HISPANIC AMERICAN GREATS Teacher Guidelines Community
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HISPANIC AMERICAN GREATS Teacher Guidelines Community Partners Hispanic-American Greats Tour History comes alive as Stageworks Theatre teaching artists embody great Hispanic American historical figures. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, civil rights leader Delores Huerta, astronaut Ellen Ochoa, war hero Guy Gabaldon and educator Jaime Escalante are among the characters brought to life in this entertaining and educational show. After the show, students are encouraged to ask questions of the characters or the actors. Fun and informative. Estimated time: 45 minutes. This program is presented as a part of the Arts in Education Program, which is funded and jointly sponsored by the Hillsborough County Public Schools and the Arts Council of Hillsborough County. This program features two professional actors who will perform monologues as six of the following notables of Hispanic American History: Ellen Ochoa, Sonia Sotomayor, Jaime Escalante, Delores Huerta, Guy Gabaldon, Ramon Betances, Marcario Garcia, Loreta Velazquez and Jose Marti. These exceptional individuals struggled to overcome prejudice and racial barriers to excel in their chosen fields: the judiciary (Sotomayor), education (Escalante), science and research (Ochoa), and military (Gabaldon, Garcia, Velasquez), as well as using their talents to influence revolution and advance civil rights (Betances, Huerta, Marti) After the program, there will be a “talk back” during which the audience will have an opportunity to ask questions and share their reactions with the actors. Characters may include: Ramón Emeterio Betances y Alacán (1827 – 1898) was a Puerto Rican nationalist. He was the primary instigator of the Grito de Lares revolution and is considered to be the father of the Puerto Rican independence movement. Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutierrez (1930 – 2010) was a Bolivian educator known for teaching students calculus from 1974 to 1991 at Garfield High School, East Los Angeles, California. Guy Louis Gabaldon (1926 – 2006) was a United States Marine who, at age 18, captured or persuaded to surrender over two thousand Japanese soldiers and civilians during the battles for Saipan and Tinian islands in 1944 during World War II. Marcario García (1920-1972) was the first Mexican immigrant to receive the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military decoration. He received the award for his heroic actions as a soldier during World War II. Dolores Clara Fernández Huerta (1930 — ) is an American labor leader and civil rights activist who was the co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers (UFW). Huerta helped organize the Delano grape strike in 1965 and was the lead negotiator in the workers’ contract that was created after the strike.[ Ellen Ochoa (1958 — ) is an American engineer, former astronaut, and the current Director of the Johnson Space Center. José Julián Martí Pérez (1853 – 1895) was a Cuban national hero and important figure in Latin American literature. During his life, he was a poet, essayist, journalist, revolutionary philosopher, translator, professor, publisher, Freemason and political theorist. Sonia Maria Sotomayor (1954- ) is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 2009. She has the distinction of being its first justice of Hispanic heritage, the first Latina, its third female justice, and its twelfth Roman Catholic justice Loreta Janeta Velázquez (1842 – 1923), was a Cuban-born woman who masqueraded as a male Confederate soldier during the American Civil War. Standards connected to performance: Language Arts: LAFS.K12.S.L.1.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Theater: TH.68.C.2.4 Discuss and defined one’s personal response to a theatre production. TH.68.H.1.2 Analyze the impact of one’s emotions and social experiences when respond to, or participating in a play. Social Studies: SS.8.A.1.6 Compare interpretations of key events and issues throughout American History. Preshow activity Theater Etiquette Activity This is a reflective exercise for your students. Please read the following section and discuss their role as audience at a live performance. • Watching a live show is not like watching TV or a movie. The actors can see and hear you---the audience. How do you think your behavior can affect a performance (for better or worse?) • A live performance experience is more active for the audience. It can require more attention and focus. What sorts of multitasking activities are now common while watching TV that are not appropriate while watching a live show? (Texting, computer, moving around, etc). • A live performance requires that the audience watch and listen quietly. Your talking disturbs not only the actors but other audience members who want to hear the show. What sorts of audience behaviors do you find annoying? (Talking, moving around, eating, talking on cell phones, etc) • This performance will have a “talk back” which will give you, the audience, a chance to ask questions of the actors and share your responses to the show. Just as in a performance, the audience should remain quiet so that everyone can hear both the questions and answers. Think for a moment about how you would like your peers to behave if you have a question or comment. Standards for Theater Etiquette: TH.68.S.1.1. Describe the responsibilities of audience members, to the actors and each other, at live and recorded performances and demonstrate appropriate behavior. TH.68.H.1.5. Describe one’s own personal responses to a theatrical work and show respect for the responses of others. Language arts activity: It is difficult to appreciate the scale of the achievements of these great Americans without some sense of the magnitude of the challenges they faced due to the racial and discrimination as it existed during the era in which they lived. The following is a brief description of several discriminatory situation faces by communities of Latin and Hispanic heritage. These situations can be researched and read aloud for class discussion. • Mendez, et al v. Westminster [sic] School District of Orange County, et al was a 1947 federal court case that challenged Mexican remedial schools in Orange County, California. In its ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in an en banc decision, held that the forced segregation of Mexican American students into separate "Mexican schools" was unconstitutional and unlawful, not because Mexicans were "white," as attorneys for the plaintiffs argued, but because, as US District Court Judge Paul J. McCormick ruled, "The equal protection of the laws pertaining to the public school system in California is not provided by furnishing in separate schools the same technical facilities, textbooks and courses of instruction to children of Mexican ancestry that are available to the other public school children regardless of their ancestry. A paramount requisite in the American system of public education is social equality. It must be open to all children by unified school association regardless of lineage."[1] it was the first ruling in the United States in favor of school desegregation. • The Delano grape strike was a labor strike by the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee and the United Farm Workers against grape growers in California. The strike began on September 8, 1965, and lasted more than five years. Due largely to a consumer boycott of non-union grapes, the strike ended with a significant victory for the United Farm Workers as well as its first contract with the growers. • The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of attacks in June 1943 in Los Angeles, California, United States, by white American servicemen stationed in Southern California against Mexican American youths and other minorities who were residents of the city. White servicemen and civilians attacked and stripped youths who wore zoot suits ostensibly because they considered the outfits to be unpatriotic during wartime, as they had a lot of fabric. Rationing of fabric was required for the World War II war effort. While most of the violence was directed toward Mexican American youth, young African American and Filipino Americans who were wearing zoot suits were also attacked. Standard for Language Arts Activity: LAFS.68.RH.1.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources. LAFS.68.RH.1.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions. LAFS.68.RH.3.8 Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text. LAFS.68.RH.3.9 Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic. After the Show Theater activity: The Hispanic American Greats show is a very simple production that has virtually no set pieces, no special lighting or sound effects. This enables us to tour the show more easily and perform in all types of venues. Have your class imagine and discuss what a full scale production of these 5 monologues might look like. - Discuss what aspects of each monologue that you might want to highlight: • The historical time period • The location • The time of day • The mood of the piece • The important ideas discussed in each piece • The historical importance of the events discussed in the piece - Consider both realistic or representational design (i.e. Johnson Space Center for Ellen Ochoa) as well as symbolic or impressionistic design that focus on mood or spirit of the piece. - Discuss what performance elements you would use. What colors in the set, costumes and lights? Consider the possibility of projections (i.e. images of segregation), music (period or mood music), and possibility additional characters. Standards for Theatre Activity: TH.68.F.1.1. Manipulate various design components to imagine the world of the character. TH.68.C.1.4.