, funeral and holiday customs in which they participated as children.
- improve their oral and written communication skills;
- write correct bibliographic citations for primary sources; and
- gain tolerance and acceptance of all cultures through the exploration and analysis of holiday and stages of life rituals which unite a group by preserving cultural identity and heritage.
Procedure
The procedure for this learning experience is composed of six activities. Each of the activities is described in its own section below.
Activity One
(1 Class Period)
Divide the class into groups of four. Give each group wedding photographs from The South Texas Border, 1900-1920 along with photographs of Asian and African American wedding couples. Students will be analyzing the photographs using a Material Analysis Guide. Students discuss similarities and differences of the ritual events.
Give students 5 minutes to write down the answers to the following questions:
- What are your family traditions and celebrations?
- Why do you celebrate?
- Do your grandparents and other relatives celebrate the same occasions?
Write student answers on board noting similarities or differences in rituals.
Tell students they will be investigating their family traditions.
Lecture and visuals: on christening, wedding, funeral, and holiday customs.
Discussion of attributes* common to many rituals:
- theme of the ritual, i.e. birth, coming of age, marriage, death
- historical perspective
- participants, i.e. are they representative of the community, age and gender
- unique clothing, music, food
- locale
- decorative art/symbols use
- oral history
- folk tale associated with ritual
- medicinal practices
* from The Circle of Life, Rituals from the Human Family Album found in Additional Resources. - Material Analysis Guide
Activity Two
(1 Class Period)
Schedule library time to use American Memory resources.
Demonstrate how to search collections and how to limit a search to photographs, text documents, sound recordings or film. Show the American Memory Synonym List, collection subject indices (Search Help has complete information on how to use the search page), and pull down menus on the search page.
Show students American Memory documents of a German-Russian wedding, entitled Catherine Margaret Weber, and a Hispanic wedding, entitled Cecilia Richards Alvarez, from American Life Histories, 1936-1940. Students work at library tables using "MLA Style Citation Format for American Memory Text Document" and "Written Document Analysis."
Ask students to find the author, interviewee, title of collection, protocol, address, and date of interview as wedding documents are read aloud to students.
Students to write a bibliographic citation for the Weber document as you model the correct bibliographic form.
Give students class time to complete the bibliographic citation of the Alvarez document on the "Written Document Analysis." Students will complete the "Using MLA Citation Format" worksheet and the two "Written Document Analysis" worksheets at the conclusion of the class period.
- Using MLA Citation Format
- Written Document Analysis
Activity Three
(1 class period)
Students will listen to and read lyrics to wedding and funeral music from:
Students compare and contrast themes, gender roles, and religious overtones in the music using the "Venn Diagram Form." Students also complete an "Intercultural Music Activity" worksheet for bibliographic information.- Venn Diagram Form
- Intercultural Music Activity
Activity Five
(3-4 class periods)
Students choose and present orally to the class one christening, wedding, funeral, or holiday ritual from their ethnic group. This presentation demonstrates their knowledge of the particular custom. Requirements for the oral presentation are visuals, outline of presentation, and student question for the test. The student test question will be used to encourage active listening. Teacher explains Oral Presentation Rubric.
Activity Six
(1 class period)
Students also compare and contrast the ritual they have chosen with a historical counterpart using the American Memory collection. Students will be given search terms to use with the specific collections. Students use the "American Life Histories-Compare and Contrast Worksheet" to help find information for this assignment. This three-page essay must include historical differences, modern similarities and reasons for continued popularity or disappearance in culture. Schedule library time for research. Essays will be evaluated by using the Compare/Contrast Rubric.
- Compare and Contrast Worksheet
Resources/Materials
American Memory Collections:
Student Materials:
