Summary
Students will be given a fantasy fiction scenario in which they must resettle a country or region of the world that is safe from zombies. Students will determine what parts of the previous culture of the region they wish to preserve and continue, and which parts they will change and adapt. Students will create presentations exhibiting their new settlement in the zombie-free zone.
Essential Question(s)
What is culture? What elements of culture are worth preserving? How does the physical and human environment shape culture?
Snapshot
Engage
Students are given the definition of culture. They brainstorm their own examples.
Explore
Students categorize specific elements of culture according to the PERSIA graphic organizer.
Explain
Student groups research cultural elements of various regions around the world and create a poster presentation.
Extend
Student groups participate in a gallery walk where they comment on various aspects of each group's poster.
Evaluate
Groups use the comments from others to discover how their own country is unique or similar to other countries.
Materials
Access to the internet for student research
Access to the movie trailer (YouTube link)
Lesson Slides (attached)
Examples of Culture handout (attached, one per student)
Zombie Wars and Beyond Scenario handout (attached, one per student)
PERSIA Graphic Organizer (attached, one per student)
Chart tablet paper for group presentations
Sticky easel pad (optional)
Colored pencils, pens, markers, pencils
Engage
Introduce the lesson by displaying slide 2 from the attached Lesson Slides. Transition to slide 3, which asks the essential questions of the lesson. Tell students that they will be exploring these two questions in the lesson: "What is culture?" and "What might be an element of culture worth preserving?" Using slide 4, display the definition of culture and read it aloud.
Display slide 5 and introduce the Think, Pair, Share instructional strategy. Ask students to think of their own family and describe a family tradition or custom. Have them pair with an elbow partner to share their thoughts. After a few minutes, ask students to share out something they discussed about their family's culture with the whole class.
Show slide 6. Pass out the attached Examples of Culture handout. The question for students to consider is: "What is each picture about and what element of culture might these pictures represent?" Ask students to number off one through six. Have students find a partner who shares their number. Some groups of three can be formed if even pairs are not possible for the number of students in the class.
Ask pairs to identify how the picture that matches their number might be a representation of culture. (You may wish to show the definition of culture again.) After a few minutes, call on pairs that had the same number to share out how their picture represents culture. Note: Multiple groups will interpret the same picture differently and will provide greater insight. Continue until all pictures have been thoroughly discussed.
Explore
Transition to slide 7 and introduce the PERSIA Graphic Organizer strategy. Pass out the attached PERSIA Graphic Organizer handout to all students. Go over each category on the handout and discuss the questions underneath each category on the slide. Explain that these elements of a country or region help shape the way they live and contribute to their culture. Display the cultural pictures on slide 8 that students previously discussed. Ask students to work with their partner again and now determine what category on the PERSIA graphic organizer the picture they discussed earlier might represent. Allow 2 or 3 minutes for partners to discuss and then call on them to share out their answers.
Explain
Introduce and set the stage for this part of the lesson by telling students that they will now be cultural scientists in order to research regions of the world. To introduce the next activity, transition to slide 10 and show the "World War Z" movie trailer. The full URL for the video is located in the resources at the end of this lesson and in the notes on slide 10.
Assign students to groups of four. Pass out the attached Zombie Wars and Beyond Scenario handout to all students. Read the scenario and the presentation requirements aloud. Ask if there are any questions. Assign teams to one of these zombie-free regions or have them draw one randomly from a hat. For this lesson, the continents of Europe and Oceania are addressed. However, this lesson can be used to focus on other regions of the Eastern Hemisphere (See Teacher's Note below.)
Zombie-Free Zones for Europe and Oceania:
London/United Kingdom
Paris/France
Rome/Italy
Berlin/Germany
Moscow/Russia
Sydney/Australia
Wellington/New Zealand
Allow one class period for the PERSIA Graphic Organizer to be completed and another class period for poster completion.
Extend
After students have completed their posters, hang them around the walls of the class. Show slide 14 and have each group choose a spokesperson to stand beside the group's poster. The spokesperson's job is to explain the poster points—the previous country, the new settlement location, the cultural elements that were kept and those that were changed, as well as the group's reasons for keeping or changing elements. This person should be able to explain the poster in detail to the rest of the groups.
Once a spokesperson has been chosen for each group, display slide 15. Give each group a small stack of sticky notes. Have them write the name of their country at the top of each sticky note. For example, "The feedback provided is from Russia."
The spokesperson stays with their group's presentation, while the rest of the group participates in Gallery Walk strategy, visiting each poster in a clockwise rotation. Have the rotating group members bring their completed PERSIA graphic organizer with them. Use a timer so that groups spend only about five to seven minutes at each poster. After they listen to the spokesperson explain the poster, the visiting group uses a Picture Notes strategy to write three comments about the poster, as detailed on slide 15. The first sticky note lists a difference in culture compared to their own country. The second sticky note lists a similarity about this culture to their own. Finally, the last sticky note lists something that the visiting group particularly likes about the presentation. Attach the completed sticky notes on the edge of the poster.
Evaluate
Once all groups have completed the entire Gallery Walk, ask each group to discuss the feedback they received from the sticky note activity. Display slide 16. Using the sticky notes they received during the activity, have groups make a list of the differences and similarities between their country and others. Ask students to turn in this assignment as an assessment.
The poster and the PERSIA graphic organizer are additional assessments for this lesson.
Resources
K20 Center (n.d.). Gallery walk. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/118
K20 Center (n.d.). Picture notes. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/104
K20 Center (n.d.). Think, Pair, Share. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/139
Wiebe, G. (2009). PERSIA graphic organizer. Historytech.wordpress.com. https://historytech.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/tip-of-the-week-persia-graphic-organizer/