ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS: Literacy Connections and Making Meaning

Presented by Deborah Adero Ferguson

At the Mississippi Arts Commission 2010 Whole Schools Summer Institute “Bringing Heritage Home” Mississippi State University Meridian, Mississippi July 18 – 22, 2010

Ferguson – Island of the Blue Dolphins / 2010 Whole Schools Institute Page 1 of 8 The info-session: Island of the Blue Dolphins: Literacy Connections and Making Meaning is an instructional resource for junior and senior high school and special education teachers. It uniquely combines literacy and the visual arts into all curriculum areas by using the language and vocabulary found within the juvenile work of fiction The Island of the Blue Dolphins. Participants will go through the process of creating a literacy collage and mural of original poetry and visual art images that can inspire the development of improvised creative movement, drama and music activities. These arts encounters will translate into curriculum lessons of language arts, reading, science, math, social studies and character development. There is also the underlying premise that all students can learn and, regardless of ability and age, should be treated with dignity and respect. This unit is designed to provide lessons that give students of all abilities opportunities to participate successfully in the arts and classroom learning. The lessons focus on what young people can do, rather than on what they cannot do and provides educators with ideas for modifying the environment, adapting materials and developing appropriate teaching strategies with a focus on literacy.

Ferguson – Island of the Blue Dolphins / 2010 Whole Schools Institute Page 2 of 8 Presenter background

DEBORAH ADERO FERGUSON THE DANCING STORY LADY 15274 Daugherty Road FOLEY, ALABAMA 36535 (251) 970-2188 Email: [email protected] Website: www.SouthernArtistry.org_deborahferguson

Deborah Adero Ferguson, the Dancing Story Lady, is a native of Chicago, Illinois, and a professional actress, dancer, storyteller and arts educator with over twenty five years of experience in the performing arts. She has studied traditional dance, storytelling and music in the African countries of Kenya, Senegal, Gambia and the Ivory Coast through grants awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts. She has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C.; the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee; the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia; the National Black Storytelling Festivals and at schools, universities, theatres and festivals nationwide. She is also a writer and playwright and the national artistic director of the Nubian Theatre Company based in Memphis, Tennessee. She has received numerous writing awards and her poetry, and short stories have been published nationally. “These People Can Fly” Ferguson’s original adaptation of Virginia Hamilton’s award-winning story was produced by the University of California Theatre Arts Department in conjunction with the African American Theatre Arts Troupe with a run in Santa Cruz and Seaside during the months of February and March, 2010.

An arts educator for two decades, Deborah Ferguson has worked nationally with students of all ages and abilities through arts in education programs funded by state arts councils. She has an impressive track record as a trainer in developing arts based and arts integrated curriculums. She is a field advisor and faculty member of the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Whole Schools Summer Institute and is a collaborating and touring artist for the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts

Deborah Adero Ferguson holds a Bachelors Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and Masters Degree in English: Creative Writing from the University of South Alabama. She is currently an English teacher at the University of South Alabama. A grandmother, she lives with her husband, Joseph, in Foley, Alabama.

Ferguson – Island of the Blue Dolphins / 2010 Whole Schools Institute Page 3 of 8 ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHIN: Visual and Literary Arts

Target Grades: 7-12

Materials needed:  The books Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell; Dove by Robin Lee Graham with Derek L.T. Gill; Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings; Megamurals & Supergraphics = Big Art by Environmental Communications; created and edited by David Greenberg, Kathryn Smith and Stuart Teacher; Walls of Heritage, Walls of Pride African American Murals by James Prigoff and Robin J. Dunitz; Street Murals by Volker Barthelmeh; Toward A People’s Art: The Contemporary Mural Movement by Eva Cockcroft, John Weber and James Cockcroft; dictionary and thesaurus.  Audiotape or CD player,  CD or cassette tapes of ocean sounds, water music,

 Pictures of underwater sea life, pictures of murals (if available),

 large strip of blue mural paper,

 construction paper, tissue paper (various colors), scrap paper box,

 glue, objects for stamping (spools, Styrofoam pieces, strips of corrugated cardboard), tracing patterns for ocean life,

 small shells and rocks (optional),

 yarn, raffia, felt, fabric scraps

 thick tempera paint, aluminum pie tins or heavy duty paper plates for the paint, white drawing paper, crayons, markers, scissors,

 Easel pad and writing paper and pencils.

