SUGGESTED LEARNING EXPERIENCES BASED ON VISUAL ARTS, THEATRE ARTS, AND LANGUAGE ARTS STRANDS FROM THE SUNSHINE STATE STANDARDS AND INCORPORATING SUGGESTIONS FOR MUSIC EXPERIENCES
CREATION AND COMMUNICATION Objectives To understand the function of folktales To identify ways artists can research information to assist them in creating their work To use different visual art and theatre processes that are effective in communicating ideas To analyze the artistic processes used by the illustrator LEARNING EXPERIENCES Function of Folktales Discuss the function of folktales. What different kinds of purposes do they serve? Discuss why some stories survive and are told over and over again, while others are lost. What is it that makes a story last from generation to generation? Write a folktale with a moral. Why The Rabbit Is Wild Today has a moral about lying and The Cucarachita Martinez has a moral about not listening to directions. What other ways can you tell a story that makes the point that lying or ignoring instructions has consequences? Historical Accuracy Look at Kitty Kitson Petterson's illustrations for Why The Rabbit Is Wild Today and identify aspects of Seminole culture, such as dress and architecture. Do research to determine how accurately these elements are depicted. Research cultures represented in the tales, which include: Seminoles, Crackers, African- Americans, and Haitians. Use books, the Internet, and museums. How else can you gain this information? Research how the U.S. mail was delivered in the 1880s. Compare what you find out with how Acrefoot Johnson delivers the mail. Storytelling Have a tall tale-telling contest. The first line of every tale should begin My first day of school Each storyteller should try to tell a story that has more exaggeration than that in the previous story. Tell a story about the most wonderful place you can imagine. Diddy-Wah-Diddy was one such wonderful place. Tell a story about the most exciting race you ever watched. What kind of race was it? Who was competing? What were the exciting moments of the race? Was there anything surprising that happened? What was the conclusion of the race? After you tell your story, read Acrefoot Johnson. How does it compare to your tale? Relate a story about the community in which you live that will give someone a picture of what your city or town is like. Is there a special festival or event that takes place there that is unique? Is your community known for something special? Is there a special place that everyone likes to go? Use dialogue to dramatize a story written in the third person, predicting the language, thoughts, and feelings of the characters. Tell the story of The Alligator and the Eagle through dance. Listen to the recording of Acrefoot Johnson, created and performed by Will McLean (available at www.faae.org). Compare and contrast the two ways, printed and sung, in which the story is shared. Discuss the effect of the music (e.g. tempo, instrumental accompaniment, style) on the story.
Sing songs that tell stories. Ballads such as Frog Went A Courtin, The Fox, Clementine, Don Gato, and Old Joe Clark are some songs to consider. Work with the music teacher to turn one of the tales into a song. Think about how the repetition of words and phrases could be recurring musical themes in a song. Analysis of Illustrations Discuss why Petterson s illustrations in Uncle Monday and Other Florida Tales are done in black and white. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this technique? Look at Petterson's illustrations for Why The Rabbit Is Wild Today and The Cucarachita Martinez for evidence of human-like qualities in animals (called personification). How does the artist create human qualities? What props does Petterson give the animals? Look at the animals faces. How are they different from the way a real animal would look? What about the bodies? How are the animals different from cartoons? Identify artists other than Petterson who use personification in illustrating a story. Use books in your school library, the Internet, or other sources. Assume the role of an art critic and write a column on one of the illustrations in the book. Many good art critics first describe the work, then analyze, interpret, and judge the work. Making Art Animate a variety of foods in a similar way to what Petterson did in Diddy-Wah-Diddy. Create a drawing of an animal with which you are familiar and make it more human-like. What props can you give the animal? Will the animal interact with another animal or a human? Describe the emotion on the faces of each character in the illustrations for Why The Rabbit Is Wild Today, The Little Boy and the Ayayay, My First Job, and Diddy-Wah- Diddy. Draw a character that expresses one of these emotions. Create an illustration with an interesting setting and characters, and then write a story that explains your illustration. Applications to Life Imagine that you are going to illustrate a book that someone else has written. Make a list of what you will need to do to create good illustrations for the book. Imagine that you have the opportunity to videotape a storyteller telling one of the stories in this book. Make a list of what you will need to do to create a good videotape of the storyteller.
WRITING OBJECTIVE To use varied writing techniques to communicate ideas and information LEARNING EXPERIENCES Communicating Information Look at the illustration and title of a tale before reading it. Predict what the story will be about, writing down your ideas. Read the story. After reading the story, compare what you wrote with what actually happened in the story. Report on the story as a journalist would, writing a paragraph that answers who was involved, what happened in the story, when, where, and why it happened. Create a character map. Select an illustration of a character from any of the tales and write notes around the picture that describe what the character is like. Use the notes to write a descriptive paragraph about the selected character. Make a cause-and-effect chart for one of the stories. Take notes from a story using columns with different headings that include cause and effect, main ideas, supporting details, problem/solution, or What I Learned and Connections I Made. Write a tale that explains the origin of something. For example, the Seminole tale, Why The Rabbit Is Wild Today, is called a fable. It explains why the rabbit is wild instead of living with people. Make up a tale that explains why something is the way it is. Become a journal partner with another classmate. In a journal, extend the story or write a new ending, and share your thoughts with your partner. Then reply to your partner, writing a new response to the partner s observations. Compare and Contrast Read Aesop s The Tortoise and the Hare and compare it with Acrefoot Johnson. Use a Venn diagram to show similarities and differences. Recast any of the tales into a modern-day version that relates to student life while keeping the theme true to the original. Change a tale from the third-person perspective to the first-person perspective. For example, a narrator tells the tale of The Alligator and the Eagle. Change the tale so that either the alligator or the eagle tells the story. Writing Activities Rewrite a tale, turning it into a play that can be performed in class. Change the ending of one of the tales. For example, how would Why The Rabbit Is Wild Today change if the rabbit told the truth? Re-write a tale changing the point of view. For example, if you re-wrote Diddy-Wah- Diddy with women as the central characters, how would the tale change? If The Cucarachita Martinez were told from the point of view of the mouse, what would change? Re-write a tale by changing the location of the tale. For example, how would the narrative change if Acrefoot Johnson took place in the Everglades instead of Ft. Ogden? To help you envision the changes, illustrate the setting for the story before you write. Research the background, time, and place of a particular tale and write a paper about what you discovered. Document your sources. Look at the story from different perspectives by creating a R.A.F.T. (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) and writing from it (see suggestions below).
R.A.F.T. TOPICS TABLE Tale R. (Role) A. (Audience) F. (Format) T. (Topic) Why The Rabbit Is Wild Today Wife of the rabbit Herself Journal Rabbit is not bringing home any food Th e Alligator and the Eagle Alligator His mother Letter How he was attacked by an eagle Acrefoot Johnson Postal worker Postal customers Dialogue Watching Acrefoot Johnson waiting on steps for Ziba King The Little Boy and the Ayayay Old woman who helped the boy get ayayay Merchants in marketplace Story How mean the aunt was to the little boy The Cucarachita Martinez Mr. Dog The family of Little Mouse Perez Poem Sadness at the death of Little Mouse Perez My First Job Chuck Future employer Cover letter Job qualifications Diddy-Wah- Diddy Cartographer Supervisor Field report Description of place he wants to put on a map