Lesson Overview:

This lesson will challenge students to create expressive movements inspired by traditional Native American chants and poetry. Background information on Native American tribes and their music and oral traditions will precede the reading of the chants and the creation of movement.

Length of Lesson:

Two 45-minute periods

Notes:

This lesson is particularly suitable for grades 3-4.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• identify on a map of the United States the location of several Native American nations.
• recognize Native American poetry and chants as a vehicle of cultural expression.
• read for literary experience several Native American poems from different regions of the United States.
• identify and analyze components of Native American poetry.
• create and perform a dance from the concepts of a Native American poem expressing feelings and emotions through movement.

Instructional Plan:

Warm Up

Have one student talk briefly about a peaceful experience he or she had in nature — for example, a swim in the ocean or a walk in the woods. When the student is finished, have another student tell the same story using descriptive words that communicate the beauty and peacefulness of the experience. Next, have a third student create a poem or chant that distills the previously described experience. An example of the above scenario might unfold as follows:

A student speaks about a time when he was swimming in the ocean with his brother, and they saw a school of dolphins leaping in and out of the water.

Using descriptive words, another student relates the same event in this way.

My brother and I were swimming in the cold ocean on a hot summer day. To the delight of our eyes, we saw shining black dolphins leaping as if dancing in and out of the rolling ocean.

A third student distills the story in a poetic version:

Swimming in the cold ocean
Hot shines the sun
I see shining black dolphins, leaping waves in rhythm
My heart rejoices
My sorrow undone
Shining black dolphins leaping waves in the sun

Repeat the above exercise a few more times.

Developmental Activity

Using a map of the United States, identify Native American nation areas. Discuss the climate, terrain, and specific lifestyles of the Native Americans who live in these areas, and present poems and chants from different regions. If necessary, obtain information from online Native American resources. Distribute to students the Native American Poetry Checklist. Have the class read the Native American Chants handout, with excerpts from Chants and Prayers by Stan Padilla.

Procedural Knowledge

Using the Native American Poetry Checklist, have students identify the components that are found in each poem. This activity can be done in cooperative groups, using graphic organizers for the development of critical thinking skills.

Guided Activity

Part 1: Explain to students that they will be creating a dance study that derives its movement from their interpretation of a Native American poem. To further clarify the task, choose or let the class choose a poem they think leads itself well to movement expression. After selecting a poem, ask students to suggest a movement that would complement a line of the poem. Let different students interpret each line until the poem is completed.

Part 2: Divide the class into groups of two to four students. Let each group choose a poem that they would like to interpret in dance form. Review various approaches through which students can create their dance study.

Various Ways to Work with the Poems:

• Perform the dance movement after the line is read.
• Perform the dance movement while the line is being read.
• Perform the dance movement after two lines have been read or after an idea is completed.
• Perform the dance study before the entire poem is read.
• Perform the dance study after the entire poem is read.
• Someone in the group can read the poem while the others dance.
• Students can decide how, who, and when the lines of the poem are read.

Independent Activity

Students must choreograph a dance study to the Native American poem of their choice. Students are to work as a group on the same piece of literature, making decisions about how the dance will be presented in relationship to the poem. The dance study must have a clear beginning and ending and should be repeatable. The study should include creative or original movement, and the students should stay focused throughout the task, performing with full commitment and energy.

Assessment:

See the suggested Assessment Rubric for use as a performance-based scoring tool.

Extensions:

Students may write and perform their own poems and dances. Have students compose original poems according to the criteria presented in relation to the Native American poems.

Sources:

Print:

• Jones, Hettie. The Trees Stand Shining. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1993.
• Padilla, Stan. Chants and Prayers. Summertown, TN: The Book Publishing Company, 1996.

Authors:

• Carol Tester, Teacher
  Thomas Pullen Arts Magnet School
  Hughesville, MD