ecmpprofessionalportfolio.weebly.com€¦ · Web viewFamiliarity Breeds Complacency: Anthropology as a Tool to Develop Descriptive Writing. By Eleanor Hitchings. Abstract “Familiarity

New Zealand Land and Culture Differentiated UnitEleanor Hitchings

Familiarity Breeds Complacency: Anthropology as a Tool to Develop Descriptive Writing

By Eleanor Hitchings

Abstract

“Familiarity breeds comfort” is a common saying, but I posit that “Familiarity breeds

complacency” could also be an accurate turn of phrase. The hypothesis behind this paper is that

familiarity with subject matter in elementary-age realistic fiction writing decreases the level of

descriptiveness because students overlook the fascinating everyday details of their own lives. Therefore,

removing students from the familiar by asking them to write about a foreign culture, with foreign

characters belonging to a foreign society and living in a foreign land, should increase descriptiveness

because they will notice small details by contrast to their own families, society, and environment.

The idea for this came from an Anthropology class – “World Fiction and Cultural Anthropology”

– taken in 2011, in which one option for the final project was to write a fictional piece focused on a

foreign culture. I discovered that writing realistic fiction about another culture not only forced me to

conduct serious research into the daily life, norms, values, and celebrations of that culture but also

encouraged me to clearly detail the information I had learned for an audience as unfamiliar with the

culture as I had been. The question is: can this lesson be taught to elementary age children as well as to

college students? In order to get to the heart of this issue, a class of 4 th graders’ realistic fiction writing

was analyzed before, during, and after a social studies unit exploring the Maori, the indigenous tribes

that populate New Zealand.

Literature Review

Although no pre-existing literature exists to corroborate the specifics of this research, there are

numerous articles which touch around the edges of what is being analyzed. These can all be placed into


three categories: Writing (Gilbert and Graham 2010), Social Studies (Potterfield 1968, Wade 2002,

Mindes 2005), and Multiculturalism/Global Citizenship (Douglas 2001, Lapeyese 2002, Matuk and

Ruggirello 2007, Myers 2010, Resnik 2010, Singer 2010). Three articles sit at the crossroads of Writing

and Social Studies instruction – Spiegel 1990, Short 1994, and Stott 2004.

Gilbert and Graham outline the need for improved instruction in writing. According to their

national survey, almost two thirds of teachers reported that “they teach writing for only 15 minutes a

day and their students spend just 25 minutes a day writing texts of paragraph length or longer” (494).

This low total is exacerbated by the concentration of writing tasks on a few genres. “The most common

type of writing reported by teachers involved writing short responses, journal writing, and writing in

response to material read… Note taking as well as compare and contrast, cause and effect, and

descriptive writing were reported by a majority of teachers as occurring once a month” (511). Because

of this lack of practice in elementary school, students are entering high school and college

underprepared for the variety of writing tasks and the level of excellence expected of them. Gilbert and

Graham suggest that the reason for this low level of writing instruction is a deficiency in college-level

instruction on writing pedagogy and that giving teachers the tools to teach writing and familiarizing

them with these tools (especially evidence-based writing practices) is the answer to improving student

achievement.

Typical Social Studies instruction, which is based on the Expanding Horizons model, should also

be reformed according to Wade. The Expanding Horizons model, based on outdated philosophy that

sounds logical but has little basis in evidence, propounds that Social Studies instruction for children

should begin with their immediate experience – ie. themselves – and expand to their families, their

neighborhoods, their communities, etc. While this movement from simple to complex and from

concrete to abstract makes sense logically, researchers have found that the “content (is) inadequate,

particularly in regard to the lack of multicultural and global information… (and) the EH model does not


present an accurate view of society because it obscures the interrelationships among communities”

(Wade, 117). Wade argues that changes need to be made at a curricular level in order to meet the needs

of our modern, multicultural society.

Resnik defines Multiculturalism as “learning about different cultures and the recognition of the

‘other’… It encourage(s) students to respect and valorize different cultures and religions” and the goal is

to “reach a better understanding between people of different ethnic or cultural backgrounds” (220).

Multicultural appreciation is an increasingly important skill in an increasingly global society and should

be addressed. “There is evidence that all youth have to some degree bicultural and global identities due

to information and communication technologies… native-born youth need to develop and strengthen

their multiple affiliations and new knowledge related to global changes in order to flourish in the

twenty-first century” (Myers, 487). For instance, “multicultural skills are needed for managing diversity’

in the workforce, improving creativity and innovation in transnational corporations” (Resnik, 218).

Anthropological studies could be the answer to keeping multiculturalism and appreciation of

cultural diversity present in the classroom. Potterfield maintains that the content, vocabulary, concepts,

and abstract-reasoning found in Anthropological lessons are attainable by fourth, fifth, and sixth

graders. Additionally,

Anthropology offers a wide choice of materials to elementary school children. For example, through the use of archeological techniques, the anthropologist is able to unfold the story of man's increasing control over nature and the history of this development of social institutions. A study of archeological methods and findings is a rewarding content area for elementary students. Too, children are interested in people of other cultures and the ethnologist can offer material about the living patterns of present societies, the non-literate cultures as well as the more highly organized ones. This is another content area in which children enjoy studying (Potterfield, 297).

Current literature does not touch directly upon anthropology as a tool for developing descriptive

writing, but it does call for change in both writing and social studies instruction and an increase in

multicultural studies because of the increase in global contact due to technology. There is also proof


that anthropological understanding is attainable for upper-elementary aged children. Therefore, while

descriptive writing is the main focus of this study, the anthropological and multicultural aspects of this

unit were as important to the students’ education as the writing itself. Transdisciplinary lessons, such as

those that relate descriptive writing tasks to anthropological studies, are a potential way to accomplish

all of the goals described above and an efficient means of maximizing student learning.

