Rationale and Content
The purpose of a folktale is to entertain as well as to enlighten. Folktales present the version of traditional stories whose tellers express the richness of a heritage with their distinctive voices. For no single voice can communicate a cultural heritage as deep and broad as North America with its diverse regions, languages, and dialects.2 Through this unit I intend to bring in this rich heritage into my classroom by including the art, history, and value, from the diverse culture groups, not just limited to the California tribes.
Native American culture is deeply rooted in their natural environment. Their stories harness the power of the nature to teach us meaningful life lessons. These values are depicted through their stories and art forms portrayed through symbols or characters taken from nature, such as Coyote, Raven, Eagle, constellations and so on. The most popular characters portrayed in these folktales are the tricksters. Nature brings the animal characters portrayed as tricksters and their traits together. These characters through stories, art, and performances teach us morals through the choices they make and their points of view. These are the two Common Core Standards that the unit will focus on. In Trickster, students will be able to explore a variety of legends from diverse regions where characters present their unique wisdom and points of view. The points of view can be distinguished between the trickster (the protagonist) and the other characters.
The book beautifully combines image and text to bring about the lessons from nature depicted by the tricksters as they personify human traits. Because these stories were mainly a part of an oral tradition, Matt Dembicki, the editor of Trickster realized that there was a need for a book that was accessible to both children and adults in which Native American artists could bring together art and stories. He was struck by two things: how great the tales would be in a sequential art format, and how such a project will require Native American storytellers and artists to write their own stories based on their tribe’s trickster tales to maintain authenticity.”3 Native American writers who initially were not keen on working with him for the fear of misrepresentation and stereotyping their culture joined hands with him when they realized his intentions were not to “westernize the stories,” but to provide a resource to the readers to learn about “the original people of this land and to foster a greater appreciation and understanding among all inhabitants.”4
The characters are used in different contexts in the different folktales. In the Native American context, these animals are not intended to portray animals at all. They personify First People, who lived before humans existed. They had powers as they created the world, they instituted human life and culture,5 they made decisions, and their choices affected events such as the way the world was formed or the way a problem was solved. Many characters were portrayed as tricksters in the Native North American cultures—Raven and Bluejay in the Pacific Northwest, Spider in the northern Plains, and Hare in the Southeast—but Coyote is the trickster “par excellence for the largest number of American Indian cultures.”6 Trickster will introduce students to a variety of characters such as Raven, Bluejay, Owl, or even a human being, to name a few, but Coyote is the main inspiration for creating this unit.
“But, why Coyote?”7 Coyote, the most popular trickster in the legends might personify a character that exhibits intellect, clever thinking and logic. The word coyote was borrowed by the Spanish-speaking Mexicans from the Aztec word coyotl. These animals, scientifically known as canis latrans were at one time only found in the prairies and the deserts in the western USA and Mexico,8 and were called prairie wolves, 9 but today they can be found anywhere in North America. They easily adapt to their surroundings, as they can thrive on small animals like mice, voles, or even lizards, and if there is a lack of these, they can even eat garbage. Coyotes can kill calves or lambs on people’s ranches or farms, and come across as wily and clever.10 As the folktales are influenced by nature, these physical characteristics lend the Coyote with a rather notorious reputation as we can see in Warner Brothers character, Wile E. Coyote.
Coyote stories range over a wide geographical area, from Canada to Guatemala and from Pacific Ocean to the Great Plains, but the role of the coyote greatly varies through these regions. It can range from a mythical character and a creator, such as Old Man Coyote in the northwest and California, where he is regarded as one of the First People, which is evident in the Chumash culture, to a more modern trickster in the southwest.11
The word “trickster” might imply, negatively, that the character will always trick others. Sometimes he can be wise, and other times he can appear to be foolish;12 but is always present creating the way the world works, and/or teaching us lessons that he himself learns sometimes quite accidently. For example, in the story Coyote and the Pebbles, Coyote misunderstands the directions of the night people to draw a portrait for more light, and ends up making a mistake in his eagerness. In his frustration, he scatters the pebbles, resulting in the creation of stars.13 Often tricksters learn lessons through their actions. For example, in the story Horned Toad Lady and the Coyote, Coyote was too impatient in his desire to learn the song from the Horned Toad, and ends up eating her, but as a result he realizes “that only if [he] had been nicer, she would have sung her song,” which were his last words as the Horned Toad Lady used her “sharp horned body” to get out of Coyote’s body. This teaches us the lesson that what is not ours cannot be taken by force and violence might end up hurting us in the process.14
These stories will enable my students to not only learn the complex plot structures of a story, but also infer the meaning through the use of voice, personification, and points of view of the characters who make their decisions, and suffer a consequence of their actions or inactions.
In this unit, students are not just working with a text; they are working with images as well, which play an important role in comprehending the plot. As the students read the stories, they will look at the images intently, the initial picture walk will help the students make better sense of the plot, the sequence of the events, the characters, and how their choices affect these events. In the story Coyote and the Pebbles, Coyote “runs to the left and then to the right,” until he trips and falls, which is beautifully portrayed in the series of panels where readers can see the action almost in motion.
