Path
Which way did he go? Which way did she go?
This section represents the discovery of identity through the journey of experience. Future goals and past accomplishments should be included in the students' design for this final segment. Creation myths and American Indian legends will provide the universal basis for our own stories. A search for traditional themes in storytelling and plot & character analysis will function as tools. Students will compose from a real life event, a current and personal parable to be presented in an open format that has been approved on an individual basis. Students may choose to complete representational or objects for use in their ceremonies, such as storytelling Cochiti dolls, temporary sand paintings, or to present their stories through a choreographed performance/presentation.
A mentor of mine once said, "Once you have survived childhood, you have the material to write a book." We all have our stories, this is true, and the lessons we have or have not learned from our encounters in life. Each anecdote is a glimpse into our experience and our particular perspectives and can illustrate resounding and repeating themes that communicate with others. We are shaped by our experiences and the retelling of our stories promotes a desire to share information about ourselves, but to also validate our experience and to include others in the conditions of our realities. Stories are lessons about behaviors. Common experience makes our messages valuable to others. In this value system, motivation for relating our stories may lie in hope that others will gain some knowledge in preparation for similar situations, allowing for enlightened decisions when the proper time arises. Our own needs for self-preservation are an important motive for telling about ourselves. Personal asides and unique points of view reveal identifying characteristics of our personalities and when shared, allow others to assimilate our voices and our ways to more people when retold. A longevity is granted by this process of relating these parables to the author and provides a basis for a strong oral tradition of learning. People seem to have an inherent need for stories that matches the need for sharing. Stories of others entertain and teach us, providing a road map of sorts, which can serve as a guide in our own lives.
Native American peoples carry a strong oral tradition, as do members of African American communities. In both cases, tutelage occurs that is beneficial for the recipient and serves as a compunction or duty of the storyteller, usually an elder, in each society. In most cases, the oral tradition serves as the only access to these bits of personal wisdom and to the history of family and community.
In this section of the unit, students transform personal stories into presentations designed to inform and entertain. An exploration of materials which link Indian wisdom to the natural world will be a bridge to understanding and allow methods those students can use in the relation of their own stories. Sensitive to the reading of Native American animal stories, a resource for this section of the unit, I have just heard the repeated hooting of an owl, four distinct calls over the din of construction equipment in high gear, indicating that I may be on the right track.
Creating objects for this section inspired by Native items such as effigies or Cochiti storyteller figures provides a physical vehicle whereby students can relay their history in three dimensions. Content clues of the sculptural pieces should inform, as a narrator would, giving a special significance to the creation of storytelling things. Students may wish to compose original lyrics or music, tell their stories through symbols, Indian hand gestures, or by other individually conceived methods. It will be important to develop ideas as sketches and as workable plans that can be reviewed by the teacher as the process unfolds. The final performance should be dynamic and informative, with students offering their stories in the tradition of learning and as a method of their own longevity. A guide, or written description of the personal story should accompany the presentations.
Studying the ceremonial practices of the American Indian can be a little elusive. Many rites are reserved as a manner of sacred practice, and may not be suitable for repetition in the non-Indian setting. I propose that students complete a cursory examination of how Native practices celebrate community and the natural world and respond on this level. Mere copying of traditional sources may undermine the creation of new ceremonial regalia by the individual student.
For students attending a neighborhood school in Richmond, Virginia, art is a class where you make something. All students wonder, seated in art or other classes, how their time spent in those classes will really apply to their life experiences. "How is this going to help me?" and, "What's this got to do with me?" are questions directly posed and read in the facial expressions of some, and the body language of others. Providing art projects that require personal introspection, connection to the community and offering closure through an opportunity to present ideas, promotes the milieu for creating meaningful and relevant artworks—directly and indirectly giving an answer to those questions.
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