The Students

This study was conducted on a Fourth Grade class at Crystal Springs Elementary School in

Bloomington, Indiana. While Bloomington is a center for diversity in Indiana thanks to the large

University, its multi-ethnic culture dwindles the farther one travels from IU's campus. While many

Crystal Springs students do have a level of comfort with and appreciation of multiculturalism, the school

itself does not have the variety of ethnicities represented in the student body nor the level of

understanding of other cultures that is present at some other Bloomington schools. The vast majority of

students at Crystal Springs are white and range from poor to middle-class. Their families are located in

rural and suburban areas and most have a generational history as farmers or Blue Collar workers.

There were nine girls and fifteen boys in the class. One boy I suspect of being on the Austism

Spectrum or of having an emotional disability (he is currently being tested) and two boys were

designated as “Mildly Mentally Handicapped.” Of these, “Wade” proved to be an interesting case and

his reaction to the unit shall be analyzed later in this paper.

The Method…

The basic method of data collection and analysis for this paper was to assign a benchmark

realistic fiction piece followed by a social studies unit, the culmination of which would require students

to write a realistic piece set among the Maori of New Zealand. Then, understanding the sort of

description that goes into writing for an audience unfamiliar with the culture being described, students


were asked to write a second realistic fiction piece that would be set, once again, in a time and place

with which they were familiar. The three writing samples was then analyzed by various means -

including word counts, use of adjectives/adverbs, average sentence length, Lexile Level (measured at

Lexile.com) and use of culturally-specific terminology - to see what changes in descriptiveness occurred.

After briefly reviewing the genre of realistic fiction, students were assigned to write a short

realistic fiction piece. It was to be titled “A Day in the Life of an American Child”, and could describe any

realistic day of any realistic American child. The day could be a celebratory day, a terrible day, an

exciting day, an average day, etc. The child could be a boy or a girl, rich or poor, live with a family in a

mansion, on a farm, in a one-room apartment with six other people, etc. The parameters were left wide

open and the students were encouraged to use their imagination as they detailed the actions and events

of their character’s day.

After the benchmark was accomplished, we launched into the social studies unit. According to

Spiegel, Social Studies resources can be assessed based on 6 criteria: content validity, transfer potential,

proper amount of reinforcement, quality of instructional language, adaptability/flexibility, and lack of

content bias. This paradigm was used as a guide for formatting lessons and texts used in this unit.

Although these lessons required higher-level thinking skills and a substantial amount of reading,

Potterfield reassures that, “fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade children can learn the anthropological

vocabulary and concepts, and develop facility in abstract reasoning” (297). Throughout the unit students

were encouraged to fill in their “Glossary of New Zealand Terms” to help them remember definitions of

unfamiliar English words they encountered or translations of Maori words.

The selection of the foreign culture we studied, namely that of the New Zealand Maori, was

based upon the fact that I, the fourth grader’s student teacher, was completing the second half of my

practicum abroad, in New Zealand. This gave the students an “in” into the culture and motivated them


to explore and understand the far-off land to which I was venturing. Although New Zealand is not

included in Indiana Standards, “many teachers would argue that they should also teach foreign cultural

content. Such content helps students to develop new schemata, thus allowing them to more easily

comprehend other similar texts” (Stott, 346). The practice of studying a foreign culture, of developing

analytical skills, and of reflecting on similarities and differences across the human spectrum of

experience is valuable regardless of the specific culture studied.

First was a lesson introducing the concept of “social science” and the types of questions various

social scientists might ask about the artifacts and activities of a foreign (or past) culture. The second

lesson briefly introduced New Zealand – where it is on a map, how far away it is from Indiana, and an

overview of some interesting facts and landmarks of New Zealand as described in a National Geographic

video1. To ensure student engagement and comprehension, a worksheet was handed out with a few key

questions to be answered as the video played.

The third lesson, about New Zealand Biomes, was chosen for several reasons. The first is that

there is no way to truly understand a people without knowing the land they lived on and the resources

they had available to satisfy their basic wants and needs. Second, the physical landscape is one element

of any story’s setting. To write a realistic fiction piece set in New Zealand, one must be able to illustrate

the environment. Finally, New Zealand is famous for the density of its native plant and animal diversity -

and with good reason. In this small island nation, four distinct biomes are represented - mixed

coniferous and deciduous forest, coastlines, mountains, and grasslands – and many species native to

New Zealand live nowhere else in the world.

Lesson Four was a PowerPoint that introduced the Maori people, who were to constitute the

characters of the students’ realistic fiction pieces, then went on to detail Maori Food Culture. Food

1 To find the lesson plans and resources in this unit, please refer to Appendix 2.


Culture was chosen specifically because it relates to the previous lesson – what resources are available

in an environment dictate what foods will be eaten - and because eating food is a human universal and

something that every elementary-aged child can relate to and appreciate. For this lesson, students were

asked to take notes to ensure engagement. To aid in the development of this skill, I highlighted the

important points to be noted in red.

In Lesson 5, students participated in the “Maori Scavenger Hunt” in which they found

information cards hidden around the room detailing living arrangements, social organization, and the

daily activities/roles of men, women, and children. Using these cards, they filled in a Venn Diagram

comparing the roles of men and women and identified the Maori terms for “tribe”, “village”, “meeting

house” and “family”. Finally, using logic, students organized a scrambled description of a typical day in a

Maori village into chronological order.

Because amalgamating research and transferring it to written description is quite a difficult

process, students filled in a prewrite to organize their thoughts before transitioning from researching to

writing tasks. This prewrite required them to decide upon a name for their main character and family

members and to describe their home, foods they might eat, plants and animals they might encounter,

and the sorts of tasks they would complete during the day. They were allowed to reference charts of

Maori names and titles as well as any notes and worksheets they had completed during the unit of

study. Once completed, all the information the students needed to write a descriptive account of a

Maori person’s day was on one sheet of paper. After this was completed and checked, they were given

the go-ahead to write a realistic fiction piece titled “A Day in the Life of a Maori Child”.

To complete the data collection required for this paper, students were asked to reflect upon the

process of writing descriptively about another culture and to consider what sort of information they felt

was necessary to include for an American audience to understand their story. Then they were instructed


to fill in a second pre-write and write a fictional piece about “A Day in the Life of an American Child” that

was directed at a Maori audience.