Point of view sets the tone of the story. It usually is a challenge for students to distinguish between different points of view, but Trickster’s comic format acts as a visual tool for the students to comprehend the tricky plot of the stories and also to distinguish the different points of view. The image and text combination gives the images in the story a linear structure that provides a depth to the plot. Pictures can express what words alone cannot. Through these graphics students can visualize a character’s point of view better than only through words. In Coyote and the Pebbles the night creatures are asked by the “Great Mystery” to gather pebbles and make a portrait out of them in the sky for light. Coyote is flummoxed by the decision made by the “night people.” In his perspective, he is the better artist, apt for the job of creating a night portrait to bring light, and in his hurry to prove his expertise, he loses his balance and his pebbles. His emotion can be better understood by dramatizing the story. Students are able to experience a story from the perspective of the characters as they speak their parts. This also allows the students to have their own perspective on the situations in the stories. They are able to distinguish their points of view based on the evidence in the text about the point of view presented by the character or the narrator. Students might argue about whether they think that Coyote was right in thinking that others were selfish, whether he should have watched where he was going, and how the story would have changed if he had not made a mistake.
Ohlone
This unit is integrated through social studies and art. The social studies standards focus on the California Native American groups, especially the Ohlone, who are the coastal tribe indigenous to San Jose. Diverse indigenous culture groups in California were local to the four geographical regions of the state: mountain region, the central valley, coastal, and the desert region. The Ohlone told stories orally, mostly in the form of dance. These stories were about creation, the celebration of important events, and prayer to the Spirits. Other art forms from Ohlone culture include baskets and jewelry made of abalone shells.
Unfortunately, with the arrival of the Missionaries, they were forced to convert to Christianity. The Ohlone people preferred to hide rather than be converted. In this process, the indigenous population suffered disease and cruel hardships, and their population drastically decreased.15 The anthropologist Alfred Kroeber, in the 1970s, declared the group extinct. In the 1990s, however, the Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen nation from Monterey submitted a letter of intent to declare that they still existed.16
At present, people from the Ohlone culture are coming together to revive their heritage and to educate people about their history and culture. It’s a process of healing as Charlene Sul mentions in her interview: people are survivors of their history and now they are helping one another heal.17 To use the words of the Great Mystery, from the story Coyote and the Pebbles, “We cannot change what has happened, healing can happen. By looking at what happened yesterday and its consequences, one can change tomorrow.”18
There aren’t enough resources appropriate for third grade level from Ohlone culture that combines the texts and images to narrate their stories, as their stories were mostly narrated through dances. I would begin this unit by showing a variety of art and images including photographs that represent the Ohlone culture, but also storytelling, and history of various culture groups, such as the Coyote dances from the California Indian groups. In this way I hope to pique the interest of my students in the history as well as impart rigor in the curriculum as it integrates social studies. I want to expose my students to the stories of Native American culture. I want my students to be able to compare and contrast the character of Coyote as he appears in the stories as well as the art from these cultural groups.
Art
Art has been used as a form of expression for hundreds of years. Just like Native stories, Native art is rooted in culture and their environment. According to David W. Penny, Art can be considered a visual language that is “at once personal and cultural [that] can release the power of universe through symbol and metaphor.”19
Native art, including clothing, jewelry, blankets, and rugs, masks, totem poles, baskets and bowls, is “painted, carved, sewn, woven, or built, and can incorporate such materials as feathers, porcupine quills, tree bark, animal skins, and hair, and wood.” 20 Today some Native American artists produce mainstream contemporary art- paintings on canvas, photographs, and performance art.21 Art can be considered the first language of people, from ancient rock painting to medieval manuscripts and tapestries to the modern comic strips. These all are genres that essentially narrate a story, taking the form of what Mitchell calls an image-text.22
Trickster serves as a vehicle for conserving these stories in a visual and written form. Stories are best comprehended when we can visualize and bring them alive in our mind’s eye. The images set the characters and setting of a story in motion, while the words and dialogues aid the images and lend voice to the characters. Therefore, the graphic collection of the trickster stories provides a visual imagery to the characters’ choices as they personify human traits. For example on page eight, the students “see” the trickster transform into its human form,23 they can visualize that the trickster is showing human characteristics, it symbolizes the personality of an eager person. In the Horned Toad Lady and the Coyote, the characters are shown to wear clothes that symbolize human traits.
As an entry point for this unit, I will use a variety of photographs of art that represents different tricksters. Though this unit focuses only on the Coyote, I still want to introduce the students to other popular symbols from the different Native American culture groups, such as Bluejay, Hummingbird, Eagle, regalia of the dancers, and baskets and other art. They will view dances from several California regions, and images of Coyote from other Native American cultures. Then they will be able to compare them to the images in the book, Trickster.
