Global Classroom Module:

“Traditions and Cultures in the United States and

India”

Image Source: https://www.holidify.com/pages/indian-culture-and-traditions-1331.html

Gretchen Nicholson
Integrating Technology: Global Perspectives
Professor: LeAnn Derby
EDTC 645
Spring 2019

Introduction:

This Global Classroom Module is a collaborative project which my first-grade students,

will work with a group of students from a class of first-grade at the Adamas International School.
Adamas International School is a private school in West Bengal, India. The website of the school

is https://ais.adamas.co.in/. The two classes will work together to create and share information

about their cultures and traditions that they share with their families. Students will be using what

they learned about culture and traditions and create a presentation on a tradition or culture that

their family shares. They will have to use photographs and descriptions of their culture and

traditions. Students will be using a website called ePals in order to communicate with students

in India. They will share their photographs and descriptions with their India partner using ePals.

After sharing their traditions and culture students will complete a questionnaire with their partner

about their culture and traditions. Students will use the presentation they created and add their

partnering students’ traditions and cultures.

At the conclusion of this module, students will be able to:

1. Students will be able to identify and understand traditions and cultures.

2. Students will be able to describe people, places, things and events with details.
3. Use various forms of technology effectively to communicate with others.
4. Students will be able to use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish
writing.

Global Classroom Module: Pre-Planning Proposal (Previously Submitted)

Summary: Students will be exposed to different traditions and cultures that are different than

their own. Students will be able to create a classroom book about the different traditions and

cultures that are learned about.

Background concerning the school and the group you are working with: I currently work at

Oakland Terrace Elementary School in Silver Spring, Maryland. This school is a part of the

Montgomery County Public School system. Our school is roughly 11.7% African American,

35.5% White, 34.8% Hispanic, 7.4% Asian American, 10.2% Multiple Races, less than 5%
American Indian and less than 5% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. There is 14% ESOL

students, 33% FARMS students and 16% SPED students. The group that I will be working with

is based on a first-grade classroom of fifteen students. The class is based upon an inclusive

classroom environment. The class is made up of six boys and nine girls where five students are

considered special education and two students are considered ESOL.

Time frame: Over a six-week period divided into two units of three weeks each.

Subject and Grade level: First Grade (Social Studies)

Proposed Topic and Rationale: This project will expose students to different cultures and

traditions around the world. Students will be using what they learned about culture and traditions

they will be creating a presentation on a tradition or culture that their family shares. They will

have to use photographs and descriptions of their culture and traditions. Students will be using a

website called ePals in order to communicate with students in India. They will share their

photographs and descriptions with their India partner using ePals. After sharing their traditions

and culture students will complete a questionnaire with their partner about their culture and

traditions.

At the end of this project, students will be able to share their presentations with our class and the

classroom that we are working with. Students will be able to develop their digital, global,

cultural presence and citizenship skills.

Key Challenges:

Challenge #1: Level of reading ability among students in each class

Solution: Students in my classroom struggle with reading. Some students are still reading about a

year below grade-level. Students who are reading below grade-level a solution is to provide them

with more support by teachers. In my classroom there are many teachers and we will be able to

read their questionnaire or their own presentation. Students may also be pair with a higher

leveled reader.

Challenge #2: Writing ability among students

Solution: Students are still working on developing their writing skills and spelling skills. I can

foresee students having difficulty when writing for the questionnaire. Students may write down

answer of other students but since they have poor handwriting skills they might not know what it

says later. Teachers will be walking around to re-write student answers or scribe for students

who need it.

Challenge #3: Potential Limited English Proficiency in partner class

Solution: Since students are being paired potentially with a student who does not speak only

English, this could become difficult for many students. Students who are having difficulty with

understanding English in our classroom might need help in order to understand their partner in

the class. They will be able to use photographs in order to help to understand their partners

descriptions of their traditions.

Challenge #3: Time zone difference with partnering class

Solution: Since the time when students would be doing writing or social studies is when students

are not in school in West Bagal. We will have to work on the presentation in Google Drive.
Students will have to use video recording for their partner to learn about their culture or tradition.

Students will also have to record themselves asking the questions for their questionnaire.

Prior Knowledge:

 Knowledge and understanding of the concept’s tradition and culture

 Basic reading and writing skills

Students must be able to access their reading and writing skills in order to be successful. I will

have informal data such as reading groups and writing groups in order to determine my students’

current levels. Students also must understand the concepts tradition and culture. We will discuss

what these two things mean before starting this project. At the end of the lesson about these two

concepts I will assess my students’ understandings with an exit card.

