Planning the inquiry 1. What is our purpose?

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Class/grade: 5th School: Oak Forest Elementary

Age group: 9-12 School code: 006610

To inquire into the following: transdisciplinary theme

How we express ourselves: An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic. central idea

Teacher(s): Jones, Parks, Rice, Legate, Rawlings, Monger, Stephenson, Staffa PYP planner Date: 4/09/2012 5/11/2012 Proposed duration: number of hours 20 over number of weeks 4

A cultures beliefs and values are expressed in a variety forms. Summative assessment task(s): What are the possible ways of assessing students understanding of the central idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for? TASK: Students choose a culture and create a mask which will be worn during a class masquerade. Students will study the ancient traditions of mask making and understand the role or function of masks in cultures. Students will be able to describe how masks are used in rituals and how participating in masquerades is a way to express cultural beliefs Students will choose one of the below cultural connections to research for the creation of their masks: 1) 2) 3) a culture that they are a part of a culture that they descend from a culture that they want to learn more about

2. What do we want to learn?

What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inquiry? Change, Perception, Reflection Related Concepts: Culture and Diversity What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea? Traditions are the established customs and beliefs that are passed on. People set morals and values based on their culture. Has technology changed the way we express our beliefs and values? Social media and cultural communication

EVIDENCE: Students research, creation of the masks, and participation in the class masquerade should all represent an understanding that a mask can express a cultural idea, belief, value, or story. Understanding will be determined through a students explanation of their mask at the class masquerade and how it relates to a cultures beliefs and values.

What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries? Students engage in role-play activities where they play the role of an individual in another society, such as all the girls wearing head coverings and the classroom windows being blocked to mimic some Middle Eastern cultures. Play the "Telephone" game, allowing a message to be whispered from student to student throughout the room. Ask: How is this way of communicating useful? (You can send a message to someone without shouting it across the room.) How is it a problem? Guide students to understand that in addition to the message becoming distorted as it is passed along, it is not a practical means of communicating over long distances, as it would require long lines of people standing shoulder to shoulder.

ASSESSMENT TOOL: The Research, Create, and Masquerade Cultural Mask Rubric will be applied when scoring students cultural masks. The rubric allows for 10 possible points. However, there will be two scorings for each piece of student work. First, each student will complete a self-assessment using the rubric (a possible 10 points). The students self-assessment will then be added to the teachers rubric score (another possible 10 points). The two scores will be combined allowing for 20 possible points.

