Morgan Higgins

EDSEC477
Dr. Lori Goodson
08 October 2018

Culturally Responsive Literacy Lesson

Introduction:
What makes the students within your classroom unique and diverse?
The students in my classroom have a variety of experiences and learning abilities. Quite a few of
them are from military families and they have moved around a lot. They are used to not knowing
people very well before they leave. I have students of all races, though very few of them are
actually immigrants (maybe 2 or 3 that aren’t completely fluent English speakers). The genders
are fairly “normal” due to the age of the students – K-2 students don’t seem to have much
awareness of that, yet.

What are their linguistic and learning needs?

I have a few students on the spectrum but most of their difficulty is classroom management.
They have more trouble paying attention than they do absorbing and understanding the content.
The general level of instruction needs to be pretty low, as they are all between the ages of 5 and
7. They need to be fairly engaged when means the lesson needs to be very interactive, with dance
or game components. If any of them have many reading skills, they are not terribly advanced
(especially Kindergarten). I will have to break a lot of things down for them and make sure that
the language is at a level that they can actually understand.

What factors did you take into consideration when planning this culturally responsive literacy
lesson?
Much of my consideration in writing this lesson centered around the age of my students. You
asked for us to consider the students within our practicum classroom as inspiration for the lesson
plan. Since I am music and we split the semester between elementary and secondary, I had to
think a little more. I haven’t been to my secondary classroom yet, so all I have is elementary (I
know this class is focused on secondary, apologies for my continued submission of elementary
concepts). I took into consideration that most of the students in my classroom are between 5 and
7 years of age and as such the lesson needed to be simple enough for them to understand while
still giving them some cultural perspective. I also considered that they likely do not know a great
deal about the world, so it is my responsibility to get them started off on the right foot in learning
about and respecting other cultures.
 Lesson Plan

General Objective: 2nd grade students will learn about Japanese culture (the significance of
elders, their music, the connections to our culture) through a book, “The Falling Flowers” by
Jennifer B. Reed, and Japanese folksongs.

Objectives:
- Listen to Japanese minyo (folksongs) music.
- Distinguish between Japanese taiko, koto, shakuhachi, Kawasaki, shinobue, and shamisen
instruments.
- Aurally identify melody, instruments, soloist, and chorus.
- Identify Japanese words.
- Become familiar with Japanese folklore.
- Understand cultural importance of mountains in Japanese society.

Materials:
- “The Falling Flowers” by Jennifer B. Reed
- Shintaro San of the Mountain song (recording and CD player)

Lesson 1:
1. Students will sit in their “special spots” in the classroom (“Criss cross applesauce, spoons
in your bowls. Criss cross applesauce, spoons in your bowls.).
a. Students know this means to be quiet, facing forward, sitting criss-cross with their
hands in their laps.
2. Teacher will read “The Falling Flowers” by Jennifer B. Reed to the students.
a. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1885008287?ie=UTF8&tag=notifoflca-
20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1885008287
3. Teacher will ask students questions.
a. I.e. their favorite part of the book, things they do with their grandparents, etc., to
get them thinking about their relationships with their grandparents and the
traditional American grandparent experience vs the relationship portrayed in the
book.

Lesson 2:
1. Students will listen to “Shintaro San of the Mountain,” and then respond to questions
posed by the teacher.
a. What types of instruments do you hear? How many do you think you hear?
b. Is there a soloist? Is there a chorus?
c. Is this a sad song or a happy song?
d. Do you hear verses? What is the form? (Verse and chorus).
i. https://folkways.si.edu/japanese-ballad/shintaro-san-of-the-
mountain/world/music/track/smithsonian
2. Identify and explore the country of origin of this song.
a. Show a map of Japan and discuss that Japan is an archipelago.
b. Identify Mount Tara on Kyushu Island at the border of Saga and Nagasaki.
 c. Tell students this is the mountain that Shintaro San comes down to visit the
village.
3. Discuss the song, “Shintaro San of the Mountain”
a. Give students background information about the song. (Shintaro San was a
samurai who lived in a monastery on Mount Tara. He was well liked by the
townsfolk because of his gallantry.
b. Students will act out roles as townsfolk and samurai, taking a walk on the
mountain, having conversations. How would the interactions go?
c. Play “Shintaro San of the Mountain” again and have students follow the beat
while continuing to act as townsfolk and samurai.
d. Invite students to clap/sing along as the music starts. Students can use nonsense
syllables/vocables to sing along and can clap any beat they feel/hear while
following the recording.

Assessment:
Are students able to sing the main melody of the song on nonsense syllables? Are students
successfully improvising a rhythm that corresponds to the song? Can students move and
sing/clap at the same time?

End Day 1

(Day 2 and 3 consist of additional instruction on this subject matter. Day 2 includes Japanese
Minyo/folksongs and Japanese Dance. Day 3 includes Japanese Mountain Folklore and more
history and culture of Japan.)
 Reflection

This lesson is, in many ways, grounded in Culturally Relevant Instruction. The focus of the
entire lesson is culturally relevant and World Music focused. The book that we read (“The
Falling Flowers”) allowed me to start a conversation to get to know better the lives of my
students and their families. It also allowed me to impart knowledge about how the relationships
are a little be different in Japanese families and culture. With this discussion, and the students
sharing with each other and myself, I am able to tie in other aspects of Japanese culture – music
and the importance of the mountains. The content is delivered in a way that I hope is engaging
and interesting to the students. I will use conversation and personal interactions with my students
to my advantage. The high volume of questions is intended to get students thinking and keep
them engaged. Conversation is encouraged to assist in student learning and understanding the
culture they have been introduced to. Additionally, I will use language that students are familiar
with and understand. As soon as a new vocabulary word or term is introduced, I will define it for
students and relate it to something they know so that they understand what it is and how it plays
a part in life and culture.