HISTORY OF THE NIÑOS DE MORELIA WITH PEAR DECK
This project uses the interactive slide deck program Pear Deck to teach students about the children of Morelia. The lesson includes interactive maps, embedded YouTube videos, and chronology exercises to teach cultural content, geography, art, and history and check comprehension. It engages the ACTFL world readiness standards of culture, comparison, connections, and communication.
Project Overview:
- Spanish
- Novice-intermediate
- One class period
- Website
- No costs involved
- PEARDECK.COM
- SHAREPEARDECK.COM
Lesson Plan:
Project Development:
Using the Pear Deck add-on for Google Slides, I have created an interactive lesson. After building the slide deck, I have students access the slide deck using the student-paced link.
As students work through the slides, responding to prompts about location, answering questions based on the short readings in the slides, and engaging with the embedded YouTube videos. By the end of the lesson, students have practiced reading, writing, and listening to cultural information.
Lesson progression:
The first set of slides activate the students’ existing knowledge and confirm that the students have a sense of the relevant places for the history of the niños de Morelia.
The lesson then presents a familiar piece of artwork and a brief historical explanation of the Spanish Civil War bombings. Students write a reflection on the artwork that asks students to make connections between other disciplines and what they are learning about Spanish history and culture.
To explain the children’s journey, the next series of slides explains why the children left and shows their trajectory on interactive maps. Rather than a passive presentation of information, this allows students to actively engage with the material.
In the final section, students listen to a song about the children and respond to a prompt. The question asks students to reflect on the song and how it is related to the children’s journey to exile.
COPYRIGHT & CREDIT
Melanie Forehand
Vanderbilt University
April 14, 2020
