Embarking upon the project, we knew this much: the novel would be read to them; some activities would be planned providing a theme to be explored through language arts, drama, or visual arts; we wanted to see what direction the students’ interests might take. We were able to create a preliminary outline to serve as a guide for the chapters being covered within the span of a week, and the subject matter which corresponded with those chapters. The outline follows:
The first day was more of a day of exploration. As a visitor to the class, Sylvia needed a better understanding of how the students interacted as a group, who led and followed, how they responded to role playing. We observed that while their dramatizations were organized well enough, they had difficulty with improvisation. They were able to tell us the plot but when it was time to actually dramatize, they froze. They were influenced by how the movie had portrayed the story (as far as they saw it), and wanted to play things out according to the movie. At the same time, they were very particular about how the dialogue was in the book and were reluctant to speak any lines unless they were certain about how it went in the story.
The following are some of our comments about the experience:
Linda: Some were shy and didn't want to participate, so we let them sit out. Others really wanted some parts, like Mara wanted to be Milo, but then when it was time for her to speak, she hardly said anything. I'm wondering if they really knew what the drama aspect was like. I haven't done drama this year, unfortunately, and they were not prepared for this. I also think it would have helped if I had picked students to be certain roles instead of Sylvia, because I knew which ones were more reliable than others.Also, we moved through all six chapters, which may have been too long. There wasn't enough going on for them to act out at one time, and it seemed to drag, right up until we let them go wild with their own ideas. Then things became somewhat chaotic, and we were not really able to follow everything. We heard bits and pieces, character names, places from the book, etc., but as for what hey were doing (IE: plot line), I am not sure. We let them have their free time for a bit, and then let them go to their centers. I wonder, if I had given them more experience with drama, would they have responded better to this activity? Were they being what a teacher would call constructive during that wild time, or was it just wild? Or perhaps a mixture of both?
Sylvia: Most students, especially younger folks, have some difficulty adjusting to the use of dramatic play with the teacher. The process will be slightly different than when they play alone, new rules will be established and they will become accustomed to “playing” with the teacher under these circumstances. I was really pleased with what the students did. They demonstrated a solid understanding of the plot and characterization despite pressures of being “on the spot” and in front of the camera.
They were more free to explore their imaginations when they continued the narrative beyond what they had read or seen in the movie. Their role-playing became more playful, appearing out-of -control, yet remaining in the context of the story. From their demonstrations, we could see the children deciding that the princesses would be rescued immediately. As they negotiated how they were to escape and who would push the car, their play appeared to be chaotic. They were thinking and acting spontaneously, as though they were on that mountain and no longer in the classroom. I didn’t mind that the class looked unruly since they were excited about their playing, but I did want to be included or informed about what they were doing. We had difficulty getting them to discuss their decisions with us. Since we were the ones needing structure, I think our inclusion would have thrown a wrench in their fun, so we were excluded from their playing. Linda and I talked about it and we do plan to give more structure to activities in the future so that there is more clarity for us as well as the students.
The students recorded the experience on paper, and were asked to call attention to their favorite part. They were most taken with the fantasy images of “Rhyme and Reason” and the “Castle in the Air.” Many of them favored a particular character that they had played or wanted to play. They were definitely interested in resolving the plot.
Point of View
The lesson on “Point of View” brought about some interesting discussion. For this activity, we reviewed the Point of View episode from the story. We asked the children to predict how they might see their surroundings in various circumstances. Then children were asked to explore looking at the classroom from diverse perspectives such as: looking through a colored paddle, looking out from under a table, looking down from on top of a table, looking through a rolled paper telescope. We gathered the children together and asked them to report their observations for us to discuss as a group. There was a wide variety of responses, which appear below as we recorded them:
The milk cartons and wet wipe boxes looked purple.After the response about the telescope making things look far away, another girl disputed “But with the telescope, things look closer.” Then a boy said “No, they are really further away.” When I asked him to explain, he clarified that “The telescope is long so things get farther away even though they look closer.” I asked “What happens if you get it real close to something?” He stuck with his original explanation stating that his father has a telescope at home which is why he knows. Afterward, the students wrote down and provided some illustrations of their Point Of View observations. We were pleased with this activity since it encouraged the students to make observations from a different perspective. The students were engaged throughout and were able to provide some feedback.
