 |
 |
||||||||
|
Maine Samplers III Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter |
|||||||||
|
Forrest Carter (pseudonym for Asa Carter) Summary: Set in rural Tennessee in the 1930s, an orphaned Cherokee boy is instructed in the Way by his loving grandparents. Level: Grades 9-12 Themes: Activities: 1. One group of students reads to the class poems they have selected by authors from races or ethnic groups different from their own. [The poems may not directly mention the ethnic group/race.] Using a checklist, each student in the audience estimates the racial/ethnic identity of the authors. The results are recorded, summarized, and assessed by the class to address the question, "Can you tell an author's racial or ethnic identity from the author's writings?" A second group plays recorded jazz solos and the same process is followed. A third group presents copies of art work and the same process is followed. A culminating discussion to explore the reasons for collated guesses may well lead into stereotyping, prejudice, universality of human traits, global brotherhood. 2. Write a passage from the point of view of a person of an ethnicity or race different from your own. Select your 'voice' from the formats below. Strive for authenticity and avoid stereotypes. Present your effort orally to the class, which will attempt to identify the group you are representing. [Teacher can control groups assigned, e.g. various native American tribes; various immigrant groups; various con temporary nationalities. Research for these projects should include primary resources, e.g. Native American Testimony, Ed. Peter Nabokov.]
3. Read Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s article, "'Authenticity' or the Lesson of Little Tree" from the New York Times Book Review, November 24, 1991, pp. 1+, and "Kat and Maus" from The New Yorker, April 6, 1992. 3a. As a hoax, Little Tree fooled many sensitive readers and prestigious critics. What makes this book so believable? Find evidence in the book that Carter researched his work carefully. Provide written examples with page numbers. Can you find something in the work that does NOT seem accurate? Describe it and explain its lack of credibility. 4. Through flashbacks, the events in Little Tree span a century of Cherokee history. Create a timeline of these events, preferably using Timeliner with a computer. Using a different font, fill in other notable events in Cherokee history during this time span. Using a third font, color, or other designation, extend the timeline forward to the present and backwards as far as possible. Create a parallel timeline chronicling events in the Westward Expansion. Make a presentation relating aspects of these timelines to each other. [Class or group projects.] 5. In Chapter 10 the politician doesn't bother to shake hands with Granpa and Little Tree because 'we looked like Indians and didn't vote nohow.... " Is this an accurate statement of Indian suffrage at the time. When/how did Indians acquire the right to vote? Compare with how and when blacks and women acquired this right. 6. The Trail of Tears described in Chapter 6 represents an act of genocide to some historians. How does this decimation of a people compare with other occurrences throughout history? Use a current situation, the Cherokee, and one other. [Jews (Nazis or Russian ); Aztecs (Mexico); Pequot (New England); Tasmans (Tasmania); Incas (Peru); Kurds (Iraq); Muslim sects (Iraq - Yugoslav areas); Ibos, Hutus (Nigeria, Burundi); Brazilian Indians; alleged capitalists (Pol Pot of Cambodia); Armenians (Turkey)] Be sure to consider modern , philosophy, socio-political climate, results. 7. Willow John (Chapter 15, pp. 138-151) is Always looking to neither side; misplaced somehow touching this fringe of the white man's civilization. This feeling of non-assimilation can be found in other writings about Native Americans in touch with white man's society. Explore the conflicts between two ways of life and the choices available, including compromise, in one of the following books, and explain how they are dealt with. Do you find that always looking to neither side was used to deal with any aspect of the conflicts? Which character(s) or groups are most affected and how? What resolution occurs? 8a. Chapter 13 includes a flashback to 1867 during the Reconstruction era in Tennessee. Research political and economic conditions in Tennessee at that time. Is the presence of federal troops in this chapter realistic? What can you infer about the "regulators" who killed the one-legged man and the old black man? 8b. Andrew Johnson was President at this time, and an important issue involved in his impeachment trial was the preservation of the 'balance' of powers' - those between the executive and the legislative branches of our federal government. Senator Edmund G. Ross of Kansas cast a lone vote that assured Johnson's acquittal. Research the circumstances surrounding the impeachment and trial of Johnson, including the role of Edmund Ross. If you had been Senator instead of Ross, what would you have done? Explain. 8c. Congress over-rode a Presidential veto for the first time during Johnson's presidency. Research the use of this kind of veto, and compile a report that includes the following: 8d. Trace the political affiliation of the Southern states during the past two hundred years. Express your findings in a graph or a series of graphs. What changes if any have occurred and why? What political affiliation did the Southern states exhibit during the recent presidential election? Did this make a significant difference? Explain. 9. In Chapter 19, Little Tree experiences prejudice, hypocrisy, and cruelty in an orphanage. Research the fate of orphans in the U .S. today. What is better or worse? What percentage of orphans are being raised by their grandparents? What percentage of today's children are orphans in the U.S.? Are there more or fewer than in the past? 10. Discuss the essential things that Grandpa and Granma tried to teach Little Tree? What methods did they use? What role did traditional classroom learning (reading, math, etc.) play in Little Tree’s education? Who else played a part in educating Little Tree and how? Individual assignment: As a parent, what would you consider the ideal education for a child of yours? What would you want your child to learn? Who would do the teaching? What methods would be used? Identify a culture which shares at least one of your beliefs about education. Prepare a guidebook summarizing your plan for your child's education. Contribute one copy to a collection of such guidebooks in the library or the home ec. department. 11. Carter discusses some medicinal and nutritional uses of plants native to Tennessee in Chapter 12. Make a chart or a database of these. Research edible or medicinal wild plants in Maine. Star those on the Tennessee chart that are also found in Maine, and add to the chart what you consider the 10 most important ones that grow in Maine but NOT in Tennessee. Write an explanation about your choices.
Fiction
Biography
Non-fiction
Prepared by Catherine Raymaker. Narraguagus High School and Audrey Conant, Wayne School |
|||||||||
|
Home | About MASL | What's New? | Professional Development | Resources | Index Contact: Web Manager |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||