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Original K-12 Curricular Resources for Your Classroom

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If you encounter a problem accessing these resources, please email us at crcrts@tulane.edu or call us at 504.862.3143.

Online Curricula created BY teachers FOR teachers -These resources were developed in collaboration with K-12 educators.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

• ¡Huelga! A Social Studies Unit on the Farm Worker Movement – This curricular unit was developed by Erin Lierl, who currently teaches part-time in a New Orleans charter high school and is pursuing her M.A. at Tulane University’s Stone Center for Latin American Studies. The unit is centered on history and civics themes relevant to migrant farm labor movements. Lessons can be used as they are written, or they can be adjusted to meet the needs of each classroom. This curricular unit contains six (6) 75-minute lessons in Social Studies for grades 6-8.

ENVIRONMENT

• Exploring Foods of the Columbian Exchange – The Southern Food and Beverage Museum in collaboration with Tulane University’s Stone Center for Latin American Studies developed a curriculum that provides educators with a fresh perspective on the Columbian Exchange. These hands-on activities allow educators to engage their students while providing a Louisiana perspective on the foods of this exchange.

• Ecuador’s Oil Legacy: Media Skills, Justice & Preservation – This grades 6-12 curriculum packet, developed in 2010 by award-winning, high school world geography teacher Nicole Means and Rachel Carrico, project manager and teaching artist for New Orleans-based theater company Play/Write, provides lessons and media skills activities based on the film, ¡Justicia Now!

• Environmental Literacy Across the Curriculum – Costa Rica – This curriculum packet, developed by teachers in 1997, includes activities, text, 130 slides and more for the implementation of environmental science as an interdisciplinary unit.

• Plátanos: Learning about Bananas – A curriculum guide developed by a select group of teachers in 2005 to be used with the film, Banana Split, winner of LARC’s Biennial Latin American Environmental Media Festival. This curriculum guide was designed to be used for K-12 although most units are developed for high school. Check out the film from the LARC Lending Library.

CULTURE AND IDENTITY

• Exploration of the African Diaspora in the Americas – This curriculum packet was developed by the participants in the 2009 institute with the same title and includes activities for the following subjects: Social Studies/History/Geography, Language, and the Arts. This is a great resource to accompany the film Black in Latin America, available in LARC’s Lending Library.

• Teaching Brazil: Expanding Perspectives on Colonial History A K-12 Curriculum Unit designed as part of a summer teacher institute in Brazil. August 2019.

• Geography and Identity in the Brazilian Amazon – A K-12 Curriculum Unit based on the film, Iauareté, Waterfall of the Jaguar, this curriculum packet was developed by the participants in the 2007 Curriculum Writing Project and includes 2 main sections: “Geography and People: A Look at Northwestern Brazil” and “Exploring Cultural Identity in a Language Arts Classroom.” You may check out the film from LARC’s Lending Library

• Haitian Folktales – A K-2 Curriculum Unit about a Haitian folktale, Tezin: le poisson d’eau douce: Conte de la tradition haitenne (Tezin: Freshwater Fish: A Folktale in the Haitian Tradition) which exposes students to Haiti, folktales, the French language, the importance of the environment, and performance.

• Introduction to Brazil – A set of curricula for the High School classroom which aims to integrate teaching about Brazil and the Portuguese language into the Spanish classroom. Provides opportunities to learn about Brazilian language, geography, and culture in an interdisciplinary classroom.

• Signs of Change: A K-12 Curriculum on the Contemporary Maya – This curriculum packet, developed by participants in the Stone Center’s 2012 Summer Teacher Institute in Guatemala, includes art, English, and Spanish curricula for K-12 students about the ancient and modern Maya. Please also see the materials from the 2013 Tulane Maya Symposium Teacher Workshop which presented information about the curriculum writing process and the trip on which the curriculum is based. Also make sure to check out this great comic strip of a contemporary Maya family.

• Through the Lens: Teaching Latin America through Film – In collaboration with Vanderbilt University and Millsaps College, the Stone Center for Latin American Studies welcomed 22 educators from across the United States to an intensive film institute exploring the diversity of Latin America through film. Hosted at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi on June 5th through 10th, 2011. This resource consists of a recommended list of films to teach about Latin America for the K-12 classroom.