Standards and Key Concepts:

Common Core State Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.6 - With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital

tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.8 - With guidance and support from adults, recall information from

experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.4 - Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant

details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.5 - Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when

appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

National Education Technology Standard for Students (ISTE):

Digital Citizen:

 2A- Students cultivate and manage their digital identity and reputation and are aware of

the permanence of their actions in the digital world.

 2B- Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology,

including social interactions online or when using networked devices.

Knowledge Constructor:

 3D- Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems,

developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.

Digital Citizenship:

 5A– Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and

technology.

 5B– Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration,

learning, and productivity.

Creative Communicator:

 6D- Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for

their intended audiences.

Global Communicator:

 7A- Students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and

cultures, engaging with them in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning.

 7B- Students use collaborative technologies to work with others, including peers, experts

or community members, to examine issues and problems from multiple viewpoints.

Global Theme: My project connects with other countries because traditions and cultures that are

celebrated throughout the world are different. This project will first help students to use their

background knowledge and synthesizing their own tradition and culture of their choice. Then,

students will be able analyze the information their India partners shared culture or tradition.

Pre-Planning Steps: I currently already have a class that I am connected with, but if I did not, I

would have used ePals to find a classroom and teacher to work with. I am connected with a

teacher from West Begal, India at the Adamas International School. Before we introduce the

lessons to our students, our students will need to learn how to interact and collaborate online

appropriately and productively since we are in very different time zones. We will need to find

some type of recording tool for students to be able to communicate. We will then have to

determine the best way in order to share the final presentation.

Technology Use: Students will be using multiple forms of technology. Students will take digital

photographs of different things that happen in their tradition or culture. Students will type their

written descriptions of their photos in a presentation in a Google Drive format that way it can be

easily shared with the partnering classroom. Students will use ePals to communicate with

partnering students and to conduct a questionnaire. Students will use technology to create a

presentation with their partner in the partnering classroom. Students will communicate via

Google Dou in order to share their presentations and ask questions about their partner.

Essential Question (s):

1. What are some characteristics of my tradition?

2. What are 3 differences and 3 similarities to my partner’s culture?
 3. What are some characteristics of my partners tradition?
4. How is my tradition or culture different or similar than my partner’s culture?

Lesson Plans
Starting Activity: Students will be sharing the tradition or the culture that they celebrate with

their family with our own class. (See Appendix A) Students will share what they do during this

tradition or culture they will explain to students what happens and where it takes place. Students

will then answer questions about their tradition or culture. This will get students thinking about

traditions and cultures and how they are different. The students in India that we are partnered

with will do the same worksheet and they will share their tradition or culture.

Lesson Plan # 1:
Summary: This lesson will students will pick one picture that encompasses their tradition or

culture of their choice. They will then use Google Drive to create a slide on their specific

tradition or culture. On their specific slide they will have to include photographs from home or

photographs they have found on Google. They will then add a description of what their culture or

tradition is and what they do to celebrate the tradition or culture.

Formative and Summative Assessment: While the students are working on their presentations,

the teacher will check their student presentations, formatively assessing their work. Students

will be graded on the content that is provided in their slide for their tradition or culture. Students

will be graded on providing one tradition (recalling information and background experience).

They will also be graded on capitalization and punctuation in the slide presentation.

Description of the Major Assignment: The students will create individual presentations

through Google Drive in order to describe the specific tradition or culture that their family
celebrate. They will include who and what happens during this tradition or culture. The India

classroom will do the same.

Differentiated Instruction: I will differentiate the lesson by using the speech to text feature

that is available on Google Drive. Students are able to read their tradition or culture and then it

will be placed on their slide. Students will also be given two photographs to choose from instead

of browsing the web for a photograph of their tradition.

Lesson Plan # 2:
Summary: Students will share their photos and written descriptions using the ePals secured

communication platform Students, as a class, will create a bank of questions, then individually

create five to ask their partner in Google Duo. Once students have listened to their partners

tradition or culture they will add their new slide into their presentation. They will also be adding

the answers to the questions that they asked. Students will begin to synthesize all the information

to create a presentation about traditions and cultures.

Formative and Summative Assessment: While the students are working on their presentations,

the teacher will check their student presentations, formatively assessing their work. Students

will be graded on synthesizing the information learned from their India partner. They will also be

graded on capitalization and punctuation in the slide presentation.

