African Descent Project
My goals for my students in this project was for them to do well academically and increase the pride of other people in their cultural identity. Before giving my students the task of completing this project, I initially taught them about one particular figure and that sparked their interest in African history. Personally, I knew this project would be important to my students because I know what it feels like to learn about one's entire culture. That enlightening experience is worthwhile because it can instill self-confidence while learning about the accomplishments of one's culture. I related to them when they said that there had to be more to Black History than Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. I agreed to allow them to know more about individuals of African Descent that have made a positive impact on the world.
From that idea birth this project and with that information my students taught other classrooms about the figures and the importance of having pride in one's culture. Below are the artifacts from this entire experience.
Table of Contents
1. Explicit Teaching
2. Research
3. Presentations
4. Spreading Awareness
5. Student Reflection
6. Conclusion
Explicit Teaching
As stated in my teaching philosophy, I taught my students about five individuals of African Descent throughout the year every month. In January, I taught my students about Queen Nzinga which related to Marvel's Black Panther. This engaged my students to learn more about African history because according to my students, Queen Nzinga was the real Black Panther. From that point on, my students craved for more information in order to lead an activity that would increase the pride of other people in their cultural identity. Below is the lesson, the excerpt on Queen Nzinga and artifacts from that lesson.
Research
This project took an extreme amount of effort to organize the figures according to grade appropriation. Although there are many people of African descent that have positively impacted the world, not all of their backstories are appropriate for third graders. In the project, I want my students to explore the history of the figures and not everyone has an appropriate history. For instance, Shaka Zulu was a world-renowned African king in the Zulu Nation. He fought off many colonists and furthered Zulu's political agenda. However, after the death of his mother Shaka murdered the mothers of all calves in his nation so that they can mourn like him. There are more figures with similar backgrounds like Shaka, however, I compiled a list of figures for students to pick from with appropriate backgrounds. Below are artifacts from my research. In addition, click on the names below to see the information I distributed on various figures. The names below are samples of the information, not all of the names are provided below.
Presentations
The process of my students completing this project took place at home with their parents and guardians. The results of their hard work and research exceeded expectations. My students presented well and wrote proficient essays. In addition, this was the first step to promoting one's culture because, after this, my students decided to teach others about African culture.
Spreading Awareness
After my students presented their projects, they wanted to promote pride in their culture in other ways. Our first discussion was on placing the projects around the school for students to read. This was a good idea, but we decided to go to different classrooms and present to other students. During these outside presentations, students from other classrooms were excited to learn about ancient and current African figures. Samples of those presentations are below.
Student Reflection
After the presentation, I wanted to gauge my student's thoughts and opinions on the project. I needed to know that this project was successful in promoting African culture which reflects the demographics of all of my students. In addition, I asked the students from other classrooms to reflect on the presentations because they too are apart of this culture as well. The artifacts are provided below.
Conclusion
Overall, this project was not only rewarding for me but for my school as well. The research process was a humbling experience to know about the plight of Shaka Zulu, the strife of Nelson Mandela, the determination of Queen Nzinga and the powerful presence of Queen Nanny of Jamaica. Allowing my students to learn about these figures increased their pride which eventually convinced others to appreciate theirs.
In addition, I truly enjoyed my students taking pride in their ancestry. I loved how my students dressed up as their figures without it being a requirement. That let me know that they truly appreciated the experience and wanted to learn more about it. My students took the information they learned about their figures and used it to teach others around the school. Moreover, this experience was monumental in allowing my students to teach others about their own culture and to take pride in it.