Students will analyze the illustrations in the graphic narratives to see how Coyote is represented in these stories. In the story Coyote and the Pebbles, Coyote scattered the “pebbles” and created the “stars,” whereas in the story, Horned Toad Lady and the Coyote, he appears as the Old Man Coyote but learns a lesson himself.
Graphic Narrative
Medieval tapestries and ancient rock paintings told a story that flowed usually in a sequence, they can be argued to be the first comic strips as they had the characters that told the stories. The scenes on these art forms seem to move in time and space combining the images and sometimes captions to tell a story. My idea of using a comic book was inspired by the Medieval Bayeux Tapestry’s comic version for children. The original tapestry visually narrates the story of the Norman Conquest. The comic version of the Tapestry has taken a “comic” form for children. Trickster is a collection of short stories written in a graphic or a comic format. Because they are short, they cannot be considered a graphic novel, so I will refer to them as “graphic narratives.” This book is visual treat with the authentic Native American art in the form of symbols, colors, characterization, which when combined with the text is a store of information not just for the lessons but also the culture and history of the indigenous people.
My third graders are mostly English language learners and to them, “Everything’s better with pictures” (this is a favorite line of my one of my students). They have a keen interest in reading comics or graphic novels. I have heard people exclaim, “But comics are not serious books!” My argument against that position is that images lend the text a graphic quality that can resemble a play. That is to say, when we read a comic book it seems like we are reading a play but at the same time, we could be “watching” it, because images and dialogues together lend characters an expression. This expression makes it easier for the students to visualize their points of view – through the characters’ facial expressions and through their dialogues or interjections. Images play an important role in helping readers, especially English Learners, to comprehend complex text. These help young readers visualize the information and help foster their imagination. There is a reason graphic narrative or comics are becoming increasingly popular in the classroom, as they combine the image and the text, making the stories seem more vivid.
There has been a reticence to formally teach “comics” as a genre of literature. It is fair to mention that graphic narratives are newer phenomena in the classroom as many teachers have not taught this genre explicitly in primary grades or have seen it modeled. Also, people often assume that comics such as Spiderman or Superman have no serious content, but Spiegelman defied that idea with his comic, Maus. This comic proved to the readers that, “simple style doesn’t necessitate simple story.”24
The comic is gaining popularity with the readers of all age groups. The combination of image and text engages the audience, because the readers can identify with the characters.25 They get involved with the characters’ choices that allow them to form their own perspective. They feel happy or sad for the character. In the story Coyote and the Horn Toad Lady, the reader knows that the Coyote had it coming to him, that he learned a lesson, but the reader might feel sorry for the character: he might have had another chance to think about his folly.
Comics or graphic narratives have been enjoyed by young and old over the years, as the combination of the two media lends depth to a story, almost giving it a three-dimensional structure. As the images are spatial and the text is temporal,26 “as each panel of a comic shows a single moment in time [in between] which our minds fill the intervening moments creating an illusion of time and space.”27 Comics combine the images and texts in such a way that each image is matched to the words as well as set in time. This makes the plot seem to move through time and space, with almost a film-like motion. Students can visualize this sequence through the panels of Trickster, as if it were a movie or a play.
The image-text combination can show more emotion than when there are only images or text. The parts of the comic including the panels and the speech bubbles contribute to the story and the content, making it visual for the students to comprehend and infer the events. A long panel might mean a long pause, many consequent panels with the image moving its angle would show that the character is moving in time. The square comment box is what the narrator is saying in the story, while a speech bubble that has a starry shape might lend an urgent voice to the character. In the Coyote and the Pebbles, the starry speech bubble in the sky has an authoritative voice, “What is it that you need?” This bubble is not repeated for other characters. The speech bubbles and the lines lend an emotion to the character’s voice making it more realistic to the reader.
The graphic narratives also simplify the concept of voice and point of view as the image and text are juxtaposed. The voice of the remorseful Coyote after he swallows the Horned Toad Lady is apologetic as compared to when he was impatiently asking her to teach him the song.
The sequence of the graphic narratives flows in a certain order, usually from left to right and/or from top to bottom. Thus this genre can serve both as a challenge and a tool. It can help the students make inferences about the plot lines without giving up because the text is too hard.
In the classroom I have observed that these stories offer an adequate challenge for stronger readers to be able to infer the meaning based upon both the image as well as the text and delve deeper into the “personality” of the character as portrayed. Additionally, they serve as a scaffold for English Learners as the images, dialogue bubbles, and a continuous flow makes the complex plot structure and a rigorous text accessible to the English Learners and struggling readers.
Together with the photographs of a real coyote and the art representation of Coyote from the Native American culture, this unit will provide students an intriguing opportunity to integrate art and literature by creating their own unique legends and representing their ideas on a storyboard. By exploring Native Art and the visual performances of storytelling, students will truly be enriched by the history and culture of the Native American groups and also learn the moral values that now would pass down to them. Some images that I am planning to use in my classroom would be the Coyote in the wild,28 Navajo Creation Story,29 Coyote as a Trickster,30 and Coyote portrayed as First People.31
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