When I was on the floor, I only saw crumbs.
Outside I could see the playground purple and pink.
On the table I saw everything high, and under the table I saw ants.
From on the table I saw the clock.
The fish tank water looked pink and the fish was red.
In the fish tank everything looked yellow.
Ms. Chi’s glasses were purple.
From the table it looked like the troll was moving around.
Everything looked blue.
With the telescope, everything looked far away.
Outside the bricks were redder.
Down under the table, it was darker.
Valley of Sound
From the section of the story taking place in the Valley of Sound, we focused on the character of Chroma who conducted a symphony of colors which sent color into the world. This is what prompted our idea for this discussion in which we asked “Where does color come from?” In order to engage more individuals in the discussion, we opted to divide into two smaller groups, each including Linda or Sylvia. The comments were recorded on a large piece of paper in each group:
Group 1
-Music makes color.Group 2
-Maybe it comes from the wind, it comes out of the trees.
-From elves, because they make the wind, and they put color in the wind, let it slip by and there’s color.
-Maybe God put color in the rain, and when it rains maybe that’s how it gets there. After the rain comes, God makes a beautiful rainbow.
-Jesus makes them. A big world has lots of colors. They each take some to color. (God and Jesus)
-Rainbows make colors. Whatever is by the rainbow makes the colors.
-The rainbow just whips out colors and it lands on everything.
-From underground, it goes straight up from the ground. It stays there.
-When its done raining, a rainbow comes so you don’t make the spirits angry. If you don’t give them lots of fruit they will get angry, Apples are red and every color has fruit. You put the fruit into the ground then it disappears into the devils, then they’ll be happy, then they make colors. If spirits are angry, we don’t get no rain or rainbows. If you don’t give them fruit, you don’t get nothing.
-Maybe the color comes form the air.After the small group discussion, the class gathered to share some of the ideas brought up in their discussions. We thought the answers were really neat. Interestingly, both groups turned towards the sun and the moon, because sunlight lets us see colors, and maybe at night, colors don't exist. From the sun and the moon, they talked about what happens at day and night time - where does the sun and moon go when the other one is in the sky? We were interested in how both groups turned that way. We did find a problem in the recording strategy which was used. The students spoke slowly so that their comments could be written down, this ruined the flow of discussion and free exchange of ideas. We decided to try a different recording method next time.
-When the sun comes out, it comes all different colors, when it goes down, the colors turn black and white.
-When the orchestra plays, the colors come out.
-The colors come from God.
-At the music station the music is still playing.
-Maybe it comes from all the colors of stuff that’s below, underground because the grass is green.
-Maybe God has paints up there and paints the world, like when the leaves change color, that’s God painting them at night.
-Then He sends down the pictures He made, which changes the colors.
-He probably paints everything black, like the sky, then He comes down and waits until morning and paints everything up to the sky.
-Maybe there is a rainbow, He takes the colors from the rainbow for paints and brings it down to the world.
-Maybe He comes down at night and puts more fish in the water and more babies in the fish, and more worms for them to eat. He makes the water deeper.
-Maybe God paints from the rainbow then brings the painting to the world when its ready in the morning. At night He paints it black.
-Maybe a radio is underground.
-Maybe they come from the sky.
-Maybe they come from the leprechaun. He gives us candy and gold.
Regarding this lesson, Linda felt that the kids were interested in talking about what they thought, but for her it became a chore to get them to generate ideas. She thinks that the great hilarious kindergarten answers that get published are not so common, because she was pulling teeth to get ideas. “They did not see us as doing anything important, even though I was writing stuff down and recording them on top of it all. They wanted something to DO, not just to sit and talk.”
Sylvia thought that the discussion went relatively well except for the problem of writing things down. They were able to focus on just thinking about something, all the while getting ideas from each other. Yes, the students verbalized some impatience with just sitting and talking, but once they became involved, things improved. “Even though the students weren’t too impressed, I think it at least showed them that their ideas alone are of value.”
