On November 10th
2014, #mexedchat had
a special guest Mtra. Giselle
Barrett to moderate our bimonthly chat. The topic was
collaboration. We discussed about the different ways we use digital tools to
collaborate beyond borders with other teachers to make learning a meaningful
experience. I was so excited with the great discussions and resources that
I decided to write this post!
Borders or financial
issues no longer limit collaboration in the 21st century. The change in
professional education has been quick, enabled by the many tools that we now
use for collaboration.
Technology has provided us with the ability to communicate, curate,
collaborate, and create with any number of educators, globally in a 24/7
environment. The co-founders of #mexedchat (Dominique Dynes, Isaac Pineda and I) truly believe
that we are smarter collectively than individually.
If we are willing to
collaborate with other classes around the world and raise awareness of global
issues, we need to think of the following characteristics of a truly educator.
An educator must:
Ø believe in sharing, communication and collaboration.
Ø flatten classrooms and engage minds.
Ø practice and model lifelong learning.
Ø use the tools of technology to personalize his or her professional development.
Ø be a relevant educator, willing to explore, question, elaborate, and advance ideas through connections with other educators.
Ø view failure as part of the process of learning.
In order to prepare
citizens for a world of continuous technological evolution, we, as educators,
need to understand that dynamic and evolve at a pace that keeps us from falling
behind. The tools of communication, collaboration, and creation have radically
changed and will continue to transform.
A Wonderful Learning Project
Last November 1st and
2nd, my 3rd grade students prepared their offerings to celebrate "The Day of
the Death" in Mexico. So I contacted another teacher from
Milwaukee, Will Piper. His 5th grade
students were also doing a special project with this Mexican tradition in the
USA. After exchanging a couple of emails we decided to connect via skype (Another
great way is Google
HangOuts). During the skype session our students exchanged different
material we previously prepared in our lessons. After that, we decided to
create a site called Día de
Muertos to make learning more relevant and have an authentic
audience to assess this collaborative project.
A Great Experience of Global Collaboration
by Will Piper
This fall, the fifth grade students at University School of Milwaukee,
in Wisconsin participated in an integrated study of Mexican cultural
and traditions engaging in what we called, “The Ofrenda Project.” This
was a joint collaboration between students and teachers in art, music,
World Cultural Geography, and Spanish classes. The seeds for this
powerful project-based learning experience were sewn over a year ago.
After visiting the Latino Arts, Inc. Gallery for a field trip last year,
students and teachers were quite touched by the exhibits displayed, and
the curator of the gallery, Zulay Febes-Cordero, extended an invitation
to our school and fifth graders to be presenting artists a the gallery
for their 2014 exhibit. Being invited to present at a gallery is a very
special and unique experience, and this particular exhibition was a
very distinguished honor as students would be displaying their art
alongside the art of other local and regional artists in a display which
averages over 5,000 or more viewers each year.
In the summer of 2014, Miriam Altman (Middle School chorus teacher/Fine
Arts Co-Chair), Sarah Markwald (Middle School Art Teacher), Todd
Schlenker (Middle School Spanish teacher) and I (Will Piper- 5th grade
World Cultural Geography teacher) met and brainstormed ideas for the art
installation. Under the creative direction of Sarah Markwald, the
concept was created to make a large structure of houses out of
lightweight foam board in the style of those seen in Mexico, and create
windows within those houses for students to display, “ofrenditas,” small
displays honoring a person whom the students admired and had passed
away. To create the large structure to hold the "ofrenditas", we called
upon Jeremy Woods, who teaches a stagecraft class in the Upper School at
University School of Milwauke, and he had his students work to engineer
the design of the project and make the house-like structures complete
with windows for viewers to peer into to see the "ofrenditas".
My colleagues and I introduced the project to the students as a whole
group in early September, as the art portion of the project had an early
deadline so that we could make sure it was displayed in the gallery.
Students created their "ofrenditas" in art class. In Spanish and music,
students learned songs about the Day of the Dead including, “The Skelleton Song.” Students also learned about the symbolism of marigolds and made paper
marigolds in their Spanish classes. In Word Cultural Geography class,
students learned about the culture of Mexico and how religion plays a
crucial role in the holidays and celebrations people in Mexico
participate in. Students learned about the paper craft known as “papel
picado” and created paper designs to drape across the top of the houses
in the display.
Moreover, students had the chance to learn about some of the history and
traditions of "el Día de los Muertos", not from a text book or website,
but rather from like-minded peers from the Cerdos Norte School in Mexico
City. Via a Skype call, students in Milwaukee and Mexico City were able
to view each others' ofrenda projects. The Milwaukee students were in
awe of the Mexican students' detail in their ofrendas. The students
were able to identify and discuss symbols of the holiday together
including marigolds, calaveras, skeletons and even "La Catrina". The
Mexican students in Pedro Aparicio’s class did a fantastic job explaining
and showing “El Día de los Muertos,” to their fifth grade friends.
While this would be great learning to stop there, students in both Sr.
Aparicio’s class and my classes wanted to go further with the
collaboration, so a Google Site was born! Using Google For Education, my fifth
grade students were able to view a section on the history and cultural
significance of "El Día de los Muertos", prepared by Pedro Aparicio and
his students from Mexico City. Students also enjoyed looking at the
Altar page and comparing the Mexican ofrendas to the ones we made.
Seeing the collaboration already in place, my students wanted to share
with the students from Mexico about our pan de muerto contest. We took
pictures of the pan de muerto, wrote a description of the special treat
collaboratively, and the posted it along with other links to the mutual
site. We also created a page that documented our presentation of our
“Ofrenda Project” and our experience at the Latino Arts, Inc. Gallery
for the Mexican students and even created videos in Animoto to show our
new friends highlights of the project. As a homework assignment, I
asked my students to share the joint website with their parents and
discuss what they learned from it. After soliciting responses in class
and from recent parent teacher conferences, here are some of the
outcomes of this globally and locally collaborative endeavor.
• Students learned the significance of "el Día de los Muertos" both in Mexico as well as in our local Milwaukee community.
• Students analyzed symbolism associated with the holiday from talking to students in Mexico and sharing with other artists at the Latino Arts, Inc. Gallery.
• Students presented their art to both their families and community members at the gallery opening, explaining their artist statements.
• Students understood that el Día de los Muertos is a key holiday in Mexico and also plays an important role in our own local community.
• Students analyzed symbolism associated with the holiday from talking to students in Mexico and sharing with other artists at the Latino Arts, Inc. Gallery.
• Students presented their art to both their families and community members at the gallery opening, explaining their artist statements.
• Students understood that el Día de los Muertos is a key holiday in Mexico and also plays an important role in our own local community.
Engaging in this multi-faceted lesson, collaborating with different
disciplines and with Sr. Aparicio’s class in Mexico City gave my
students a much deeper learning experience to understand the importance
of learning about other cultures. Most importantly, we, as students,
teachers and families had the wonderful opportunity to learn about and
reflect on how we all are both similar and uniquely different as people,
learning about a significant holiday from those who celebrate it the
most.
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| Ofrenda |
