Walking in Your Shoes

Imagine you could put on someone else’s comfortable shoes. What would you see if you were walking in an unfamiliar place?

• 1.

  Open a discussion of shoe types typical to your student population. Ask students for their preferences in shoe wear, as well as why we wear different types of shoes in different seasons of the year. Inform students that they will be investigating shoes worn in other cultures/countries. After researching the kinds of shoes worn in a selected country, students will create a unique display of their learning in the form of model shoes.

• 2.

  Sculpt the shoe. Scrunch newspaper into a shoe shape. Use masking tape to hold the paper armature in place. Roll neon Crayola Model Magic® into a flat sheet with a Crayola Marker. Drape the modeling compound over the newspaper to shape it into footwear. Roll coils in contrasting colors. Attach them to the shoe for the sole, laces, or straps. Use a fingernail or a marker cap to impress details such as stitching or tread. Air-dry the shoe overnight.

• 3.

  Make local cutouts. On construction paper, draw and color what a traveler would see in the country. In Switzerland, there are the Alps, brown Swiss cattle, cheese, skis, and timepieces. Cut out the drawings with Crayola Scissors, leaving a small tab at the bottom of each one to attach it to the poster.

• 4.

  Show the country. Trace the country’s name and land mass on posterboard. Fill in its flag with Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils. Erase areas as needed. For example, Switzerland’s flag has a white cross in a field of red. Cut slits in posterboard to attach the cutouts. Slide tabs through the slits and fold up. Attach the shoe and cutouts with Crayola School Glue. Air-dry the display before it is presented to the class.

Standards

• LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
• LA: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
• LA: Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to grade level.
• LA: Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
• LA: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• MATH: Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements from a larger unit to a smaller unit.
• SS: Describe ways in which language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people living in a particular culture.
• SS: Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.
• VA: Select media, techniques, and processes; analyze what makes them effective or not effective in communicating ideas; and reflect upon the effectiveness of choices.
• VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.
• VA: Use subjects, themes, and symbols that demonstrate knowledge of contexts, values, and aesthetics that communicate intended meaning in artworks.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: Around the World Coloring Book by Winky Adam; Flags of the World by Sylvia Bednar; Children of the World: How We Live, Learn, and Play in Poems, Drawings, and Photographs by Anthony Asael & Stephanie Rabemiafara
• Encourage students to create an audio component to accompany their posters. If possible, include a short talk in the country's native language.
• Working in small groups, students discuss the Cheyenne saying "Do not judge your neighbor until you walk two moons in his moccasins."
• Students research the major landforms located within the boundaries of the selected country. If possible, use Crayola Model Magic to create these formations on the map of the country.
• Working in small groups, students discuss the Cheyenne saying "Do not judge your neighbor until you walk two moons in his moccasins." What might have been meant by this saying? How could students apply this saying to bullying and the development of tolerance in today's society?