Week 6 Application: Reflection of CREDE standards and Dr. Garcia's "5 Rs and 1 T" Part 2

Recently I finished a guitar design project with my fifth grade classes. The students each created a design for guitar using a specific profession (athlete, scientist, artist, marine biologist, fire fighter, etc.) as inspiration for the design We had a beginning group discussion about types of guitars, parts of guitars, and elements of design. After reviewing the CREDE standards and Dr. Garcia's characteristics of culturally responsive teaching. I evaluated my guitar design lesson and reflected on how effective the standards and strategies were implemented for the project.

This was the first time I taught this project and the results of the student art work turned out to be very successful. The subject of the project, guitars, was a subject that received an instant positive reaction from the fifth graders and, as described in CREDE standard 2, allowed the students to connect school with their personal lives. The students spent majority of time in groups working on their design and discussing types of music they listened to. The students listened to a variety of music samplings from around the world that featured different types of guitars. Giving the students to opportunity to experience the cultural diversity of music. Having a specific profession to design for guitar created a challenge for the students to stretch their creativity thinking skills. The students not only had to think about how to draw their guitars but how their design was reflective of the profession they chose. Engaging a student in a challenging lesson is also a CREDE standard and is part of Dr. Garcia's educational theory.

Overall the lesson was quite successful, the students were very engaged in the project and there was plenty of opportunities for dialogue about culture through the discussion of music. As for modifications to better address the needs of ELLs with this lesson, I think next time I will have the students create an artist statement to go along with their art work that explains how they created their guitar designs and why they chose the profession for the design. Also I would have the students present their project to encourage students to work on their language skills.

I hope to post some of the pictures of the guitar designs very soon!