my educational journey

I developed this unit plan for my class of grade 3 students, in relation to a case-based study we were assigned at UBC.

My Rationale for this Plan

The topic of this unit is Traditional/Multicultural Stories and Personal Identity. When I first visualized this unit, I imagined it to be a unit about fairytales, but something about it didn’t quite click for me. I decided to do a unit on traditional and multicultural stories instead simply because the word “fairytales” leads us to automatically think of the ones we are used to, that are common in Western tradition—Cinderella, Snow White, and so on. Children are exposed to this Western tradition every day, but it is important to think about the stories that come from the places these children come from, and from other people like them—many of them people of colour. Growing up, I almost never saw people who looked like me on tv or in books, unless they were there to fulfill a certain stereotype. I think it is critically important for children to see representation of themselves and stories native to their cultures and their people in literature and media. Clearly, multicultural narratives are tied into our personal identities.

Moreover, it is imperative that the representation of multicultural narratives is presented in an authentic, meaningful way. I want the children in my class to know and understand that their stories are relevant and important and I believe that one of the ways they can understand that is through listening to, relating to, and understanding traditional stories or narratives of people of colour. I want to be able to engage oral storytelling traditions and how music ties into that as well. This unit is intended to have a Language Arts focus, but as it connects with identity, I am aiming to make it as cross-curricular as possible with Social Studies and Music, as well. Also, I want to be able to use technology in a way that enhances my students’ learning, and transforms the learning process for them.

Additionally, I want my students to be able to authentically connect to the stories they hear and each others’ stories, and engage with literature in a way that is important to their identity. I have high hopes that this unit will be fun and meaningful for my students, and that they will learn about all sorts of cultures and peoples and identities that they definitely would have missed had I just focused on Western fairytales! I also hope that they will be able to know themselves and each other better.