Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month at Minnie Howard
Students participated in a process of brainstorming and selecting feasible ideas to implement a Hispanic Heritage Month calendar of activities at ACHS Minnie Howard Campus. Students broadcasted the importance of celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month through different mediums, and inspired others to celebrate. Students shared new vocabulary, infographics about the 20 Spanish speaking countries and the one Commonwealth, designed an art mural to represent different thoughts and cultures, and finally closed out the month with a celebration featuring Spanish music.
Teacher: Paulina Colon Gonzalez
Students: 9th-grade students at Minnie Howard campus, Alexandria City High School
Driving Question: Why is it important to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month?
Standards of Learning
Spanish II:
SII.1 The student will exchange spoken and written information and ideas in Spanish.
SII.3The student will understand basic spoken and written Spanish presented through a variety of media in familiar contexts.
SII.11 The student will apply Spanish language skills and cultural knowledge in opportunities beyond the classroom setting for recreational, educational, and occupational purposes.
The 5Cs
Critical Thinking: Students met in groups and brainstormed different ideas, needs, and obstacles for the project. They decided what they wanted to bring to the school and what was important for them to share, and have others involved in.
Collaboration: Students enrolled in Spanish for Heritage Speakers II worked together to come up with the calendar of activities, as well as set everything up. The class also teamed up with the art teacher, Ms. Brownell, to create their mural.
Communication: We used different modes of communication to carry out the project. Vocabulary words were shared daily with the entire school, there were infographics shared around the school, and finally a mural to express different thoughts, feelings, and experience surrounding the Spanish language and culture.
Creative Thinking: Students were in charge of brainstorming ideas to bring to the school. The teacher helped by guiding and prompting questions, then finalizing everything together.
Citizenship: Students showed up bringing the best of their language and culture into the school building. They had ownership of how their experience, culture, and language was portrayed.