Strategies
Lesson 1: What Things Do I Have?
Explanations
In order to make a smooth connection to our American Indian theme, I want the students to categorize their things just as Townsend categorized the artifacts of the Moundbuilders. I think it will be an interesting exercise for the students to take ownership for creating their categories then seeing the same in artifacts from hundreds even thousands of years ago.
This lesson consists primarily of basic guided questioning by the teacher utilizing things in the classroom especially things students may be wearing. As we define the categories as a class, I will color code them. Because I plan on teaching this unit at the beginning of the year, I intend to include the parents in this exercise. The students will be asked to go home and ask their parent or guardian to pick one of their own things; it could be something special, something sacred, or something ordinary that gets used daily. The student and the parent/guardian can discuss the different categories, decide into which the thing falls, then write a description on an index card. If possible, they can take a picture of it or draw it. The parents will be invited to present their thing to the class but if that is not possible, the student will do so and attach the card under the category to which it belongs. Keep in mind that part of the beauty of this exercise is that some items will not neatly fit into just one category. Therefore, there may be a great deal of discussion.
After 6 classes of, hopefully, only 25 students each, we should have a colorful wall filled with things that are connected to the students and a relative who has lived longer than they.
Lesson 2: Look at the Art and Tell the Story
Explanations
The beauty of this exercise, which I learned from Dr. Richard Chant at the University of North Florida, is that it can be used with just about any unit at any time. You'll need to choose several paintings. One that I will use is "Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way" (see Teacher resources for image website) to get them in the Native American mood. Its subject matter is the pioneer march to the west and the implication that the expansion was somehow justified by a higher being.
View the painting with the students and take them through the colors, the texture, and the sense of movement the artists conveys. What was the first thing they noticed? Where do you think the characters are? Who are the characters? When was this? What do you think of it?
On a regular size paper, trace the outline of the characters in the painting and number them. Give each student a copy and assign each student a character. One by one ask who they are. What are they doing? What might they be feeling right now? What do you think they would say right at this moment? Then write it down. Do that with each character and when you are finished you have a script.
Place the students, physically, in the same position or stance as their character and when everyone is set, read the script from start to finish. It works beautifully and the students will have not only analyzed a piece of art, but they have also written dialogue that matches the setting and a story has begun. I suggest that you do this in groups of about 10 or so at a time with several different paintings that fit into the theme.
Lesson 3: The Ancient Things
Explanations
This lesson will connect the ancient things to all of those categories we described earlier and to all of the things the students brought in themselves. It must be image rich. I have included some stable websites in the resource section of this unit from which to draw, but the wealth of images on the internet is staggering. You may wish to expand this unit from the North American Indian to include the Mesoamerican and further. There is a wealth of images available.
This section will use slides and music. As a class we will view the slides I have chosen and categorize them, discuss the markings, make guesses as to their uses, or who might have worn them or owned them. We will bring in all the symbolism discussed in the Justification of this unit regarding the ancient things and we will connect them, if possible to our own world.
I will spend more time on the Ancestor Worship section because of the relevance to the students' lives today. There is a relatively new phenomenon that has swept some urban areas of the country, including Jacksonville, in which T-shirts and/or Hoodies are emblazoned with the deceased's picture, birth and death date, and most often a statement of love or mourning. Those wearing these effigy shirts wear them proudly and as if to take some comfort from it. National Public Radio aired a commentary on June 26, 2006, by reporter Desiree Cooper of the Detroit Free Press headlined "Being Unsettled by Flashy Funerals for the Young." In this report she describes a mile one traffic jam due to the funeral of a young person who died violently. Noting that there are more and more inner city funerals for young people, she made an interesting statement that it disturbed her because it seemed that in these funerals the worth of the deceased seemed to be determined by the extravagance of the funeral rather than the good deeds of the deceased. Between the service and the internment, friends will dash to the local mall to buy dog-tags with the image of their dead friend; some collect them like charms. People put cigarettes in the casket, cash, bullets, or beer. She wonders if young people have lost respect for the dead or if this is similar to the Jazz Funerals of New Orleans or an Irish Wake. I am wondering if it is not a resurgence of an ancient tradition.
