Proyecto: Día de los Muertos

Background Information

A few years ago, a group of students was trying to bring more cultural diversity to their school campus by celebrating different ethnic holidays. Since it was October, they decided to promote the prominent Mexican holiday, “Día de los Muertos" or "Day of the Dead,” which is celebrated on October 31-November 2^nd. To do so, they built a public art piece in their school to symbolize the holiday (see image below). The art was a traditional Día de los Muertos altar covered with pictures of deceased family members and labeled “Día de los Muertos: The Mexican Halloween." The students also planned to host a Día de los Muertos celebration at lunch on November 2.

The students were very excited about their creation and celebration as well as the benefit it would bring to their community by promoting inclusiveness, cultural awareness, and campus diversity. Unfortunately, the students and their teacher had misunderstood and overlooked some important aspects of the holiday and had to take down their artwork immediately and cancel the celebration on account of it being inappropriate for the school context.

Your Mission

Your mission is to create an alternative public artwork, presentation, or product (news piece, website, tutorial, etc) for your school or community that will be an appropriate and accurate representation of Día de los Muertos. This product should educate the community about the holiday and promote cultural diversity.

Before doing so, it will be important to identify why the other students' artwork had to be taken down and their celebration cancelled so as not to make similar mistakes.

Mission Question: How can we help others in our community learn about the history, traditions, and cultural importance of Día de los Muertos in an informative and engaging way?

Project Objectives:

1. Students will develop an overall understanding of the Mexican holiday, Día de los Muertos, including the origins, history, traditions, and significance of this celebration to people of Mexican origin.
2. Students will develop a sense of diversity and respect for other cultures and ethnic groups.
3. Students will be able to distinguish, compare and contrast between Día de los Muertos and Halloween.
4. Students will be able to help others to learn about the history, traditions, and importance of Día de los Muertos in an engaging way.
5. Students will be able to use relevant Spanish vocabulary.

Project Points and Assessment

_____/20 points Project journal is complete and neat. Journal entries show thoughtful answers and thorough self-reflection related to cultural diversity and multiculturalism. Students demonstrate respect for other cultures and an interest in learning more about other ways of life.

_____/20 points Día de los Muertos Infographic is neat and includes a comprehensive amount of information in each section taken from videos, books, articles, and class discussions. The closing summary paragraph and drawings are thoughtful, complete, and original.

____/10 points Public Altar Critique Responses. In order to demonstrate understanding about why the other students' altar had to be taken down and their celebration cancelled, students will draft appropriate response emails to address the specific concerns with the altar and celebration siting information learned in class. This will be drafted and submitted in Google Classroom.

_____/10 points Participation in whiteboard and class discussions and group work. Student demonstrates curiosity, creativity, positivity, and openness to other cultures during classroom discussions and group work. Student is on task and a good listener as well as participant.

_____/20 Public Día de los Muertos Product/Artwork/Presentation. Groups will work with the teacher to identify an audience and format for their public work as well as what aspect(s) of Día de los Muertos their piece will emphasize. The product should help others in the community to learn about the history, traditions, and cultural importance of Día de los Muertos in an informative and engaging way.

_____/20 Quiz on Día de los Muertos information and vocabulary

Schedule Overview

*Temporary Note: Tasks and activities will predominately be completed and submitted in Google docs via Google Classroom. A draft of the list of project activities is found here: Project Activites.

Part 1: Introduce and review the project, create classroom agreements, and brainstorm background knowledge and knowledge needed in the project journal and on the class collaborative whiteboard.

Part 2: Divide into research groups and use the case library (videos, articles, etc) to gather the identified needed information about Día de los Muertos and complete the Día de los Muertos infographic and answer reflection questions in the journal.

Review definition and pronunciation of vocabulary words in the infographic.

Part 3: Present research findings in a poster session.

Part 4: Write email responses that identify and address what was wrong with first artwork/celebration.

Part 5: Form/rejoin groups to create Día de los Muertos products for community education and engagement in the holiday.

Present product drafts to each other in a 'pin-up-session' for feedback.

Part 6: Product revision then gallery walk.

Part 7: Make products/presentations public.

Part 8: Reflect. Review vocabulary and content for quiz.

Part 9: Vocabulary and content quiz. Turn in final project with journal, entries, etc.