Graveyards and Markers
Subject
English as a Second Language
Grade Level
6 through 9 (Middle School)
Time
Five 45-minute class periods
Focus of Lesson
Students will learn: to read for information and understanding through the use of the Internet while finding research on cemeteries,
to speak to a variety of audiences about grave markers and the meanings of their designs, to apply critical thinking in designing a grave marker that would be a representation of their life and to respond to a primary source and recognize it as a record of human experience by walking to a nearby graveyard and completing an activity at the site.
Standards Addressed
The Colorado Department of Education English Language Development Standards that this lesson applies to are:
Standard 1: Students listen, view and read for information and understanding using a variety of sources, for academic and social purposes.
CO correlation: English/Language Arts Standards 1 and 5.Standard 2: Students speak and write for a variety of social and academic purposes, including both social and academic, for a variety of audiences.
CO correlation: English/Language Arts Standards 2 and 3Standard 3: Students apply critical thinking skills to their listening, viewing, speaking and writing.
CO correlation: English/Language Arts Standard 4Standard 4: Students recognize and respond to literature from a variety of cultures as a record of human experience, and listen, view, read, speak and write for literary response and expression.
CO correlation: English/Language Arts Standard 6Standard 5: Students listen, view, read, speak and write for the purpose of extending their linguistic, sociolinguistic and sociocultural competence (non-verbal communication and sharing of native cultures and building of cultural background knowledge)
CO correlation: English/Language Arts Standards 1, 2, and 6.
Assessment
- Paragraph from lesson 1: How are graveyards different in the USA than in countries students moved from?
- Filled in walking field trip handout from lesson 4
- Final project from lesson 5: Designing grave markers
Materials/Teacher Preparation
- Overhead projector and transparencies
- Images of cemeteries taken from the Heritage Colorado Site (go to www.cdpheritage.org, press the green 'Search' button and type in graves or cemeteries in the 'Search Heritage' box)
- Computer lab with Internet Access (for activity #2)
- paper and writing tools for designing own Grave Markers
- newsprint and black chalk for grave rubbings if permitted (Information on how to make grave rubbings can be found at http://www.angelfire.com/ky2/cemetery/art.html)
- Permission notes for walking field trip
- Permission from cemetery caretaker to make rubbings.
- Handouts on gravestone symbolism found at: http://www.edutel.org/gravenet/gravenet_symbols.html
- Walking field trip handout to take to cemetery (one per student)
Possible Procedures
Lesson 1: 45 minutes
Introduction to Lesson: (15 minutes) Brainstorm vocabulary used with cemeteries and grave markers. Put the words on the overhead projector and discuss them.
Activity #1: (10 mins.) Show pictures of graveyards taken off of the internet. Have the students talk about what they see.
Activity #2: (20 mins.) Cultural brainstorming. How are graveyards different in the USA than in their countries they moved from? Write the ideas on the overhead. Have the students write a short paragraph using these ideas.
__________________________________________________________
Lesson 2: 45 minutes
Activity: 45 mins. Computer lab with access to Internet. The students should already know how to access the internet and have permission to do so.
On the overhead projector show how to access the computer sites that have already been okayed for this lesson. Both of these sites have lots of interesting primary source information.
- http://www.dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/graveyards.html
- http://www.edutel.org/gravenet/
Have them explore both sites and take notes on the information they discover.
__________________________________________________________
Lesson 3: 45 minutes
Talk about what was found on the internet during lesson 2. Write down the information on the overhead as you brainstorm as a class.
Pass out the hand out on gravestone symbolism. Look for different symbols and what they mean. Have them think about what they would put own their own markers. Ask each student to make a preliminary design. Be sure that they include on their markers their name and birth date and what they want to be remembered for.
__________________________________________________________
Lesson 4: Walking Field Trip, 45 minutes- 1 hour.
Before you leave pass out clip boards and handout discussing what to look for at the cemetery. Go over the handout first. Now in groups of 2 walk to the graveyard to complete this lesson. (If you have permission to do rubbings take newsprint paper and dark chalk with you to do while there.)
_________________________________________________________
Lesson 5: 45 minutes Culminating activity.
Review the walking field trip.
Talk about the grave makers you saw while there.
What did they find that was interesting?
Now design your own grave marker. Elaborate on initial design. After completed and you have checked it, give them big construction paper to draw the design. Put them up around the room.
-Sarah Carlson, Sunset Middle School, Longmont CO
