Exercises: ANALY
This activities are designed for 12th grade students. Prior to starting these activities it is advisable to know the background of the play. Therefore, the teacher should show the movie Rabbit-Proof Fence to the students before starting the activities. Note: all activities can be done before watching the play or after watching the latter. It is recommended that they have at least one activity done before watching the play in order to have a more analytical criticism.
Unit Theme: Tolerance
Overview: This activity is to expand the student’s social awareness of other cultures, in this case the Pawnee people. After watching the movie, Rabbit-Proof Fence, students will have a deeper connection to the Pawnee people, allowing them to write more profoundly and with a better consciousness of the topic. The movie will be followed by a lecture on the Pawnee people. Students will understand how there are multiple cultures in the world, and how each and every one of them is important and should be respected.
Note: If the movie can not be showed, other videos or lectures will help. Depending on the creativity of the teacher.
Objective Students will:
Class lecture: Activity Listen and react (10-15 minutes) The teacher will open the conversation by mentioning the movie Rabbit-Proof Fence (or other video or lecture) This will help the students remember the movie and help them connect with the teacher’s lecture. The teacher will start with a short summary of the movie and then he/she will ask the students what they thought about it. The teacher will give a mini lecture of the Pawnee people before starting the discussion. Then, the teacher will start a conversation about tolerance, first by defining the word and then by explaining why it is important. Then, the teacher will proceed on to the next step that is showing pictures as realia (optional) and asking questions.
Activity Showing pictures and asking questions. After the lecture is over. The teacher will show students pictures or a video from the internet of the Pawnee culture (or any video the teacher finds appropriate for the lecture that relates). Then, the teacher will ask questions.
Example:
What do you think of the Pawnee people?
How do you think they lived?
What differences can you see from our culture to theirs?
What interests you about the Pawnee? (and more)
How are they different from other Native American tribes?
Activity Listen and follow a procedure (For the remaining of the class)
The teacher will ask the students to get into groups (assigned by the teacher) of 3-4 students. The activity consists of talking in your groups about things in the movie that you feel are important in order to build tolerance between people. Then on one piece of paper, the designated writer will write the thoughts of the team members which will demonstrate how tolerance plays an important role in the movie. The students will be asked to focus on a scene and then to read their example on how that scene relates to tolerance. The students can talk from their chairs or come up in front of class to discuss their thoughts with their peers. Also, as a conclusion students will give an example about tolerance in the new millennium. If there is no time left, the short 5 minutes presentations will be presented on the next class period.
Unit Theme: Analysis
Overview: The students will develop a more analytical thinking towards the Pawnee people (or any tribe). They will be asked to analyze one of the scenes from the play or the movie. Note: by this time it is recommended that the students have already watched the play and/or the movie in order to have more examples to work from. The teacher will help students analyze in order to achieve a deeper understanding of other cultures. The purpose of this activity is to help students elevate their thinking by identifying a negative issue revolving the Pawnee people; then, they will try to find a solution that converts it into something positive. This will help students examine their thinking and expand their analytical criticism and knowledge.
Objective students will:
Class lecture: Activity Listen (10-15 minutes). The teacher will start the conversation by giving a short summary of the movie and play. Then the teacher will ask students what they thought about both of them. The teacher will proceed on to giving a short lecture (5-10 minutes) on boarding schools for native people. The teacher will continue to explain the purpose of the schools. She/he will give an example on how negative the experience of native people was back then. The teacher will ask students ways in which this could have been handled differently in order to respect each culture. There will be further talk about negative examples in regards to the movie as well as the play. The teacher will write them on the board and leave them there for the students to see. It will be an open class discussion. Then the teacher will proceed on to telling the activity for the remaining time.
Example problems:
Racism
Deprivation of rights
Inhumane treatment
Not good health conditions
Forcing another religion
Constitution of marriage
The teacher will write these keywords as the lecture progresses. The words will be related to different scenes from the movie and the play in order to give examples for the activity.
Activity: Listen and solve a problem:
Students will be asked to write a short (1 full page to 2 pages) essay focusing on a scene, from the movie or the play, that shows something negative (it could be anything). Then, the students have to solve the problem by giving a solution. If the teacher has a copy of the script, it will be given to the students for reference -as well as for the movie. But if they are not provided, then they will rely on memory and notes.