… and the Madness

There were several difficulties encountered along the way which, unfortunately, affected the

objectivity of this study’s results. For the most part, these stemmed from the fact that I was a student

teacher and a guest in someone else’s class rather than directly in charge of the class itself. The first

thing was a simple mistake, but a mistake I did not have the gumption to correct. At the beginning of the

year, when I introduced the benchmark, my supervising teacher instructed students to write four

paragraphs as this was the requirement for fourth grade writing. However, she later corrected herself

and told the class that the requirement for fourth grade was actually to write three paragraphs. Because

of this, those students who typically strove for the bare minimum and went no further wrote less than

they had on the benchmark and therefore also had less opportunity for writing descriptively.

The second challenge of this research being conducted as a student teacher, and exacerbated by

the fact that I did half my student teaching abroad, was that there was limited time to complete the

data collection phase. While my supervising teacher did her best to give the time needed at the

beginning of the year, as things really got underway and students’ workloads increased, she began to

cram the unit and the final writing pieces into whatever hurried gaps in the day that could be found.

Therefore, the environment for the second writing piece was much more hurried and stressful than the

benchmark. The end result was skewed data collection, in which two tests were completed with

different specifications and under different conditions.

A Case Study:

One boy in this study stood out among all the rest. He was not your typical exceptional student.

As a Mildly Mentally Handicapped trailer park boy, he came to school ready to fail because that was


what experience had taught him. He wasn’t eager to participate or put forth his best effort because he

believed twice his effort would achieve half the result of others.

This unit, however, clicked with Wade. As Potterfield states, “Anthropology provides materials

which are interesting to pupils at all grade levels” (297).

Spindler pointed out two reasons why anthropology can be useful in elementary schools. First it affords students an opportunity to study both the range of human motivation and the varying solutions man has devised for the problems of existence. Second, it helps counter the effect of the highly complex stratified nature of modern society in which a child might grow up without an understanding of the fundamental interrelationships and similarities of human groups (Potterfield, 297).

When Wade was writing the benchmark, it was like pulling teeth to get him started. Midway

through the unit, however, he started answering questions directed at the class, asking questions that

related to the topic at hand, and generally being interested in what was being studied. I made a point to

check on Wade and a few other specific students in the class –those who had trouble getting started but

would often just sit rather than ask for help - as I made my rounds. When I checked on him during the

Maori Fiction pre-write, however, he was already well on his way to completing it. He asked me one

question then urged me to move on. When I circled around later, he told me in no uncertain terms that

he neither needed nor wanted my help with writing his story. Additionally, this active participation and

pride in work continued through to the end of the unit.

The pride he felt in his work was not unfounded. In the writing assignments he was, in fact, one

of the top performers in the class. For the Maori Fiction piece, he wrote 142 words including 5

adjectives. His average sentence length was 11.92 words per sentence and he wrote at a Lexile level of

600L. This certainly is on par with some of the top students in the class, such as “Julie” and “Kayleen”, as

can be seen in the graph below (Figure 1).


What’s more, his writing was original and entertaining, telling the story of a father who had to

rush home (with a pet parrot on his shoulder) because two siblings were fighting with each other and

annoying their mother. In this piece, he included details specific to the Maori culture such as the family

living in a village and that the father was building a canoe. His final writing piece, A Day in the Life of an

American Child, was also at a very high level. While the word count and number of adjectives decreased

(123 and 3, respectively), both the average sentence length (15.5) and the Lexile Level (810L) increased,

Figure 1


putting him at the same level or above the top students in the class! As can be seen in Figure 2, in every

method of analysis his writing improved from the benchmark, either spiking on the Maori Fiction or

increasing steadily to the American Fiction piece. This clearly demonstrates that engaging student

interest is key to student success. If students like Wade can move from the bottom of the barrel to the

cream of the crop, there is no reason other students with proper motivation cannot as well.

Figure 2

Results and Discussion:

I will admit that as a general rule, the data collected did not reflect the results I expected. I

thought that either achievement would drop on the Maori writing sample - because of the difficulty of

describing a foreign culture - and the final piece would then jump higher, or there would be a steady


increase in achievement across the unit. In fact, I had hoped that all, or at any rate most, students

results would look something like Wade’s (Figure 2).

The data gathered from many students, however, was not so on target. The graph below (Figure

3) shows the number of students who had the highest level of achievement in each writing sample2. For

example, in the first box, student achievement is measured by a simple word count. 13 students wrote

the most number of words in the benchmark, 8 students wrote the most in the Maori fiction piece, and

only 2 wrote the most words in their final “Day in the Life of an American Child” piece.

Figure 3

2 A chart showing each child’s levels of achievement rather than class totals can be found in Appendix 1


There are, however, other measures of achievement, of course. Consider the boxes that measure

student achievement by average sentence length and Lexile level (as measured by Lexile.com). By these

measures, most students writing did improve from the benchmark, the majority spiking in the Maori

Fiction piece. While students did not write as many words, many were using longer, more complex

sentences.

While I had hoped that by every method of analysis there would be only few outliers who

achieved the highest level of achievement in the benchmark with most showing improvement in the

later writing samples, this is not to say that these results cannot be achieved by an uncontaminated data

sample. I saw enough student engagement that I still have hopes that this method is viable and that by

correcting the mistakes that skewed my results and improving upon the unit and its delivery,

anthropology can become a proven tool for descriptive writing.

Improvements for Future Research:

Ideally, a pedagogical study that combines anthropological research with descriptive writing

should include instruction in both anthropology and descriptive writing. Unfortunately, the scheduling at

“Crystal Springs Elementary” made this impossible. Crystal Springs adheres to the Proficiency Based

Model in which all students switch to leveled classes for language arts and math in order to give them

targeted instruction in these subjects. Because of this, the students to whom I taught social studies in

homeroom were not the same students who were in my language arts class (with one exception). The

entire study was done using the students in homeroom but, unfortunately, there was no time to include

writing lessons during homeroom time when they already had writing instruction in other classrooms

during the English/Language Arts time. Therefore, in addition to correcting the errors in data collection,

future research into this topic should include an element of writing instruction.