Death, especially violent deaths seem as prevalent today as in the ancient world and those stories may be the most personal and the most poignant the students can have. But this particular lesson will ask the students to categorize some of these ancient artifact images, choose one, describe and discuss the symbolisms and metaphors, and then write a story that goes along with it.
Lesson 4: Because My Father Always Said He was the Only Indian who saw Jimi Hendrix Play "The Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock
Explanations
Before we get started with the short story, I am going to introduce a discussion based on our perceptions of the American Indian. This will have most assuredly already come up as we were writing stories about artifacts, but I want to include a non-fiction text that will challenge some long held beliefs as well as help the students to understand the author's point of view, purpose, and tone. It is an article in a special edition of American Indian Quarterly in which the author is clearly frustrated at what she feels is a great injustice in recording American Indian history. Wilson emphatically admonishes a field she says is "dominated by white, male, historians who rarely ask or care what the Indians they study have to say about their work" (3). For my students, I will read this with them with a graphic organizer to draw out these elements. For advanced level students, that may not be necessary.
My Father Always said he was the only Indian to hear Jimi Hendrix play the "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock is the first Alexie short story we will read. For my 9th graders, it will be important for me to offer a little background of Woodstock and Jimi Hendrix. Most will not have much background knowledge of either. It will be helpful to introduce some of the music, especially Jimi Hendrix and images of Woodstock. In order to begin, I will show the students just the opening song in the movie Hair starring Treat Williams and Beverly De'Angelo, Aquarius. It illustrates the 60's hippie movement beautifully not only with the dress, but with dance choreographed by Twyla Tharpe. In addition to '60's music, I will introduce some Blues as well, Robert Johnson specifically because he is mentioned in this story and John Lee Hooker personally just because I am a fan.
Up until now, the students have responded to visual images, symbolism, and metaphor. They have been describing these things, these very old things and their own things using similes. Hopefully now they can recognize those devices in the written word and feel confident enough to tackle the more difficult devices such as irony, irony and simile all in one place, sarcasm, and the deep resonance of an oxymoron. This story is filled with these items, plus the tenuous relationship between a son and his father, the despair of man who is hopeless, and while this story is told by Victor, in Smoke Signals, it is told by Thomas-Builds-the-Fire in a "fine example of the oral tradition."
Lesson 6: This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona
Explanations
The second Alexie story we will read is This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona. This is the story from which Smoke Signals was actually born. It is the story of the death of Victor's father and the journey to retrieve his ashes. This will be a continuation of examining the literary devices Alexie uses, identifying them, and understanding them.
There are a few things in particular that are crucial to the connections made in this unit. It is important to point out how Thomas-Builds-the-Fire begins to be portrayed as somewhat mystical, magical. He knew Victor's father was going to leave. He shows up on Victor's door step just as Victor was going to seek him out. In Alexie's short stories Thomas is seen mostly as the town joke, bullied, and disparaged. But this story shines a little different light on Thomas and it is that aspect which is carried over into the film.
Second, Victor's father, Arnold Joseph was cremated. He was such a big man all his ashes wouldn't fit into just one box. I think the ashes in the cardboard box are significant. If we look back at the burial mounds and the things buried in them, it is a stark contrast to this American Indian, burned and poured in two cardboard boxes. What does that say about his life? Why is it significant that Thomas gets to keep the smaller box? Does it seem to matter to Victor or Thomas that the ashes are in a box? Does that lessen the sacredness of Victor's dad's remains?
Lesson 7: Field Trip to Ft. George/Huguenot Park
Explanations
Not twenty minutes from our high school is Fort George Island Cultural State Park. It is the southernmost barrier island in the long chain of islands along the southeast United States Coast. Located at where the Nassau and St. Johns River basins meet, it is a site that has had human occupation for 7,000 years (Ft. George Island Cultural State Park). In fact, the Rangers there tell me the whole island is in fact one big shell midden, or ancient trash heap. The mounds contain remnants of food that was consumed, broken pottery, and other everyday items of the day that would normally wind up in the trash. But bones and all sorts of artifacts have been found there as well.