August 2012

Planning the inquiry 3. How might we know what we have learned? This column should be used in conjunction with How best might we learn? What are the possible ways of assessing students prior knowledge and skills? What evidence will we look for? Divide class into pairs and have each pair select a piece of paper from a bag. Papers will say Turkish culture, youth culture, European culture, American culture, African culture, Italian culture, primitive culture, Arab culture, Thai culture, etc. Each pair makes a list of at least 5 things, ideas, words that they associate with their category. Pairs then split, and two large groups are formed. Each person in the large group presents their culture and its associations to their larger group. The other members must add at least 3 more ideas/words to the list. Teacher can observe and listen to determine if students understand the term culture and what it implies. Put in Order Number these communication technologies in the order in which they were first used: internet, television, language and speaking, writing, telephone, cell phones, camera (answer: 1) language and speaking, 2) writing, 3) camera, 4) telephone, 5) television, 6) internet, 7) cell phones. Imagine what the next technology to change communication will be like. Write an informative paper that describes the purpose of your technological invention and how it works. What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for? Teacher observes and makes anecdotal notes of students role play activity checking for accuracy of the society being portrayed. Look for understanding of the impracticality of the type of communication in the form of the telephone game. Evaluate student writing and checking for evidence of how beliefs and values are embedded in many aspects of daily life of a particular culture, including food. Peer assessment of student created timelines of the Great Moments in Communication using a student created rubric. The student created chart should be a visual representation of communication advantages and disadvantages. Peer assessment will occur using a teacher created rubric. The persuasive paper should include three arguments specific to a particular culture. Teacher assessed by writing rubric. The interview will be authentic to a specific culture. The informative report will include a full summary of their findings on how their specific culture expresses themselves. The interview will be assessed by teacher observation and anecdotal notes. The report will be teacher assessed using a writing rubric. The alarm clock invention will be assessed according to a teacher created rubric. The presentation will be assessed using a presentation rubric. 4. How best might we learn?
What are the learning experiences suggested by the teacher and/or students to encourage the students to engage with the inquiries and address the driving questions? Students engage in role-play activities where they play the role of an individual in another society, such as all the girls wearing head coverings and the classroom windows being blocked to mimic some Middle Eastern cultures. Play the "Telephone" game, allowing a message to be whispered from student to student throughout the room. Ask: How is this way of communicating useful? (You can send a message to someone without shouting it across the room.) How is it a problem? Guide students to understand that in addition to the message becoming distorted as it is passed along, it is not a practical means of communicating over long distances, as it would require long lines of people standing shoulder to shoulder. Culture of eating - Ethnic foods, representative of different cultures will be brought in and discussed in order to highlight cultural beliefs and values, and how they are embedded in many aspects of daily life, including food. Write a summary of what students learned about various ethnic foods. Using the Great Moments in Communication Cards, students create a timeline which represents the invention of major communication devices and events Create a chart that displays the communication advantages and disadvantages of 1) cave paintings, 2) newspapers, 3) cell phones, 4) the internet, and 5) television. Write a prediction (in narrative or expository form) of what communication technology will be invented next. Write a persuasive paper, encouraging the reader to move to a place where they can be immersed into a new culture. The paper should persuade the reader to want to experience at least 3 aspects of another culture. Pairs of students research current articles relating to their culture of study, which can be both online and in print. The pair of students will write and conduct a mock interview with each other, where one student plays the role of an interviewer, and the other the interviewee. The interviewee assumes the role of a person from another culture, and responds to the questions based on what they have learned through research about that culture and how it communicates its beliefs and values. Each student will write an informative report summarizing their findings on how their chosen culture expresses themselves. Invent an alarm clock that can be used by a deaf person and create a model. The purpose of the alarm clock is to wake a deaf person from a sounds sleep. Present your model with the class and explain its functions.

What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the development of the attributes of the learner profile? Transdisciplinary Skills: Social: Respecting others by recognizing that others expressions of their culture may differ from ones own Communication: Viewing by understanding the ways in which images and language interact to convey ideas, values and beliefs Research: Presenting research findings by choosing a cultural mask as a media to express understanding. Learner Profile: Inquirers: By learning that the world is made up of many different cultures, different from their own, a spark of curiosity will ignite them to want to learn more about the world around them. Open-minded: Through the research of cultures unfamiliar to them, students will learn to be open-minded and understand that there is more than one perspective. Communicators: As students participate in the masquerade class party, students learn to communicate a cultural story or message by wearing a mask.

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Computer resources need to be gathered? 5. What What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available? Supplies to create masks for class masquerade party Any party supplies Invitations for parents Computer time for research Ethnic food recipes Parents to share foods of their culture with class Head coverings (to simulate burkas for engagement) Great Moments in Communication Cards Supplies for creating inventions The book Vejigante Masquerader by Lulu Delacre How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry? The center for analysis of how other cultures express themselves will be the classroom environment. This will be the forum for exploration, communicating ideas and concepts, serving as a common place for interaction, collaboration with peers and creating modes of expression. Guest speakers will be brought into the classroom or schools multi-purpose room to discuss their personal experiences.

August 2012

Reflecting on the inquiry

6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose? Assess the outcome of the inquiry by providing evidence of students understanding of the central idea. The reflections of all teachers involved in the planning and teaching of the inquiry should be included. Students expressed their understanding of the central idea in their journal reflections, mask creations, online discussion board responses, and through masquerade party conversations.

7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP? What were the learning experiences that enabled students to: develop an understanding of the concepts identified in What do we want to learn?

For our concept perception, the masks helped students see a variety of ways that cultures express themselves. Questions such as what is that? and why would they wear that? arose in reflecting on the various masks. Students learned that the veiling of a womans face also expressed culture.

demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills? Research was conducted by students which helped them to understand the meaning of various cultural masks. Specifically, students were very interested in learning and researching more about the veiling of womens faces as a cultural expression.