Also, since conducting the study, another lesson has been added that is based on a Maori game

called “titi torea” in which participants sing, beat rhythms with short sticks, and pass the sticks back and

forth. Originally used to develop warriors’ dexterity, coordination, and concentration, this game requires

musicality as well as individual and group coordination. It approaches Maori culture through a different

type of intelligence than most of the text- and media-based lessons in the already-existing unit and

would therefore be a valuable addition3.

Conclusion:

Unfortunately, the data did not confirm the hypothesis being tested in this study – namely that

anthropological study would improve upper-elementary students’ descriptive writing by removing them

from scenes that were overly familiar. Neither did it refute the theory, however. The data was

compromised by a series of mishaps and mistakes. However, a case study of one boy did show the

potential of this method to engage students’ imaginations and to inspire them to greater feats of

descriptive writing. Additionally, current literature shows that there is merit in further studying this

approach because improvement in both writing and social studies instruction are warranted and

because a transdisciplinary approach which furthers appreciation for and understanding of foreign

cultures while also improving writing skills is of value in the modern, global world of today.

3 This lesson is included along with the other lesson plans in Appendix 2 despite the fact that it wasn’t used in this study.


Bibliography:

Douglas, L. (2001). Valuing Global Citizenship. Teaching Geography, 26 (2), pp. 89-90.

Gilbert G. & Graham S. (2010). Teaching Writing to Elementary Students in Grades 4-6: A National Survey. The Elementary School Journal, 110 (4), pp. 494-518.

Lapayese, Y.V. (2003). Toward a Global Citizenship Education. Comparative Education Review, 47 (4), pp. 493-501.

Matuk, L.Y. & Ruggirello, T. (2007). Culture Connection Projection: Promoting Multiculturalism in Elementary Schools. Canadian Journal of Public Health / Revue Canadienne de Sante’e Publique, 98 (1), pp. 26-29.

Mindes, G. (2005). Resources for Teaching and Learning about Social Studies. YC Young Children, 60 (5), pp. 58-60.

Myers, J.P. (2010). “To Benefit the World by Whatever Means Possible”: Adolescents’ Constructed Meanings for Global Citizenship. British Educational Review Journal, 36 (3), pp. 483-502.

Potterfield, J.E. (1968). An Analysis of Children’s Ability to Learn Anthropological Content at Grades Four, Five, and Six. The Journal of Educational Review, 61 (7), pp. 297-299.

Resnik, J. (2010). Multicultural Education – Good for Business but not for the State? The IB Curriculum and Capitalism. British Journal of Educational Studies, 77 (3), pp. 217-244.

Short, D. J. (1994). Expanding Middle School Horizons: Integrating Language, Culture, and Social Studies. TESOL Quarterly, 28 (3), pp. 581-608.

Singer, A. (2010). Why Multiculturalism Matters. Race Gender and Class, 17 (2), pp. 10-22.

Spiegel, D.L. (1990). Instructional Resources: Materials for Integrating Science and Social Studies with the Language Arts. The Reading Teacher, 44 (2), pp. 162-165.

Stott, N. (2004). Familiarity Breeds Contempt: Reading Texts from Learner’s Own Culture does not Guarantee Recall. TESOL Quarterly, 38 (2), pp. 345-352.

Wade, R. (2002). Beyond Expanding Horizons: New Curriculum Developments for Elementary Social Studies. The Elementary School Teacher, 103 (2), pp. 115-130.


