Eight Eyes on Japan By Ryan Kenedy and Katie Rodgers 4/29/04 Ed 200 Analyzing Schools

Introduction This curriculum project is a month long. Each week focuses on one culture, and the study of each culture utilizes all eight of Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences. The cultures to be studied are Japanese, Mexican, Irish, and the Kenyan culture. This presentation focuses on a week in which the Japanese culture is studied. Gardener’s theory includes eight intelligences, or styles of learning.

Introduction, cont. Gardener’s Eight Intelligences: 1. Musical 2. Linguistic 3. Spatial 4. Bodily-Kinesthetic 5. Logical and Mathematical 6. Naturalistic 7. Intrapersonal 8. Interpersonal

Context This curriculum project is designed for a the first grade level of students who have English as their primary language.

Objectives 1. Students will discover personal strengths through introduction to different learning styles. 2 Students will increase ethnic tolerance, acceptance, and respect by exposure to new cultures. 3. Students will better adapt to the school environment because of a reduction in the cultural gap between the home and school environments. (Some of the results, because of the nature of some of the objectives, are not quantifiable, and therefore cannot directly be evaluated in this project)

Objectives, cont. 4. Students will express their personal thoughts and identify the contributions of other cultures. 5. Students will compare their previous knowledge of each culture with their newly acquired information about the cultures. 6. Students will develop interests in each culture based on personal preferences.

Activities Day 1: 1. Teacher will start with “KWL” chart: What do you know about Japan? What do you want to know about Japan? What have you learned about Japan? Responses with student names Responses with students names

Activities, cont. Day 1: Musical Teacher will present class with pictures of Japanese instruments. –Examples: taiko, tsuzumi, kotsuzumi, etc. Teacher will play CD of traditional Japanese music. Students will be asked to identify what instruments they think are being played.

Activities, cont. Day 1: Musical Students will create their own miniature taiko drums with Quaker Oats cans and empty coffee cans and use chopsticks as drumsticks. To demonstrate understanding of the style of music, students will keep beat with the drum beat in the music.

Activities, cont. Day 1: Musical The final activity is for the children to draw pictures of some of the instruments that were presented during the class. Picture of 1 st Instrument Picture of 2 nd Instrument Picture of 3 rd instrument Draw here:

Activities, cont. Day 2: Linguistic The teacher will give a short presentation on the differences between the Japanese language and English. –Example: English letters are analogous to Japanese characters, 1 set of English letters; 4 sets of Japanese characters, etc.

Activities, cont. Day 2: Linguistic Teacher will present two charts: colors and numbers in Japanese. The teacher will give the pronunciation for each word in Japanese and ask the students to repeat it. Colors in Japanese

Activities, cont. Day 2: Linguistic Numbers in Japanese

Activities, cont. Day 2: Linguistic In the final activity the students will write the character for one number and one color in Japanese. ColorNumber Write Japanese character here:

Activities, cont. Day 3: Bodily-Kinesthetic and Spatial The teacher will present a short lesson about traditional Japanese dance and for what occasions it is performed. The teacher will show a video clip of Japanese dance. The teacher will give students pre-made pieces of paper with footprints drawn on them to guide the children to perform traditional Japanese dance.

Activities, cont. Day 3: Bodily-Kinesthetic and Spatial The students will move their feet in sequence with the drawn footprints. As the final activity, the students will be asked to draw the footprints in the sequence in which they performed the dance. (which will also be the way that the pre-drawn footprints were given to them on their large pieces of paper).

Activities, cont. Day 4: Mathematical and Naturalistic The teacher will give a short lecture about Japan’s geography and how it affects the Japanese way of life. –Example: Japan is comprised of thousands of islands with volcanoes, which affects modes of transportation.

Activities, cont. Day 4: Mathematical and Naturalistic The teacher will present the class with a map of Japan:

Activities, cont. Day 4: Mathematical and Naturalistic All of the students will be given their own map of Japan and will be asked to count the number of islands that appear on the map. In the final activity the students will qualitatively determine which island is the largest.

Activities, cont. Day 5: Inter/Intrapersonal and Final Project The students will combine their “final activity” worksheets from the four previous days to create personal journals. Each student will write a letter to another assigned classmate writing one sentence about something they liked learning about and drawing a corresponding picture. The sentence describing the one thing they learned about Japan should reflect which style of learning they personally found to be the most effective. The letters will be included in the students’ journals.

Activities, cont. Day 5: Summing it Up The teacher will return to the “KWL” poster and record student responses to the question: “what have you learned about the Japanese culture?”

Evaluation There will be three methods of evaluation. The first form will be based on individual student responses to the “KWL” chart. –This form of evaluation gives the students a chance to demonstrate their appreciation for the culture studied. The second form will be based on the “final activity” worksheets that the students complete at the end of each activity. –This evaluation will give the students a chance to apply their understanding of the material presented in a constructive activity. The third form of evaluation will be through what the students write about in their letters. What type of learning activity they liked will reflect their personal strength in learning styles.

Appendix Sample of “KWL” evaluation poster: What do you know about Japan? What do you want to know about Japan? What have you learned about Japan? Responses with student names Responses with students names

Appendix, cont. Information about Japanese music and the CD with traditional Japanese music can be obtained from: Malm, William P. Traditional Japanese Music and Musical Instruments. New York: Kodansha International, book and CD edition, ISBN:

Appendix, cont. Quaker Oats oatmeal containers and empty coffee cans will be needed for the drum activity. Sample worksheet for Japanese music activity: Picture of 1 st Instrument Picture of 2 nd Instrument Picture of 3 rd instrument Draw here:

Appendix, cont. Posters for Japanese colors and numbers: obtained from ki/words/index.htm#color ki/words/index.htm#color obtained from s_k.htm s_k.htm

Appendix, cont. Here is a sample worksheet for the children to write one color and one number: ColorNumber Write Japanese character here:

Appendix, cont. Information and video clips of traditional Japanese dance can be found at: /~psteffen/fmf/kabuki3.html /~psteffen/fmf/kabuki3.html A sample paper with footprints:

Appendix, cont. Here is a map of Japan that can be copied so the students can it use to estimate the largest island: obtained from /japan.htm /japan.htm

Appendix, cont. Here is the format of the letter that will be given to another classmate: To:_____ Write sentence here: Draw here: From:_____