Valley of Silence
For this segment, we wanted the students to think about ways to communicate without using sound. We tried a sort of charades game with the students. We made up a list of popular sounds and each student had to act it out letting the others guess what they were doing. This activity went really well. All but two wanted a turn, most of them were eager. Some of their gestures were difficult to figure out, but they all understood the concept and did well.
We wondered if they understood the tie into the story. It seemed doubtful that they would make that association. They did share some interesting ideas about sign language used by the deaf and signs the Indians used in Pocahontas. Although they were able to tell us that there was no sound in the story, it is questionable whether they really understood that we talked about different ways people could communicate with each other without making sounds because that was the way people in the valley would have to communicate.
Infinity and beyond
This week the story ventured to Digitopolis so we talked about numbers and infinity. We began with a brief large group discussion where we briefly defined infinity with help from the students. They were asked to write out what they thought was the highest number, then we broke into two groups and we talked about whether that would indeed be the highest number or not. This which seemed to work really well. Again, we were just generating ideas and this time we got some neat ones. Perhaps after the Color discussion they were more familiar with this type of activity. We thought that they needed to understand what Infinity was before they could give examples of it. They easily understood the concept on their own. We questioned whether we shouldn’t have begun by defining the term, infinity, but how do you discuss infinity without tying the definition to the term? Infinity seemed to be a more concrete topic of discussion because they were generating ideas that were either examples of infinity or not.
This time we planted tape recorders in the areas where we would be in discussion with our respective small groups. When we gathered with the group, the record button was pressed, so that the recording process would not be disruptive nor secretive. Here is the transcription of one of those tapes:
Teacher: What if someone asked you to count all the snowflakes that fell from the sky, could you possibly do that? (no) Why?The students understood the concept very early in the discussion. Reading over it again, it becomes apparent that the teacher insisted on keeping the subject on infinity, whereas the students might have preferred going onto another topic. Another factor which was lost in the transcription was the additional conversation which took place in the background. The teacher was involved with the conversation taking place nearest to the recorder, however, interesting background conversation of other students was taking place at the same time. It is audible on the tape but not clear, voices saying various numbers, as if competing for the highest. Unfortunately, the teacher completely missed that other conversation.
Brody: What you could do is count all piles of the snow, that would be easier.
Students: one hundred and eight thousand/ no two thousand and...
B: You could go all over the world and you could count all the piles of snow.
T: (to others) Could you really do that?
St: No. (more numbers, ninety hundred and ninety nine and nine...)
T: Could you possibly count every single grain of sand in the world?
St: No.
Sarah: Sand is white.
B: Quicksand. If you got it and you got your hand in it then it would pull you down and down and well, you die.
T: If you did count all the grains of sand, would you ever stop counting?
S: Well, yes if you just count every pile of sand.
T: If you tried to and never stopped counting then that would be infinity.
S: If you took small pieces of snow that would probably be infinity. One piece of snow, two pieces of snow, three pieces of snow, then there could be a hundred pieces of snow and then infinity pieces of snow.
St: (continue saying numbers, as if in competition)
T: And if they never stopped counting pieces of snow, that would be infinity.
B: Count all the shoes in the world.
T: Lets think about the air in the sky, does the sky ever end?
B: It never does end. It never ends, never.
S: It never ends, it goes on and on.
B: Yea, and you can even see shapes all in the clouds.
Lyle: Hey! The animals never stop having babies.
B: Yea, 'til they die.
S: Until they die.
T: So animals have infinity babies?
S: Well the mammas have babies ,then when they die, their babies have babies.
St: They just keep on going and going and going.
T: What else would be infinity?
S: Like when something just keeps moving like going around and around.
T: What might we find if we went up into the sky, would it ever stop?
B: Nothing, you would just fall. There would be nothing but clouds. If you had a big ladder you could climb up into the clouds and just go “Ahhhh!” in the air.
L: Count all the people in the world.
T: Would you ever stop counting?
St: No, never.
S: 'Cause the people keep having babies.
T: I am not sure now about this, Brody you said that I could climb a ladder and not see anything, but where would infinity be?
B: Up to heaven.
T: Is that the end?
L: If you try to go up to the sky you’ll never hit it.
B: When its nighttime it stops.
T: What stops?