How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have a more accurate picture of each students understanding of the central idea. A better project description and a better rubric that focuses on the central idea.

develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?

Through the research of cultures unfamiliar to them, students learned to be more open-minded and understanding of others beliefs, customs and ways in which others express themselves.

What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and the transdisciplinary theme? The creation of the masks allowed students to express their cultural beliefs and values. The masks allowed students to extend and enjoy their creative expression and their appreciation of aesthetics.

August 2012
International Baccalaureate Organization 2007

Reflecting on the inquiry

8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning?

Record a range of student-initiated inquiries and student questions and highlight any that were incorporated into the teaching and learning. What did cavemen use to paint with? Who invented writing? Why were the masks considered valuable or important? Why are they not so popular today? Will they ever be reintroduced into our culture today?

9. Teacher notes
During the implementation of this unit our team integrated aspects of social studies, reading, writing and art. Particularly, the following standards were integrated: SPI 0501.3.2 Identify the purpose for writing (i.e., to entertain, to inform, to share experiences, to persuade, to report). SPI 0501.3.3 Choose the supporting sentence that best fits the context and flow of ideas in a paragraph. SPI 0501.3.10 Select appropriate time-order or transitional words/phrases to enhance the flow of a writing sample. GLE 0501.8.16 Identify how culture, ethnicity, and historical eras are represented in literary text. SPI 0501.6.4 Identify the stated main idea and supporting details in text. Engaging the students in creating and making their own masks was a powerful part of this unit. All the students were highly invested in their work, and by doing research discovered what other cultures were like. Providing visuals and videos made the other cultures come to life for them. These experiences sparked a great deal of inquiry. This helped students make connections to the central idea and examine their own cultural background. This all culminated with their own masquerade party to share their creations with peers, so they could display as well as interpret the masks. This all worked very well. What did not work so well with the unit was the timing. Since we were on a condensed schedule we were very rushed and missed some opportunities to provide additional learning experiences to solidify the central idea. Besides teaching the unit there were many other obligations, such as district mandates, that made completing the unit in the allotted timeframe difficult. Being that the masks were an art project, we teamed up with the art department in the creation of the masks. In order for the students to successfully create their mask, they used several skills learned in their art classes. Mrs.Parks class created Beijing Opera masks. This was done with the assistance of the Chinese department. Mr. Staffa and Mrs. Parks developed the idea together and he later joined her class for a discussion of Beijing Opera. Ms. Parker assisted students in painting their masks. It was apparent during the onset of discussions that many students did not have a good understanding of other cultural backgrounds. Through their research and class inquiry discussions most students were able to elaborate on how a cultures beliefs and values are expressed in a variety forms. For next year, we would like to incorporate some classroom visits from people of different cultural backgrounds than our students to expose them to world cultures firsthand, and spark additional inquiry. In reference to the Beijing Opera projects, it would be interesting to attempt a mock Beijing Opera to culminate the learning experience. In their character roles, the students masks would be more meaningful in expressing morals and values. We would like to order some trade books for next year because they would cover this topic particularly well, as well as assist with the materials needed for the students to complete their masks. Despite the time constraints and feeling of being rushed there was some solid evidence of learning and understanding of the central idea. The mask project required a synthesis of their research on culture. In their journals students expressed their interest in different masks and the meaning behind them. They also reflected on their masks in essay form after they were finished. During discussions we were excited to see how much the students had learned from video clips, non-fiction readings, research and development of their cultural products and perspectives.

At this point teachers should go back to box 2 What do we want to learn? and highlight the teacher questions/provocations that were most effective in driving the inquiries.
Traditions are the established customs and beliefs that are passed on. Has technology changed the way we express our beliefs and values?

What student-initiated actions arose from the learning?

Record student-initiated actions taken by individuals or groups showing their ability to reflect, to choose, and to act. Students wanted to put on a mask fest to show off their student-generated masks.

August 2012
International Baccalaureate Organization 2007