Middens such as this one hold many, many stories of every day life and I want to take my students there with a guided Ranger. This trip will accomplish several things. First, it will make real the pictures, images, and stories we have heard up until now. Second, it will give them an opportunity to begin collecting their own things for their final project. We will take direction from the Rangers as to where to collect shells so as to preserve any ancient deposits. There are so many of these mounds across the country, it is likely that others reading this unit may find one to visit as well. Huguenot Park is a 450 acre horseshoe shaped area surrounded by three bodies of water, Ft. George Inlet, the St. Johns River, and the Atlantic Ocean just minutes from our school. It is an ideal place for shelling especially if we happen to be able to go after a storm. Many of the beautiful shells land on the shore here intact, whereas mostly small shells and shell pieces that land on the Jacksonville Beaches. This area, although not a historically preserved site, will allow the students to collect all kinds of shells and things without the possibility of destroying archeological sites.
Lesson 8: Smoke Signals
Explanations
Ideally after such a unit, I would like to view the film on the large screen in the auditorium in its entirety. If that is not possible, I will use an LCD projector rather than view this on a small television. The cinematography is extraordinary.
I will begin with a poem by Sherman Alexie, Why We Play Basketball. and "We played ball/until dark, then played/until we could see/neither hoop nor ball. We played until our/mothers and fathers/came searching for us/and carried us home" (709-710). The basketball is an important thing in Smoke Signals and it is an important thing to my students. The simple manner in which Alexie discusses the love for playing basketball is more that just a sport. It is a way to escape the hunger and poverty of life for young Indians. But, like many childhood things it rolls to the corner and love and family encompass life. The love of basketball never dies and neither does the love for the small house and large family and the fights the crowd inevitably with share.
I will follow Alexie's poem with one by Dick Lourie, Forgiving our Fathers. Lourie is not an American Indian but is a writer, poet and blues musician. His and Alexie's works have been published in many of the same journals and magazines. It is Lourie's poem that concludes Smoke Signals. A slight variation of Forgiving our Fathers is the ending narration by Thomas-Builds-the-Fire and it most poignantly is the metaphor, really for the entire film. The poem asks the simple question; when do we forgive our fathers, "in our age or in theirs or in their deaths/ saying it to them or not saying it—/if we forgive our fathers what is left" (48). I am not going to tell the students that they will hear it again in the film; I want them to study the poetry just knowing that the film focuses on the relationship of Victor and his father. With that fresh in their minds, I believe the connection will be more valuable even palpable.
The students will have an active watching guide, a graphic organizer if you will, to make notes upon as they watch the film. First it will begin with a part of Thomas-Builds-the-Fire's narration "Victor and I were made of flame and ash," so that the students can capture the metaphor and describe what it means. It will include character descriptions, examples of literary devices, and predictions.
There are several things that I want the students to pay special attention to, hair being the first. What is the significance of hair to Victor? Does it mean the same thing to Thomas? Does it matter? Arnold, Suzy Song, and Victor all at different points in the film say I/he "didn't mean to." What does that mean each time? What about Arnold's basketball? Why doesn't Victor bring that home?
Ultimately, I find the ending so simple it is extraordinary. Thomas ends up as the guiding light for Victor which is in stark contrast to the Thomas portrayed in the written text. It is his Mason jar full of money that makes possible Victor's reconciliation with his father and himself. Arnold Joseph was responsible for Thomas' parent's death, yet the act of giving Thomas some of Arnold's ashes in the same Mason jar is sublime. In addition, the death of Arnold Joseph and his remains is in stark contrast to the burial artifacts and rituals archeologists have uncovered from North American Indians here in the southeast. It is also in stark contrast to the funeral frenzy Desiree Cooper speaks of in Detroit. I believe all of these are worthy of discussion and thought.
I will guide students as needed through the film but it is my intention to let them discover these things on their own and without interruption. If we need to revisit scenes we will afterward, but at this point they have had a solid background and preparation to be able to understand the simple treasures in this movie. That will be evidenced by the guide that they use to watch the film.
Lesson 9: Make Your Thing and Write Your Story
Explanations
This is it. This is the culmination of the unit. We have gathered items and ideas and other people's stories and now it is time to make our own. We will take a day to construct our thing, decorate it as we wish, name it, and describe the symbols. Then they will write their personal story. While we will adhere to the writing standards involving pre-writing strategies, drafts and editing, it is my hope that the exercise with the background of the unit, will either unlock a talent or love of writing or at the very least convince the students that they can indeed write a coherent and thought provoking passage with higher level literary devices. Tell me a story.
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