CUBAN HISTORY, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE

• Teaching Cuba: Shifting Perspectives and the Global Landscape – A curriculum developed out of the 2015 and 2016 Summer Educator Institutes in Cuba, these lesson plans explore diverse topics of Cuban culture, society, history, and environment. Adaptable for all grade levels. Please see Race, Power, and Identity in Cuba: Past and Present Primary Source Activities for the curriculum developed by Primary Source from our 2017 teacher institute to Cuba. Check back soon for 2018 resources!

TEACH THE MAYA with these resources created by LARC!

• Introducing the Ancient Maya to the Classroom – This curriculum packet, developed by archaeologist Diane Davies in 2010, provides an introduction to the study of the Ancient Maya and suggests several classroom activities as well as additional resources.

• Maya Culture in the Classroom – These materials were assembled for the 2002 Tulane Maya Symposium Teacher Workshop and provide information about the Ancient Maya and a variety of activities to introduce the Maya into the K-12 classroom.

ONLINE CURRICULA BY LARC

• Ancient Civilizations – Spring 2020 K-12 workshop series on ancient civilizations provided K-12 educators the opportunity to explore ancient civilizations. Lesson plans were created by two local educators on behalf of the Latin American Resource Center and S.S. NOLA. The curriculum unit was created by Brittney Dayeh, and William Gillispie, both K-12 educators at Lusher Charter School in New Orleans, Louisiana as well as PhD candidate, Catherine Nuckols-Wilde developed for the elementary Social Studies and high school History classroom. Check out the website developed for the institute series.

• Race, Power, and Identity in Cuba: Past and Present Primary Source Activities – In this activity-based curriculum, students utilize primary sources to explore how structural racism shaped experiences and identities of Afro-Cuban communities. This curriculum was inspired by Tulane University’s Summer 2017 Cuban Culture & Society K-12 Teacher Institute and created by the curriculum specialists at Primary Source. Adaptable for high school Spanish, Language Arts, Social Studies, Visual Arts, and Art History.

• Beyond the Book – A curriculum guide to Mayeros: A Yucatec Maya Family.

• Ada’s Violin by Susan Hood and illustrated by Sally Wern Comport – This curriculum uses Ada’s Violin, a 2017 Américas Award Winner, to introduce students to concepts of recycling, poverty, and solving problems. Created for a Grade 3 classroom.

• Día de los Muertos Across the Americas – This curriculum packet, an ongoing project, introduces Dí­a de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, in different parts of the Americas. The packet includes background information on various Day of the Dead traditions, classroom activities, and external resources. A great resource which can be used for a variety of grade levels.

• Connecting New Orleans and Latin America – This curriculum introduces the longstanding connections between New Orleans and Latin America. The curriculum focuses on historic connections and the importance of trade and immigration to such issues.

• Jewish Latin America – This workshop explored the diversity of the Latin American experience by looking at the impact of Jewish immigrants on the social, economic, political and, especially, the intellectual and cultural life of Latin America. Hosted at Tulane University on January 14, 2012.

• La tierra mágica: Una exploración cultural de la América – A resource guide on Latin American culture, designed to be used in classes of Spanish for U.S. students at the advanced high school or intermediate to advanced college level.

• Land of Diversity – A comprehensive high school social studies course on Latin America consisting of 19 units highlighting the history, geography, and culture of the region.

• Malaika’s Costume – A Grade 3 curriculum based on the 2017 Américas Award Honorable Mention book Malaika’s Costume written by Nadia L. Hohn and illustrated by Irene Luxbacher (Simon and Schuster, 2016).

• Rainbow Weaver: Tejedora del Arcoíris – A Grade K-3 curricululm based on the 2017 Américas Award Commended Title Rainbow Weaver: Tejedora del Arcoíris written by Linda Elovitz Marshall and illustrated by Elisa Chavarri (Lee and Lowe, 2016).

• Los tres grandes – A complete lecture and slide show featuring the works of the Mexican Muralists: Rivera, Siqueros, and Orozco.

• Yum! ¡Mmmm! ¡Que Rico! – A Grade 2-3 curriculum based on the Américas Award winning book, Yum! ¡Mmmm! ¡Que Rico!, written by Pat Mora and illustrated by Rafael López (New York: Lee & Low, 2007).