Appendix 1: Data on All Students

Word Count+/- from benchmark

# of Adj./Adv.+/- /= from benchmark

Average Sentence length

Lexile Level

1. Benchmark 57 0 7.86 400LMaori 114 +* 0 =** 8.85 + 500L +America 96 + 2 + 6.93 -*** 320L -

2. Benchmark 57 0 11.60 590LMaori 93 + 0 = 6.71 - 210L -America 85 + 0 = 7.82 - 560L -

3. Benchmark 126 3 7.40 340LMaori 90 - 1 - 8.27 + 450L +America 95 - 11 + 6.00 - 250L -

4. Benchmark 99 4 6.89 330LMaori 123 + 2 - 8.27 + 450L +America 101 + 4 = 6.80 - 290L -

5. Benchmark 185 4 9.30 480LMaori 131 - 1 - 8.25 - 380L -America 102 - 2 - 7.92 - 410L -

6. Benchmark X X X XMaori 73 X 5 X 9.25 X 460L XAmerica 111 X 5 X 7.06 X 320L X

7. Benchmark 123 8 8.27 380LMaori 85 - 2 - 8.70 + 420L +America 60 - 0 - 6.78 - 300L -

8. Benchmark 216 6 10.80 620LMaori 203 - 6 = 20.40 + 1100L +America 138 - 6 = 9.93 - 610L -

9. Benchmark 109 1 9.43 430LMaori 95 - 1 = 7.62 - 370L -America 79 - 0 - 5.33 - 210L -

10. Benchmark 135 5 8.06 390LMaori 95 - 0 - 7.38 - 340L -America 97 - 1 - 8.91 + 450L +

11. Benchmark 287 1 7.55 370LMaori 182 - 2 + 9.15 + 520L +America 238 - 8 + 9.96 + 570L +

12. Benchmark 47 2 11.20 670LMaori 110 + 0 - 11.10 - 660L -America X X X X X X X X


13. Benchmark 148 2 8.44 410LMaori 170 + 2 = 8.55 + 420L +America 108 - 3 + 10.00 + 580L +

14. Benchmark 109 3 6.11 200LMaori 85 - 2 - 5.73 - 200L =America 65 - 0 - 4.71 - 40L -

15. Benchmark 119 2 9.00 480LMaori 88 - 0 - 6.77 - 260L -America 56 - 2 = 8.14 - 430L -

16. Benchmark 294 3 9.29 500LMaori 125 - 0 - 6.30 - 180L -America 75 - 0 - 8.33 - 400L -

17. Benchmark 143 6 7.38 370LMaori 108 - 0 - 6.81 - 360L -America 174 + 1 - 6.48 - 300L -

18. Benchmark 139 4 5.35 110LMaori 304 + 1 - 7.69 + 480L +America 222 + 10 + 6.97 + 410L +

19. Benchmark 87 4 6.62 310LMaori 164 + 2 - 11.79 + 720L +America 112 + 1 - 6.65 - 290L -

20. Benchmark* 163 6 (all “fun”) 8.11 330LMaori 128 - 1 - 10.75 + 630L +America X X X X X X X X

21. Benchmark 135 1 7.10 210LMaori 126 - 2 + 8.47 + 400L +America 121 - 3 + 8.71 + 400L +

22. “Wade” Benchmark 84 2 9.88 500LMaori 142 + 5 + 11.92 + 600L +America 123 + 3 + 15.50 + 810L +

23. Benchmark 334 4 7.74 440LMaori 192 - 11 + 13.79 + 850L +America 375 + 5 + 9.42 + 580L +

TOTAL Maori compared to Benchmark

Increase: 8Decrease: 14

Increase: 4Decrease: 13Equal: 5


Increase:Decrease:

America compared to benchmark





Maori or America higher?

M: 15/21A:6/21Equal: 0/21

M: 5/21A: 12/21Equal: 4/21

M: 13/21A: 8/21Equal: 0/21

M: 12/21A: 8/21Equal: 1/21

* + indicates that the Maori or American Fiction writing sample had a higher level of achievement as compared to the benchmark.


** = indicates that the Maori or American Fiction writing sample had a higher level of achievement as compared to the benchmark.*** - indicates that the Maori or American Fiction writing sample had a higher level of achievement as compared to the benchmark.

Specifics of Maori Fiction piece

Use of culturally specific names or titles

Reference to specific cultural activities

Reference to specifics of New Zealand Biome

Average

3.48 5.93 1.04

1. 1 3 22. 0 6 03. 4 9 04. 8 8 05. 5 4 26. 3 2 17. 3 9 08. 1 11 29. 3 6 010. 3 5 011. 5 7 912. 6 8 213. 1 3 214. 3 3 015. 3 3 216. 4 0 017. 4 2 018. 10 5 019. 6 14 020. 2 9 021. 3 5 122. 0 3 023. 2 11 1


Appendix 2: Lesson Plans

New Zealand Land and Culture Unit

6.1.22 Form research questions and use a variety of information resources to obtain, evaluate andpresent data on people, cultures and developments in Europe and the Americas.

4.W.1: Write routinely over a variety of time frames and for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences; apply reading standards to support reflection and response to literature and nonfiction texts.

4.W.5: Conduct short research on a topic: Identify a specific question to address; Use organizational features of print and digital sources to efficiently to locate further information; Determine the reliability of the sources; Summarize and organize information in their own words, giving credit to the source; Present the research information, choosing from a variety of formats.

Lesson 1: Thinking like Social ScientistsLesson 2: Where is New Zealand? (National Geographic)

Resources – video and worksheetLesson 3: New Zealand Biomes

Resources - Introduction; Articles; QuestionsLesson 4: Maori Food Culture

Resources - PowerPoint and Note pageLesson 5: Story-telling and Rope-making

Resources – Maui and the Giant Fish, RaffiaLesson 6: Maori Scavenger Hunt

Resources - Informational Notecards and WorksheetLesson 7: Stick GameLesson 8: Writing Culture

Resources – Two Prewrites*Ongoing Resource - “New Zealand Glossary”

*All resources can be found on my online professional portfolio, www.ecmpprofessionalportfolio.weebly.com, except for the prewrite for A Day in the Life of an American Child. The focus of the portfolio is the social studies side of the unit and the focus of this study is the writing side of the unit. Because of this, that prewrite is the only resource included with these lesson plans.

http://www.ecmpprofessionalportfolio.weebly.com/


Lesson 1: Thinking like Social Scientists

Rationale: This is an introductory lesson that will show students different ways of approaching culture studies. Learning the sorts of questions to ask is a foundational component of researching that will help them for the rest of this unit and in the future.

Content Standard(s):

6.1.22 Form research questions and use a variety of information resources to obtain, evaluate and present data on people, cultures and developments in Europe and the Americas.

6.3.11 Define the terms anthropology and archeology and explain how these fields contribute to our understanding of societies in the present and the past.

Objectives:

Cognitive: The students will be able to describe archaeologists, historians, economists, and political scientists and ask questions about various artifacts based on these disciplines.

Affective: The students will appreciate that different questions and methods of approach lead to different understandings and perspectives.

Social: The students will work collaboratively with their table groups, select an artifact for shared analysis, and select a spokesperson to share their findings with the rest of the class.

Vocabulary: social scientist, archaeologist, historian (specifically how they differ from archaeologists), economists, political scientist, artifact

Procedures:

Introduction/Anticipatory: Compare scientists to social scientists.

Step-by-step Procedures: Students at each table group will independently read one of the descriptions in their social studies textbooks of the different social scientists, the specific aspect of culture they study, and the types of questions they ask from their social studies textbooks. One student from each group will volunteer to share with the class what their section was about. (I will mediate to ensure the most important information is available to the whole class.)

The entire class will read and discuss the example from the book of how the various social scientists would approach the same artifact – a pair of sneakers.

Each group will send a second member to select an artifact I brought in from home (a chalk line, bubble wrap, flint-knapped “persoir” (traditional tool for poking holes in leather), mortar and pestle, etc.). They will try to figure out what the item is, how it is used, and the sorts of questions their social scientist would ask about it. (An archaeologist would ask what time period is this from, who used it, etc. A political scientist would ask if there is status attached to this object, or if its dissemination is controlled


by a more powerful group, etc.)Then each group will select a third member to be spokesperson and share their artifact with the class.

