Franke Global Leadership Initiative (GLI) Oral Presentations
The CUE Project
Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Alli DePuy
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Franke Global Leadership Initiative
Abstract / Artist's Statement
The decline in children's interest in reading for fun is a concerning trend that has persisted since the 1980s. Our group's project, Create, Unite, Evoke (CUE), addresses this issue by leveraging children's curiosity and fascination with foreign cultures and media. Our group designed the CUE Project to excite and create new readers spanning from elementary to high school by developing and teaching two classroom ready lesson plans. For age-appropriate instruction, we split our demographic into two categories. The lesson plan for the younger group, elementary-aged children, focuses on building cross-cultural understanding and recognizing reading as a way to connect with different cultures. The CUE Project has developed a series of workshops relating to international literature and book covers across different countries, such as analyzing why some countries highlight different themes for Harry Potter book covers than others. The lesson plan for the older group, middle through high school-aged children, aims to initiate a connection to different cultures, particularly Japan, through current media trends such as the popularity of Manga. Activities include analyzing why Manga and American comic strips are structured differently, art style comparisons, and a make-your-own-Manga adaptation game. By using older children's preexisting experience and interest in Manga and Anime as a baseline, American students develop the ability to perceive and name tangible differences in culture, values and customs. With perception may come additional investment, hopefully fostering a deeper interest in reading. The benefits of reading for children are numerous --- it strengthens language and critical thinking skills, boosts creativity, and allows for early explorations of contrasting cultures. As Maya Angelou stated, "Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him." Through the CUE Project, we hope to help children form a lifelong love for reading and to inspire them to connect with the world.
Category
Franke Global Leadership Initiative
The CUE Project
UC 333
The decline in children's interest in reading for fun is a concerning trend that has persisted since the 1980s. Our group's project, Create, Unite, Evoke (CUE), addresses this issue by leveraging children's curiosity and fascination with foreign cultures and media. Our group designed the CUE Project to excite and create new readers spanning from elementary to high school by developing and teaching two classroom ready lesson plans. For age-appropriate instruction, we split our demographic into two categories. The lesson plan for the younger group, elementary-aged children, focuses on building cross-cultural understanding and recognizing reading as a way to connect with different cultures. The CUE Project has developed a series of workshops relating to international literature and book covers across different countries, such as analyzing why some countries highlight different themes for Harry Potter book covers than others. The lesson plan for the older group, middle through high school-aged children, aims to initiate a connection to different cultures, particularly Japan, through current media trends such as the popularity of Manga. Activities include analyzing why Manga and American comic strips are structured differently, art style comparisons, and a make-your-own-Manga adaptation game. By using older children's preexisting experience and interest in Manga and Anime as a baseline, American students develop the ability to perceive and name tangible differences in culture, values and customs. With perception may come additional investment, hopefully fostering a deeper interest in reading. The benefits of reading for children are numerous --- it strengthens language and critical thinking skills, boosts creativity, and allows for early explorations of contrasting cultures. As Maya Angelou stated, "Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him." Through the CUE Project, we hope to help children form a lifelong love for reading and to inspire them to connect with the world.