Description of the Major Assignment: Each class will be creating a new slide in their

presentation. The new slide will have their partners tradition or culture. They will create another

new slide with the information that they learned from their questionnaire.
Differentiated Instruction: I will differentiate the lesson by using the speech to text feature

that is available on Google Drive. Students are able to read their tradition or culture and then it

will be placed on their slide. Students will also be given two photographs to choose from instead

of browsing the web for a photograph of their tradition. Students will be given access to

questions that they can ask students that they will not have to create themselves (See Appendix

B).

Changes/Revisions to the GCM Proposal: After reviewing my proposal for the module, I have

decided to make few changes. First, I decided to extended the time period that it would take to

complete these lessons. Based on the schedule that my students currently follow, I can foresee

each lesson listed taking about two days each. Also, having students who are not able to read and

write fluently it will be difficult to complete a few tasks. Therefore, I changed the time frame.

Another change that was made was how students would be communicating with each other.

Since West Bangal, India is in a different time zone when students are at school in my classroom

students in India would be sleeping. Therefore, we would need to use Google Duo to record their

questions and presentations instead of having a real-time face-to-face conversation. Students will

be recording their questions and presentations to share with their partner via Google Duo and

then save and send them to their partner via email.

LESSON PLAN # 1
Lesson Title: Traditions and Cultures in our Classroom
Grade Level/Subject Area: 1st Grade/ Social Studies
Concept/Topic: The topic/concept of this project is sharing traditions and cultures that
they have with their families. Students will use what they have learned
to create a slide presentation on their tradition or culture to share with
out collaborative class in India.
Length of Lesson: Four 30-minute blocks (Consecutive days)
This project will run over the course of three to four weeks. Students
will have two different days to share and create their slide presentation
on the second day they will record the information that they want to
present to their partner in India.
Standards Addressed: Common Core State Standards
(Local or National
Standards) CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.6 - With guidance and support from
adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing,
including in collaboration with peers.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.8 - With guidance and support from
adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from
provided sources to answer a question.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.4 - Describe people, places, things, and
events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.5 - Add drawings or other visual displays
to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

National Education Technology Standard for Students (ISTE):

Standard 2: Digital Citizen

Standard 5: Digital Citizenship
Standard 6: Creative Communicator
(ISTE, 2017)
Lesson Goals: The goal of the lessons is for students, is to share the tradition or culture
of their families share. Based on their tradition or culture they will
create a slide in Google Drive to share with a partner in India.
Performance Objectives: After completion of the lesson, students will be able to:
 Describe identify a tradition or culture their family shares
 Create a visual presentation to describe their specific tradition or
culture
 Use audio recording to present their tradition or culture
 Engage in an open and friendly global collaborative environment
online

Introduction:
Step-By-Step Procedures: Explain to students that this is the beginning of a global collaborative
module on the local and global impact of the War of 1812 and the
Treaty of Ghent. Explain that this module is a long-term project that will
be in three parts. Explain that the first part is to create an effective
collaborative environment by learning about each other and about the
areas we live in. Show students the project blog and explain its role in
helping our class to collaborate with the Belgian class.
Day 1:
Warm up: Students will answer the question: “If you are going to work
on an important and long-term project, what would you want to know
about that person? Why would you want to know that? What do you
think they would want to know about you?”
1. Engage students in discussion about the importance of creating
an open and friendly collaborative work environment.
 2. Hand out the two KWL charts and have students brainstorm in
small groups about what they already know about Ghent,
Belgium and the students of the Saint Barbara School, and what
they want to know about Ghent, Belgium and the students of the
Saint Barbara School. In the second chart students will
brainstorm what they think the students of the Saint Barbara
School already know about Charles County, Maryland and them,
and what they think the students of the Saint Barbara School
want to know about Charles County, Maryland and them.
3. After the students share what they wrote on both of the KWL
charts, the class will discuss why they want to know the things
they stated for the “W” part of first chart and why the students of
the Saint Barbara School would say they things they stated for
the “W” part of the second chart we created as a class
4. The teacher will introduce the “Welcome to Charles County”
Project to the students.
5. The students will be broken into groups of 3 - 4 and they will
pick one of the six topics about Charles County to research as a
group. Each group will have a different topic, so the Belgian
students get a full picture of Charles County, Maryland.
6. The students will be given the rest of the class time to research
their topics as a group. The teacher will go around the room to
answer questions and to help students in their research.
7. The students will complete their research at home and in the
library. The second day, which will be a week later, students will
be expected to have an outline of their research to help them
start to create their presentations.