Closure: The final group member must record at least 2 questions their group came up with about their artifact.

Materials: Social Studies textbooks, various artifacts from home, paper/pencil per group.

Adaptations: Different objects have varying levels of difficulty (persoir is more difficult to interpret than bubble wrap).

Management & Safety: Iterate to class that the objects they are analyzing are my personal belongings and some, such as the persoir which I made myself, carry significant sentimental value. I expect them to handle them with care and respect.


Lesson 2: Where is New Zealand

Rationale: The subject of this unit is familiarizing New Zealand Land and Culture. Although New Zealand does not enter into Indiana Standards, the research skills and cultural appreciation students will pick up are transferrable to other locations. This lesson will connect to the previous one on mapping as students will find New Zealand on a map and it will serve as a first glance at New Zealand countryside and culture.


4.3.2 Estimate distances between two places on a map when referring to relative locations.

6.3.3 Describe and compare major physical characteristics of regions in Europe and the Americas.

Objectives:

Cognitive: Students will begin to build schema about New Zealand based on audio-visual stimulation. They will take notes from a video as evidence of engagement.

Affective: The video being watched is a travel video, designed to stir emotions and promote the desire to see the world.

Social: Global socialization is becoming more and more prevalent and important. Kids from rural Indiana need to be aware that different cultures have both similarities and differences to them. A willingness to study and see value in others is a hugely important skill.

Vocabulary: New Zealand

Procedures:

Introduction/Anticipatory: Begin by locating New Zealand on a map, identifying the latitude and longitude of Auckland (the biggest city), and sharing the distance (8162 miles) from Bloomington

Step-by-step Procedures: Students will watch National Geographic Destination New Zealand video and fill in answers to the accompanying worksheet while watching.

Closure: Call on students to answer the questions/fill in the blanks on the worksheet to ensure that all students have a second chance to collect pertinent information.

Materials: National Geographic Video, projector, National Geographic Worksheet (http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/destinations/newzealand-overview-dest?source=relatedvideo)

Adaptations: Manageable by all students in my class.

Management & Safety: After having watched the movie once and answered questions, watch a second time. Prompt students to pay attention to the land- and seascapes present in the video as this will lead into the next lesson. Give class time to settle between viewings as they tend to talk.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/destinations/newzealand-overview-dest?source=relatedvideo

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/destinations/newzealand-overview-dest?source=relatedvideo


Lesson 3: New Zealand Biomes

Rationale: The culmination of this unit will be to write a realistic fiction piece set in New Zealand. There is no way to write a descriptive story without knowing something about the setting, ie. the environment/biome in which it takes place. Also, understanding the land and resources is key to understanding the challenges any society faces (food acquisition, for instance, which is covered in the next lesson) and how this need is met.


6.3.8 Identify major biomes of Europe and the Americas and explain how these are influenced by climate. (Understanding of biomes is a transferrable skill, regardless of which biome is studied.)

Objectives:

Cognitive: Students will be able to read a passage and pick out specific information from it. They will have knowledge of what a biome is, of the four major biomes in New Zealand, and of a few species that live in one specific biome. This will be demonstrated through their ability to answer the questions pertaining to the biome they study.

Affective/Social: Students will grow in awareness of the dangers to the environment because we will discuss how the extraordinarily unique New Zealand biomes are threatened by human actions, both past and present.

Vocabulary: The term biome should be discussed. Otherwise, student will pick up terminology based on which biome they read about. (For example, plate tectonics is described in the Mountains article.)

Procedures:

Introduction/Anticipatory: I will read the introductory page, titled “New Zealand Biomes”, on the DocCam while students follow along on their own copies. This outlines the four biomes and has some fun facts about New Zealand ecosystems - such as that New Zealand has 5944 more beetle species than North America – that should spark interest.

Step-by-step Procedures: Give directions (using the Doc Cam as a visual aid) for students to read ONE article about a New Zealand biome – Mountains, Forests, Coastlines, or Grasslands. Tell them that they can choose either based on their own interest or based on difficulty. The first two passages are harder, the third easier, and the fourth easiest.

After students have read the passages, they have a few questions to answer about their reading. As these texts include some complex terminology, they will almost certainly have to refer back to the text to answer the questions. I would suggest reading the questions first, then reading the passage, then answering the questions one at a time while referring back to the text. However, students should have some control over their own learning and can proceed as they see fit.


Closure: Students who have read and answered questions about each biome will share these answers with the class so that all students have access to the most pertinent information about all four biomes. This will also give students who work slowly a chance to catch up.

Materials: DocCam, New Zealand Biomes introduction; Forests, Mountains, Coasts, and Grasslands passages and accompanying questions (1 copy per child).

Adaptations: Despite the fact that some passages are easier than others, all are at a rather high level. This lesson was intended for a 5th or 6th grade class, not a low 4th grade class as I ended up student teaching in. Some students may need help with the reading – I will read with them as they follow along. For this lesson, comprehension is more important than decoding.

Management & Safety: Students should be working in their seats for this lesson. Typical classroom management procedures, such as working quietly, raising their hand if confused, etc. apply.


Lesson 4: Maori Food Culture

Rationale: This lesson is the introduction to the Maori people, whose culture we are studying and who will constitute the characters of the students’ realistic fiction pieces. I chose Food Culture specifically because it relates to the previous lesson – what resources are available in an environment dictate what foods will be eaten- and because eating food is a human universal and something that every Elementary-aged child can relate to and appreciate.


4.1.1 Identify and compare the major early cultures that existed in the region that became Indiana prior to contact with Europeans

6.3.4 Describe and compare major cultural characteristics of regions in Europe and the Western Hemisphere


Again, while the content is different, the ability to study and analyze a culture is transferrable to Europe/Indiana. Additionally, colonialism in many ways affected the people of New Zealand much like it did the indigenous peoples of our home.

Objectives:

Cognitive: Students will be able to take notes from a PowerPoint presentation.

Affective: Students will understand that there are both similarities and differences between people of different societies/cultures.

