A. My class is composed of 15 newly immigrated Russian students, aged 10 to 19. There are 8 males and 7 females, all are visually impaired to some extent.

S. My students will identify at least three Fourth of July traditions and their origination, by the end of the week, after experiencing a mock celebration, listening to a podcast and movie clips, tasting and handling objects, and participating in a 3d drawing activity at 75% accuracy.

S. I will create a podcast compiling the history of the celebration the Fourth of July (i.e. why we set off fireworks, why we eat apple pie, etc.) and the Russian equivalents. The class will listen to it and have a Q&A after. We will participate in an assisted 3D drawing activity utilizing heavy paper and collaborative drawing techniques. After which the students will discuss and compare experiences. We will listen a montage of movie clips containing Fourth of July celebrations. We will have a mock celebration where we will set off fireworks, eat traditional Fourth of July foods, and discuss each experience.

U. In the first activity I will utilize a 15 minute podcast. In the podcast we will address the origination of 3 foods associated with the Fourth of July (watermelon, apple pie, and hotdogs), the generally accepted form of celebration (a cook out), and where the tradition of setting off fireworks came from. As well as excerpts from pod casts pertaining to Russian Holidays. We will listen to a 5 minute portion of the podcast and them stop after each one to discuss the traditions addressed in that section, including how they are similar or different from the Russian celebration elements. After we have completed all the sections I will have a brief Q&A with the students to assess their comprehension of the material and address any discrepancies or further questions.

In the next activity we will utilize heavy paper and ballpoint pens to do an assisted drawing activity. The students will be paired with an assistant who will hold the pen with them and draw items from the previous day’s podcast, such as the American flag, on heavy paper. Through the motion of drawing, and feeling the paper after, the students can get some mental Representation of the items we discussed the day before. We will follow this with a game style activity involving 3D pictures of the items we drew where the students will try to guess which items is depicted using only touch senses. The final drawings will be passed around for everyone to evaluate. Afterward we will have a discussion about how the drawings were alike or different, and assess what new information we gained from the activity.

In the next activity we will listen to video clips of people describing and experiencing Fourth of July celebrations. During this activity we will further compare and contrast this holiday with Russian holiday and traditions, such as Russia Day and the tradition of fireworks on that holiday.

In the fourth activity I will throw a mock Fourth of July cookout style celebration, including eating Hotdogs, watermelon and apple pie, and setting off fireworks. The students will be divided into groups of three and assigned a project due the following class.

The final activity will be an oral report addressing at least three favorite/interesting topics, selected form the ones we addressed in class. Students will explain the particular topic or tradition and explain why they enjoyed it in particular.

R. I will motivate my students by connecting my lessons from the start, back to their home culture, and show how Russian celebration are not as different from American celebrations as they might think. Also by utilizing both kinesthetic, auditory, and Q&A style activities I will appeal to all students.

E. I will assess the students during each activity using discussion, then the students will divide into groups to create a short oral presentation addressing at least three traditions we talked about in class, which they will present to the other class members.