Malaysia

Instructor: Wendy Seitz  Subject: 7th grade social studies  Class length: 60 minutes  Location: Malaysia  Class size: 25-30 students  Malaysia  Context: Malaysia is a country in South East Asia. It is a country with a vast array of cultures. There are many traditional communities still holding on to their ancient ways and there are big cities with modern amenities. I will teach about the geography of this country and about some of the traditional cultures that still exist in remote areas of the country.  Plan number: Day 1 of 10 (a series of days devoted to different countries)  // NC Standard Course of Study Objective //: (2.01) Identify key physical characteristics such as landforms, water forms, and climate, and evaluate their influence on the development of cultures. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> · <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Students will be able to identify the location of Malaysia on a map. · <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Students will be able to define peninsula. · <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Students will be able to compare the lives of the traditional peoples of Malaysia to peoples living in the United States. · <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Students will be able to identify the areas of Malaysia that are more inhabited and those that are devoted to traditional cultures. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Projector (Smart board or over head) <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Map printouts <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Colored pencils <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Clothes from Malaysia <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Slides from Malaysia <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Slide projector <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A few laptops for group work <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">1. Bell Ringer (5 minutes) <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Students will write everything they think of then they think about Malaysia. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">2. Introduction (10 minutes) <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I will introduce the students to the basic outline of Malaysian culture, including predominant religions, languages, government etc. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I will also introduce some traditional practices such as neck stretching <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">3. Activity 1 (20 minutes) <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Students will be broken up into groups and will be given a certain location, landmark, group of people etc. and each group will become experts on their assigned place or group. I will provide a packet of information and/or provide websites for the students to go to. The groups must be experts on a set of criteria listed at the end of this activity. The groups will then present their information to the class. Their expertise will come in handy later on. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Criteria for a city <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> -Total population <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> -Types of public transportation <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> -Major religions practiced <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Criteria for a landmark <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> -Why is this landmark famous? <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> -Location of the landmark <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> -Are there any yearly festivals, gatherings etc. here? <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Criteria for a group of people <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> -Where do these people live? <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> -What are some of the more unique practices of these people? <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">-How do these people survive? (Do they hunt and gather, use agriculture, trade with other groups etc.) <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">4. Activity 2 (15 minutes) <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> The groups will be reorganized so that students from each of the first groups will be mixed in with all of the new groups. Students will put together a “day in the life of” story. They will combine their knowledge to put together a narrative that uses all of the elements studied in the previous activity. One example might be the story of a group of tourists traveling to Malaysia who travels to different cities, landmarks etc. The story will be fictional but it must include some of the facts that the students learned during the first activity. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">5. Closing (10 minutes) <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> At least one group will share their story. We will discuss what we have learned and what, if anything, was surprising to the students. We will talk about the differences between Malaysian culture and the culture of the US. Students will fill out an exit slip that will include three facts that they learned. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> I plan to beginning by finding out what the students know about Malaysia. I might be surprised and find that one or more students will have knowledge of or may even have traveled to Malaysia. I plan to look at both the cultures found in Malaysia and some of the landmarks and cities found there. Looking at those three things gives a well-rounded picture of Malaysia. While there are big cities that are more modern, the cultural practices found in the small villages shouldn’t be forgotten. While we can’t look at every small island in the South Pacific, we also shouldn’t over look all of them. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I provide the resources so that they don’t spend time randomly looking through books or surfing the internet. This way the students can actually find the information they need in the time given to them. Allowing the students to become experts on a specific group of people, a city or a landmark allows the students to feel a closer bond to the country. Students aren’t just listening to me raddle off names, locations and facts- they become the teachers. Putting them into groups allows the students to help each other and practice working together to create their own knowledge. Sharing this knowledge with the class can help students feel more a part of the learning experience and practice speaking to the class. Students often learn better from each other rather than listening to the teacher all the time. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Having the students write stories that include what they have learned from each other allows them to be creative and express how they interpret what they learn. They will remember more of what they learn when they are allowed to create their own knowledge, interpret it and create from it. Also, having them write a story gives them a different way of showing what they know rather than taking a quiz or test. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Using an exit slip allows me see if there are any students who are missing the mark and makes sure that no student is just riding on the coat tails of students in their group that really understood what was going on. I want to make sure that all the students are learning, so if need be I can go back over some of the basics with the class on another day. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
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 * <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Narrative **<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">:
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Explanation **<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: This is a country that is often over looked when studying South East Asia. It is a place that both embraces modern life and holds onto ancient tradition. My mother traveled there in the 1970’s and brought back stories of village life and examples of traditional clothes. Her stories made me want to travel there. I hope that I can give this desire to my students- a desire to see the world for themselves and not just believe what they see on TV. Malaysia is a country that has always captured my imagination. I think that taking a closer look at the many cultures found on this island country will make my students think about all the countries in the world, no matter how out of the way they might be. Realizing that a small island can support such a vast array of peoples, religions and cultures will help them realize that bigger isn’t always better, at least when it comes to countries. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">