Social: Students will begin to think about the wants and needs of a society and how different members contribute to the satisfaction of these wants and needs.

Vocabulary: All potentially unfamiliar vocabulary (such as semi-agriculturalist) is explained in the PowerPoint .

Procedures:

Introduction/Anticipatory: Introduce this lesson with the concept of wants vs. needs. Have students offer suggestions of various wants and needs to add to a chart on the board.

Step-by-step Procedures: After students have grasped the concept of wants and needs and any debates have been solved (one student brought up eye-glasses as a need, which we eventually put under the umbrella “medical practices” and placed in the needs category), introduce the main lesson, saying that we will be focusing in on one need of the Maori society – Food.


Since this lesson is the first introduction to the Maori, the first slides give an overview of who they are, where they came from, and how they were organized (tribally) before delving into food acquisition, preparation, and consumption. (Twisting my hair as a demonstration of how to make fishing line out of natural fiber was a popular visual aid.)

Closure: The final slide is a summary of the notes I would have taken from the PowerPoint – key information as well as a few things I personally found interesting. Students can share if there were any things they found of particular interest.

Because this is likely students’ first foray into note-taking from a presentation, which is a skill they will continue to develop throughout their academic careers and beyond, I highlighted what I felt to be the most important information in red. These are the notes I expect them to have and will check for. After the lesson, ask them to consider why it is important to find a balance in note-taking, and not to take either too few or too many notes.

Materials: Maori Food Culture PowerPoint, chalkboard/chalk, hair (optional), notepaper and pencils for students

Adaptations: The highlighted red notes and regular checks for engagement and understanding should do the trick.

Management & Safety: Students should remain in their seats and general classroom management techniques apply.


Lesson 5: Story-telling and Rope-making

Rationale: This is a practical lesson in one skill that the Maori would have been proficient at – rope making. For a society that relied heavily on fishing, as the previous lesson described, making a string was an important skill. This lesson asks students to go through the motions, literally, of a Maori activity.



Objectives:

Cognitive: Students will listen to a Maori Folktale and have opportunity to reflect on how it is similar and different for tales with which they are familiar.

Affective: Students with high levels of dexterity have a chance to be valued by the entire class in an academic setting. All students should realize that things that seem easy now, such as fishing, could have required a lot of work traditionally. And they will have to practice a little patience.

Social: Students should understand that storytelling can be a social occasion and that this is an opportunity to participate in this. Listening actively and trying to understand why the story is being told

Procedures:

Introduction/Anticipatory: “Because the Maori traditionally lived without electricity, they typically headed home as they sun set. The day would end with stories around the cook-fire. But there were also tasks they could complete in semi-darkness, such as rope-making. I already showed you my twisted hair in the Maori Food Culture lesson. Now you will get a chance to make some for yourselves.”

Step-by-step Procedures: First, hand out the Raffia that students will use to make their “fishing lines”. On the DocCam, I will give an audio-visual demonstration of how to twist the two fibers to make them into one string. Once the students have the hang of this method, I will read them a traditional Maori folktale called “Maui and the Big Fish” about how Maui caught a fish so huge that it turned into the North Island of New Zealand (the South Island being his canoe).

Closure: Once the students have finished their strings, they can decorate them with beads and turn them into necklaces, bracelets, etc.

Materials: Raffia, DocCam, “Maui and the Big Fish” or other Maori folk tale, tape (to anchor their string to the table and retain the proper tension).

Adaptations: Some students will require more scaffolding in order to be able to make their string. If unable to properly twist it, they can braid three fibers together instead of twisting two, as this is an easier task.

Management & Safety: Typical classroom rules to do with read alouds apply.


Lesson 6: Maori Scavenger Hunt

Rationale: In addition to knowing how the Maori are organized at a grand scale (tribally) and the sorts of food they generally eat, I want students to have an understanding of day to day life. This lesson delves deeper into the specifics of the everyday and will help them in writing their fictional piece “A Day in the Life of a Maori”.


4.1.2 Identify and describe historic Native American Indian groups that lived in Indiana at the time of early European exploration, including ways these groups adapted to and interacted with the physical environment.

6.3.4 Describe and compare major cultural characteristics of regions in Europe and the Western Hemisphere

Objectives:

Cognitive: Students will take notes on the day-to-day life of Maori men, women, and children - where they live, the sort of gender roles they had in place, and typical daily tasks they might complete.

Affective: Students will be able to discuss the gender stratification present in Maori culture and consider how their own lives would change if they’d been born into such a society. Reading about gendered tasks should be a self-reflective activity.

Social: The information the students will be gathering is on notecards hidden around the classroom. There are 4 sets of notecards - enough for everyone to find and record one card at a time, but not to collect a whole set. Students will have to share and be patient.

Vocabulary: tribe, chronological, nutrition, village

Procedures:

Introduction/Anticipatory: As this lesson is a scavenger hunt, the students will probably be anticipating it if it is mentioned ahead of time.

Step-by-step Procedures: Be sure to give full instructions ahead of time. Students should take their fill-in-the-blank worksheets with them as they search for notecards. When they find one, they read it and decide what sort of questions the note card is answering. Is it definitions about housing? Does it describe jobs done only by men? Once they fill in the pertinent information, they put the card back. THEY DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FIND ALL CARDS AT ONCE.

Closure: Ask them to write what jobs they would be expected to complete in a Maori village.

Materials: Four sets of informational notecards, worksheets for all students, a high tolerance for noise.


Adaptations: It might be a good idea to work through the chronological ordering of the day as a whole class. It is quite tricky and requires logical reasoning (ie. the sun going down indicates that that paragraph comes late in the sequence) and rereading to check that the finished product flows properly.

Management & Safety: Students need to be aware of and respond well to some attention-getting technique. They will be all over the place and probably quite loud, so they need to be accustomed and respond well to whatever technique is used. Also, they must be prepped on how to politely share the information notecards so everyone gets a chance to participate.