Day 2:
Warm up: Students will answer the question: “What should you
consider when creating an audio-visual presentation about Charles
County, Maryland for someone from another country? Why should you
consider those things?”
1. Engage students in discussion about the importance of creating a
clear and thorough presentation.
2. The students will be given the rest of the class time to work as a
group on creating their audio-visual presentations. The students
will primarily focus on the script of their presentations and the
order of their visuals. The teacher will go around the room to
answer questions and to help students with their presentations.
3. The students will have one more day to work on the presentation
in class, this will be either the next day or there will be a day or
two in between.
Day 3:
Warm up: Students will answer the question: “What are appropriate
ways of interacting with others from another country? Why are these
things appropriate? What should you not do when interacting with
others from another country and why?”
1. Engage students in discussion about the importance of creating a
good first impression. They will also discuss how various
statements and actions could be viewed differently by others.
2. The students will be given the rest of the class time to work as a
group on creating their audio-visual presentations. The students
will primarily focus on the order of their visuals and will begin
adding the audio (music and speaking) to their presentations.
The teacher will go around the room to answer questions and to
help students with their presentations.
3. The students will have one week to finish their presentations, but
it must be completed outside of class. Students are expected to
email their projects to the teacher by the assigned due date and
post them to the project blog so the Belgian class can view them.
4. The Belgian students will have worked on a similar project
where they introduce themselves and Ghent, Belgium. They will
have also posted their presentations to the blog on the same date
for viewing.
5. All students are expected to view at least two presentations from
the collaborative school and leave at least two comments to their
videos on the project blog before Day 4.

Day 4:
Warm up: Students will answer the question: “Name one student you
saw in one of the videos of the Belgian school and one thing you
learned about them.”
1. Engage students in discussion about the students of the Belgian
school, particularly what they learned, found interesting, and
how they feel the collaborative working environment will be.
2. The class will view all of the Belgian audio-visual presentations
in class. While they are watching them, they will write down
some things they learned about Ghent, Belgium on the KWL
chart they started on Day 1 of the project.
3. After the students watched the presentations, the students will
complete the “L” of learned about Charles County, Maryland on
the KWL chart they started on Day 1.
4. The class will share what they learned from both KWL charts.
5. Students will complete a written assignment where they analyze
what they learned about Ghent, Belgium and the students of
Saint Barbara College. They will also analyze how this
information will help them work together on this collaborative
project. (See appendix C for this assignment.
Technology Requirements: Computer and Internet access
Microphones to record audio
Google account
Google Drive access

Resources: https://www.epals.com/#/connections/profile/27fcc105-06cd-4789-
9a36-2e78f6455635

https://www.holidify.com/pages/indian-culture-and-traditions-1331.html

https://www.iste.org/

Assessment Based on Students will complete an audio-visual presentation on their assigned

Objectives: aspect of Charles County, Maryland based off of their research. The
audio-visual presentation will also have an “about me” part, where
students introduce themselves to the other class.
Students will also complete an assignment where they analyze what
they learned about Ghent, Belgium and the students of Saint Barbara
College. They will also analyze how this information will help them
work together on this collaborative project.
Follow-Up: Following the lesson and activities, students will view post more
welcoming messages and comments to the Belgian presentations on the
project blog. They will also view, reflect, and comment on the Belgian
student comments to their presentations on the project blog.

Classroom Management: Ensure that classroom rules and policies remain enforced throughout the
lesson and on the project blog. The teacher will monitor all blog posts to
make sure they are appropriate. Students must be given clear
instructions on what to do and monitored while working in groups and
doing research on the computer. The teacher will go around the
classroom to each group to ensure they are staying on task and getting
the work done.

Accommodations: Differentiated instruction for students who need scaffolding on

(Special needs / gifted & searching websites. Students that have hearing and vision disabilities
talented) will be given a transcript of the presentations. Students with speaking
disabilities will create a presentation with subtitles instead of audio.
Gifted and talented students will work from directions to complete
activity and assist group members. All students will have their own
computer to work from in the library or classroom with laptops.
Comments / Notes:  For an extension of this lesson the teacher could set up a field
trip for students to one of the historic landmarks in Charles
County particularly that is related to the War of 1812.
 Be sure to book the library/laptop carts in advance in order
to make sure we have the library/laptops when needed.