Blog Post: A Lesson Plan For Indian Cultural Diversity in The Blue Umbrella
Being a future educator, I am always looking for ideas and literature I can use in my own classroom one day. After reading The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond, I wanted to create a lesson plan for elementary school children, (I chose fifth grade specifically), in order to demonstrate the importance of diversity and Indian culture in lesson plans involving literature.
Big Picture: The goal of the lesson is to teach the students about the importance of kindness and to elaborate on the importance of diverse literature.
Rationale: It is crucial to demonstrate the importance of kindness in everyday life. By reading The Blue Umbrella, students can see how selfishness and materialism are harmful to society, while showing the benefits of friendship and generosity through Binya and Ram Bharosa. While being an important book for its wonderful and lighthearted themes, it also is a diverse example of children’s literature, being that it takes place in India and is written by Ruskin Bond, an Indian author. The novela is excellent for this, because it displays everyday life for a girl and her family in Garhwal, India. Exposure to cultures other than one’s’ own are essential to allow students to grow in their acceptance of others. In “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors,” Rudine Sims Bishop explains how exposing children to diversity can, “…help us to understand each other better by helping to change our attitudes towards difference” (Bishop 2). This not only is relevant for diversity in American children’s literature, but in all of the literature children read around the world. This lesson could be given in any classroom across the world, and it would still show the importance of kindness while showing a culture different to one’s own, (unless of course that classroom is in the foothills of India as this novel is).
Lesson Objectives: The learning objective is for students to show character relations and interactions through comparing and contrasting.
Rationale: Comparing and contrasting, while it is and important standard for students, is still important in the real world. By learning how characters in the story are similar and different, students can relate the characters to their own selves and thus empathize with the characters. This can allow them to find a deeper meaning in the novel and embrace the diversity and identity of the characters.
Lesson Plan:
Introduction: Would you give up something you love for someone who was unkind to you? Why or Why not?
Instruction:
- I will start the lesson by introducing the author and giving some background information on Ruskin Bond. I will explain how he is an Indian author and give examples of some of the great work he has done.
- Then, I will ask the students what they know about India and Indian culture. I will show pictures and brief examples of Indian culture and history, to get their minds wondering and curious before I start the novel.
- I will read the first chapter as a class, and have the students finish the books by themselves or in small groups in class, (whichever they prefer), in order for them to have reading comprehension and literacy practice.
- Once they have finished, I will break the students into two different groups. I will lead a class discussion in order to summarize the book and refresh their minds to secure the information. This is important in order to close any gaps they may have missed the first time around. I will ask them the main idea and key themes. I will elaborate the importance of kindness and friendship.
- I will create a Venn Diagram chart on the board. One of the sides will be Binya and the other will be Ram Bharosa. I will then assign each group to one of the characters and ask them to find details in the text to compare and contrast the characters.
- Lastly, I will have them create a venn diagram with Binya or Ram Bharosa, (they can choose), and themselves on a sheet of paper in order for me to assess their understand and so they can find similarities between themself and the character. Additionally, this will allow for them to celebrate the diversity of themself and the character.
Closure: I will finish the lesson by asking again if they would you give up something you love for someone who was unkind to you? Why or Why not?
Works Cited:
Bishop, Rudine Sims. “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors.” Perspective: Choosing
and Using Books for the Classroom, vol. 6, no. 3, 1990.
Bond, Ruskin. The Blue Umbrella. Rupa Publications, 1992.