Mississippi Language Arts Competencies and Objectives:

1. The student will use word recognition and vocabulary (word meaning) skills to communicate.

a. The student will apply knowledge of roots and affixes to infer meaning of unfamiliar words in novel texts. (DOK 2)

Ferguson – Island of the Blue Dolphins / 2010 Whole Schools Institute Page 4 of 8 b. The student will analyze word choice and diction, including formal and informal language, to determine the author’s purpose. (DOK 3) c. The student will apply knowledge of synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms to evaluate word choices in a variety of texts. (DOK 3) d. The student will analyze text(s) to determine how the author’s (or authors’) use of connotative words reveals and/or affects the purpose of the texts(s) in relation to the historical period that the text(s) addresses. (DOK 3) e. The student will analyze figurative language in multiple texts to evaluate the effect on setting, tone, theme, and mood. (DOK 3)

Mississippi Science Framework

Content Strands: Life Science

Investigate and evaluate the interaction between living organisms and their environments.  Compare and contrast the characteristics of the world’s major biomes. (DOK 2)  Provide examples to justify the interdependence among environmental elements. (DOK 2)

Mississippi Visual Arts Benchmark Goal 1: Students will communicate ideas and feelings by creating and performing works of art through the visual arts.

Content Strand: Creating/Performing (CP)

Benchmark: Know that the use of various media, techniques, and processes results in different effects in works of art.

Objective: To create a mixed media mural

Learning Objectives:  Identify plant and animal species found on a Pacific island  Demonstrate knowledge of poetic forms  Express thoughts and ideas about surviving on an island  Recognize the plant and sea life that exists underwater.  Build vocabulary related to murals and life underwater.  Use markers, glue, paint, collage materials, stamping techniques.  Create an island and ocean scene.

Essential Question: How can we create visual art from literature?

Preparation:  Assemble helpers (teacher assistant, student assistant and/or family member )  Hang blue mural paper on wall, or spread it on floor or long table.  Set up a stamping area: cover a table with newspaper

Ferguson – Island of the Blue Dolphins / 2010 Whole Schools Institute Page 5 of 8  Pour a small amount of thick tempera paint into pie pans.  Set up spools, Styrofoam pieces, strips of corrugated cardboard, small shells/rocks on a tray or in a shallow box  Have brushes and paper towels handy  Assemble tracing patterns and cut outs of fish and underwater sea creatures  Have books about poetry and murals available for reading and discussion  Write “The Island of the Blue Dolphin” on the top page of the easel pad as a title  Books about the ocean and the poetry book “A Kick in the Head”  CD player and CD’s of ocean sounds and music, to be played while assembling the mural and composing the poem

Including all Students: Teach students the American Sign Language signs for “fish” and “water,” and use these signs during the activity.

For students with visual disabilities, use art materials and methods that give the mural a relief textured surface. Instead of mural paper, use foam core or heavy cardboard from the side of a large cardboard box.

Have an auditory tape of ideas and directions to accompany the lesson.

Have students incorporate a variety of found objects, such as grass, leaves, small stones, gravel or sand, crumpled and/or folded paper, into their murals.

For children with cognitive disabilities, emphasize the concepts of big/little, plants/animals, water/land when describing the mural.