B: When its night it stops, and then when its morning its up again.
T: The sky stops at night?
S: Nuh-uh.
B: You can’t see the clouds 'cause its so dark.
S: Its just that everything is black, black stars and black clouds.
St: And Jupiter shines.
S: Every day the moon comes or the sun stays.
T: So then you can see again and keep on going.
S Yea, I know.
St: ...and then the suns come and then they glow.
S: They keep going and going 'cause it goes moon sun moon sun moon sun.
T: Okay, so they continue by taking turns. Then the sky would not stop?
St: It just keeps going and going and ...
B: Look, if a pencil flew into the air it would fall down. But the clouds, they never stop. See, machines make clouds, like steam...and its bad for people, it makes people cough.
S: Yeah...and then they go away in the night.
T: Well wouldn’t they just float up into the never-ending sky?
B: Like the Never-ending story, it never ends.
St: I’ve seen that movie.
S: If you wanted to go into the sky, it would probably take you a hundred minutes.
T: Isn’t that what the astronauts do? Don’t they come back?
S: Not if they died.
B: Dead is forever. You know if somebody was dead, it would be forever, it would never stop.
L: Sometimes they can come back to life like in the hospital.
B: No you wouldn’t, you would be dead forever.
S: And you were dead in the hospital and then you came back to life.
B: If somebody shot your brain or your heart you would be dead.
S: Then you can’t come back to life.
L: Yea, not if you are shot right here, then you can’t come back.
T: Are you saying that when you are dead you are in infinity?
St: No, you just go up there.
S: Your body stays in the grave but your spirit goes up there.
T: When does it ever stop?
L: It never stops, it just keeps floating.
S: Your spirit just goes up there and then it stays up there and your body stays down here.
T: Right now there are millions and millions of spirits up there just floating around?
S: Yea, with God... but your body stays here. Your spirit stays alive.
T: So infinity never stops?
B: A clock doesn’t stop, it goes tick-tock.
S: ...and keeps on going.
L: Hey, until you take the battery out. (laughing)
Demons
For this lesson, the main characters had entered the Mountains of Ignorance where they encountered various demons such as the Terrible Trivium, Insincerity, and the Gelatinous Giant.
We talked about the demons the characters had met and students voted for their favorite demon, which they enjoyed. We talked about what qualities make a demon, and asked what type of demon they would be if given the chance. We asked them to consider one thing about themselves that could become horrible if it were taken to the extreme, providing examples with ourselves. Linda said she would be a gluttonous demon, eating everything and everyone in sight. Sylvia said she would be a slothful demon, always asleep and making others sleepy too. After they had time to think about themselves as demons, the children could act it out by walking around and making their demon noises. When this was finished, the children were asked to draw and write about the demon they had become which would be shared with the others.
Many of the demons that were generated through this process were: more eating demons, more sleeping demons, some killing demons, and one hugging demon. We were thrilled by the active engagement of the students, but disappointed by the lack of diverse ideas. Either sleeping and eating are common overindulgences or, by giving examples, the teachers set a trend.
Linda: This discussion had a clear cut question that was a bit more tangible than the Infinity or Color discussion, but they were still not really generating their own ideas. When it came time to act out their demons, they were some great demons, but when asked what kind of demon they were, they didn't have an answer. They lumped demon into a monster category, and were acting out as monsters in general.Still, they grasped the idea that demons would make someone do something they didn't want to do, and that demons were not good. Again, I think that my lack of drama in the classroom contributed to the kids' not really seeing the connection between what they were doing and the story. I think they saw it as two separate activities, and when we tried to tie them together, I, at least, got some blank stares.
Sylvia: It was great to see them all walking around the room in their demonic ways, lots of fun. Oddly, even those who simply said their demon killed Milo, when asked how, the response was that they ate him. The students enjoyed the fantasy of being frightening. I think they understood that they were being demons, like those in the story. The problem was that we asked them to associate their demon with an aspect of themselves. That was too much of a leap, requiring some self-awareness and detachment. It would have been more effective to simply ask them to imagine taking a journey to that mountain and ask them what other new demons they might find, emphasizing the words "other and new." We simply overcomplicated things.
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