Example:
1) Write a short summary of the scene you picked and refer if it is from the movie or the play.
Note: It should be between 5-8 sentences.
2)The students then, will write the negativity of the scene and how it affects the people.
-This can take up to 10 sentences.
3)The students will find a way in which to transform that scene into something positive and explain how she/he made it positive. This will be the longest part. It requires analytical thinking.
Example.
Boarding schools. In the beginning of the play Momaday and Grandmother are talking about how the boarding schools separated their families. The Indian boys and girls were taken away from their families. Momaday says, “Genoa was part school, part working camp, and part penitentiary. It was not a path to prosperity for our people”(1).
Note: It is not required to quote, only if the students want to be very precise. It will be sufficient by just giving a summary that clearly shows what part are the students referring to. The importance of the exercise is that the students can identify an issue and know how to analyze it and be able to solve the latter.
This work is to be turned in at the end of the class or at the beginning of next period. If the student wants to type his/ her work, it will be acceptable. There will also be time for sharing -if students want to. It is important to share what the students wrote because this helps them hear each others’ way of thinking and solving problems. The students can easily pick the same issues, and it will be interesting to see the different approaches students take towards solving them. If there is time to share responses they will take approximately 10-15 minutes.
Unit Theme: A Day in The Life of a Native American
This Thematic Unit will take around 2-3 days to be completed. It is best to be performed after the students watched the play.
Overview: This will be the last activity for students to do. It will be an individual project. The purpose of this project is to help students understand the importance of each individual’s lifestyle and to respect it.
Objective Students will:
Class lecture. Activity Listen and performed a task: The teacher will show a video of Native American people Note: If this is performed before the play, it can be the movie or a video. The video should last most of the time period. Then, for the remaining of the time, the teacher will have a discussion with the students on what they liked about the video. The teacher will relate the video to the movie and the play in order to make them more credible and personal. Then the teacher will continue with the instructions of the individual project.
Instructions:
Students will be conducting a class presentation for 5-8 minutes.
-The following are some examples but are not limited to what the students can talk about.
- Discuss the importance of ancient artifacts
- Understand the importance of their religion (explain it)
- Talk about historical contributions
- Talk about the importance of astrology in Native Americans (general)
- Describe the family dynamics and importance of their roles
- Explain some important dates/rituals
- Compare two different tribes
- Explain the importance of their apparel
- Talk about the present day Native American
- Talk about the creation stories and their significance
Note: If the student wants to talk about another topic, he has to talk with the teacher to see if it is pertinent for the purpose of the activity.
2) After the student has a topic he/she will like to discuss, then the student will be responsible for his/her own research. These are some ideas on how to research your topic and how to present it:
1.Choose the topic that most interest you.
2.Do online research about that topic. ( refer to more than one source to see the differences) Note: You have to look for reliable sources.
3. Talk with Native Americans if you have a friend or a relative (for personal examples) and more…
3)You are allowed to present your presentation in:
Power Point
Prezi
A short play
A drawing (explain the significance of the drawing)
A short video
A home-made short video
A transcript or a recording of an interview
Pictures
A story
A lecture
Out-line
A classroom activity.
Remember that if students take information from the internet (or any other source) it is important to cite the right person for the work done. There will be a short page attached that shows how to cite properly in MLA style. Note: the citations do not have to be perfect. They only need to show the basic information that allows the reader to know whose work it is. The following examples are taken from the OWL web page in order to demonstrate some examples. For the complete information on how to cite more things for students projects refer to the MLA web page.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/
Basic Style for Citations of Electronic Sources (Including Online Databases)
Here are some common features you should try and find before citing electronic sources in MLA style. Not every Web page will provide all of the following information. However, collect as much of the following information as possible both for your citations and for your research notes:
- Author and/or editor names (if available)
- Article name in quotation marks (if applicable)
- Title of the Website, project, or book in italics. (Remember that some. Print publications have Web publications with slightly different names. They may, for example, include the additional information or otherwise modified information, like domain names [e.g. .com or .net].)
- Any version numbers available, including revisions, posting dates, volumes, or issue numbers.
- Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.
- Take note of any page numbers (if available).
- Medium of publication.
- Date you accessed the material.
- URL (if required, or for your own personal reference; MLA does not require a URL).
Works Cited
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008. Web. 19 Apr.2015.
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