Prior Knowledge: Discuss the book Island of the Blue Dolphins. Direct student attention. Why does the book have the title “The Island of the Blue Dolphin?” Who and what are the characters found in the story? What happened to them? What environment does the story take place in? What kind of weather is found there? Have students describe the island. What kinds of plant and animal life are found on the island? List their answers on the easel pad. Ask students if they were marooned on a deserted island in the Pacific what kinds of things would they need to forage for survival? Include their answers on the easel pad. Encourage students to talk about their experiences with life underwater. Some students will have firsthand knowledge, and others will know about underwater life from books and the media. Have students describe the ocean? What do you think it is like underwater? How do fish get food? Do they sleep? Do they communicate? How do they breathe? What other kinds of life can be found underwater? What about plants? Do you think there will be sand, rocks, or shells underwater? Show pictures of underwater sea life. Have students identify the life-forms and list them on an easel pad.

 Vocabulary: Underwater, ocean, fish, plants, rocks, shells, dolphin, whale, shark, octopus, seaweed, stingray, seahorse, jellyfish, sand, mural, collage, multi-media, art, Aleut, biome, island, ocean, schooner, survival, forage, Pacific, cormorant, Alaska

Ferguson – Island of the Blue Dolphins / 2010 Whole Schools Institute Page 6 of 8 Procedure: Part A Plan to complete this lesson over several class periods. Introduce the poetic form of Haiku by reading an example from the book A Kick in the Head… by Paul C. Janeczko and explain that it has seventeen syllables and the words are always about something in nature. Remind the students of the brainstorming that was done earlier with the book “The Island of the Blue Dolphins” and tell them how the identified words are going to be made into a haiku. Using the created lists and with the student’s help compose a haiku using words from the easel pad and other vocabulary words. Explain that the poem must have seventeen syllables in three lines with five syllables on the first line, seven syllables on the second line, and five syllables on the third line. Compose the poem on the easel pad or chalkboard. Tell students the poem will be placed in various places on the “Island of the Blue Dolphins” multi-media mural to be created at a later date. (Option: each student or student groups can create their own haiku to place on the mural.)

Part B Introduce a mural as a large work of art, usually painted on the walls of buildings, both inside and outside. Show pictures of murals if available. Ask if any students have ever seen one. Display a large sheet of blue mural paper and tell students this will be the ocean. Encourage student ideas for creating an island and underwater world scene. Break students into two groups: the island group and the ocean/marine-life group. Have each group brainstorm about the island and the types of fish and other creatures and plants to be created. Provide fish cut-outs and tracing patterns and invite students to draw and cut them out. Color them with markers, paint and crayons and glue them to the mural. Use yarn, raffia, torn paper strips, felt, fabric, etc to create the flora and fauna of the island. Create plants for the ocean floor by tearing paper of various colors and gluing to the mural. Remind students that fish will swim in and around the plants as they are placing their fish and plants on the mural. Use a stamping technique by selecting a stamping tool: spools, Styrofoam, etc. and dipping it into the paint or brushing on the paint. Press it one or two times on a paper towel to get rid of excess paint. Stamp the “inked” object onto the background of the mural (ocean floor and in water). Help students attach their haiku poems to the mural. Invite students to help clean up and then have a class discussion about the experience.

Essential Question: How did we create visual art from literature?

Interpret the experience: Invite students to describe how they made the mural. What choices were made about constructing the island? What choices were made about the ocean construction? What materials were used and how? What was the best part about creating this mural? Are any of the fish or flora and fauna of the island similar? How are they different? Create other questions to help students process the experience

Extending the experience: Have students draw or write about their experience creating the mural. Turn the classroom into an underwater world, expand student’s concept of space: hang fish and plants from the ceiling and display mural on the wall. Create an underwater dictionary by having students’ research marine-life and copy images from the mural into a book, adding illustrations. Document the process: take photographs or videotape the mural making experience.

Ferguson – Island of the Blue Dolphins / 2010 Whole Schools Institute Page 7 of 8 Create acrostic and triolet poems about the ocean and underwater life. Plan a field trip to aquarium, a fish hatchery, the ocean, river or a pond and invite parents or other family members. Use creative movement and create dances about ocean and island life.

Suggested Criteria for Assessment:  Fulfill the task  Cooperate and interact with partner or group  Perform with focus and clarity

Assessment:  Student work  Teacher Observation  Performance

Teachable Moments:

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