Old Man Winter - Lesson Plan III

Exploring the concept of Hero, “Gluskabi and Old Man Winter” From Joseph Bruchac’s Pushing up the sky: Seven Native American Plays for Children

DESCRIPTORS

Curriculum Areas: Language Arts, Theatre and Critical Thinking Skills

Recommended Levels: Students with reading deficits grades 2-5

Time Frame: This lesson is adaptable from two, one-hour lessons to several hours, divided as needed.

Tribal Affiliation Muckleshoot

Geographic Location: Muckleshoot Reservation, Auburn, WA

Developed by: Cara Francis

Email addresses of developers: meegat@aol.com

Date lesson was developed: 7/27/01

American Indian Standards

Language Arts:

Standard 5: Read fluently and independently, a variety of materials including those with American Indian themes.

Standard 6: Use a variety of strategies to gain meaning from text.

Standard 7: Analyze and interpret information from stories or other text.

Standard 13: Write in an organized and coherent manner.

Drama Arts:

Standard 5: Researching -- i.e., finding or synthesizing information to support dramatizations -- American Indian themes.

INSTRUCTION

Goal: To be able to understand and conceptualize the idea of a larger than life hero in literature. To be able to retell a story giving a substantial framework of detail.

Behavioral Objectives: Students will:

• Read a selected short story featuring a hero from either Indian story telling tradition or other cultural hero tales (Irish myth? Greek/Roman myth?)
• Complete the attached Basic Information form in order to gather and organize information from the selected hero myth for retelling.
• Retell the story.

Prior Knowledge Needed:

• A classroom discussion should be initiated first, discussing the concept of “Hero” in the larger than life sense.
• The students should have read the play “Gluskabe and Old Man Winter”

Materials and Resources Needed:

• Enough short stories copied so than everyone has a choice, maybe four copies of four stories for a group of sixteen.
• Video camcorder and enough tape for each student to have a 5 minute spot

Culture Content and Strategies:

The concept of “Hero” is a common thread in story telling in many Indian and non-Indian cultures.

Lesson Summary and Performance Tasks:

Students will choose from several printed and copied stories featuring larger than life heroes. They will then read the story and complete the attached Basic Information form.

After completing the form the student will then be ready to hand the form to the instructor, who will videotape the student retelling the story.

Assessment:

The Basic Information form can serve as a tool for assessment. It can serve as a check off sheet as the student retells the story. The teacher can check off each element as it is told. Finally the student is asked to add a couple of ways in which the hero in his selected story is or is not like Gluskabe from the play.

EXTENSION

Technology Integration:

Having the student recorded on Video Tape allows them to view themselves from the perspective of others.

Enrichment/Remediation:

Extra time will take care of most remediation issues. Additional discussion of the concept of hero may be necessary. Further enrichment could consist of having the students write their own “hero” tales.