Lesson 7: Stick Game

Rationale: This lesson accesses different modes of learning than those used in the above lessons. It is musically based and also gives students a hands-on approach to experiencing a part of New Zealand culture, like the rope-making. It relates to discussion of gender roles and takes it a step further to explore how those roles can change over time. And it is fun!


4.1.2 Identify and describe historic Native American Indian groups that lived in Indiana at the time of early European exploration, including ways these groups adapted to and interacted with the physical environment.

6.1.10 Examine and explain the outcomes of European colonization on the Americas and the rest of the world.


Objectives:

Cognitive: The students will be able to understand musical time signature as a series of fractions. (3/4 time means that the measure is divided into 3 equal parts.)

Affective: Students will be able to describe how European colonization triggered changes in Maori culture so that this game, which was once used as training for warfare, is now typically a tourist attraction.

Social: This is a highly social game! Students will have to coordinate with each other and work together, and also be aware that different people have different levels of dexterity and coordination. Everybody has different skills and this could be a chance for students who don’t often shine in school to do so.

Vocabulary: “Titi torea” is the Maori name for the stick game. “Ti Rakau” is the name of the sticks. “Rakau” means wood.

Procedures: These should be written as step-by-step directions like a recipe so that anyone could pick up your lesson and replicate.

Introduction/Anticipatory: Read to following to the students “Young Maori warriors practiced stick games to improve dexterity, alertness and rhythm. The games were played in a circle formation with players being eliminated as they dropped a stick or broke the rhythm. The game continued until a champion emerged. Chants were repeated as the game progressed, with a new chant signaling a change in stick pattern. Sadly, there has been a huge decline in traditional Maori practices because European culture was forced upon the Maori people. Today, this game is most commonly seen performed by women at cultural centers and tourist sites.”


Then show the youtube video of the stick game being introduced and performed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-T-94dvLrU

Step-by-step Procedures:

First, the students must learn the words to the song. The teacher must also introduce the concept of time signature to the students. (Ideally, this should be connected to a lesson in Math class regarding fractions.) A measure is divided into 3 equal parts (as this song is in ¾ time). After the students learn the words and tune to the song, the lyrics should be visually divided into 3 parts per measure (2 measures per line in the verse, four per line in the chorus). Lines going through the words indicate when to clap.

1. E pāpā Waiari, Taku nei mahi Taku nei mahi,He tuku roimata

Chorus: Ē aue, ka mate au;E hine hoki mai rā Ē aue, ka mate au;E hine hoki mai rā

When finished with this part of the lesson, the students should be able to sing the above song and clap on all the beats. This is hugely important as the next step is to learn rhythm patterns with sticks.

The students will then make their own pair of sticks. Sticks are about 9-12 inches long and 1 inch in diameter. PVC pipe is acceptable, or curtain dowels cut down to the appropriate size. Traditional sticks would be painted red, white, or black, sometimes in blocks or with simple patterns, as below. Students can decorate however they want. (No glitter, as they will be passing these and it gets everywhere!)

After students have decorated their sticks, they will separate into pairs and begin to learn the patterns. Each pattern will be done 7 times followed by a measure of rest. It is easier seen than explained, so the teacher is advised to watch the video above several times so they can demonstrate them to the students.

Once students have Pattern 1 down, they should practice it with the song. Then they learn pattern 2, practice with it the song, and then practice both patterns switching back and forth every verse. Then pattern 3 is learned, practiced singly with the song, and finally with the previous two patterns. And so

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-T-94dvLrU


on. Each time students learn a new pattern, they should find a new partner. The easiest way to do this is two have two rotating rows.

The stick patterns get progressively more complicated. The final pattern requires a group of 4 or more (evenly numbered) people.

Once all patterns are learned, they can all be put together with the song on a loop. At this point, each pattern continues for 8 measures (1 verse or half the chorus) before the next one is introduced.

Pattern 1 - Down clap clap Pattern 2: Down hit right sticks together twice, down, hit left sticks together twoce (in x pattern, like boys swordfighting.)Pattern 3 -Down together toss one diagonally acrossPattern 4- Hit bottom, hit top, flip,Pattern 5 -Down together toss both acrossPattern 6 -Down toss left toss right (across)Pattern 7: Down, together, toss righthand stick to person on the right (who will catch with the right)Pattern 8: The same as pattern 7, but going to the left.

Closure: This lesson will take a great deal of practice to master. However, it is also very impressive and should certainly be performed for an audience.

Materials: Projector and youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-T-94dvLrU), song lyrics on projected onto chalkboard (so as to draw beats on top), PVC pipe or dowels, decorating materials, list of patterns.

Adaptations: As the patterns get more difficult, some students will have trouble keeping up. They can practice more, or stay with the simpler patterns at the teacher’s discretion.

Management & Safety: Tell students that in our class this is a game of cooperation, not competition. Unlike the Maori warriors, we will not speed up the song to make it more difficult and success will be achieved if everyone participates, gives their best effort, and has fun.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-T-94dvLrU


Lesson 8: Writing Culture (Maori and American)

Rationale: This lesson is the culmination of the entire unit. Students should be able to pull elements of what they learned in all the lessons to describe a day in the life of a Maori person and a day in the life of an American child. It should be realistic (ie. no TVs among the Maori, etc.) but the children can take it in many different ways, choosing characters, personalities, the sort of village they live in, the activities they take part in, etc.


4.W.3.3: Write narrative compositions in a variety of forms that: Establish an introduction with a context to allow the reader to imagine the world of the event or experience; Organize events that unfold naturally, using meaningful paragraphing and transitionalwords and phrases; Use dialogue and descriptive details to develop events and reveal characters’ personalities, feelings, and responses to situations; Employ vocabulary with sufficient sensory (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) details to give clear pictures of ideas and events; Provide an ending that follows the narrated experiences or events.

Objectives:

Cognitive: Students will practice descriptive writing in the genre of realistic fiction. They will follow the guideline of realistic fiction that “it could happen, but it didn’t”. They will include what they learned about New Zealand countryside and Maori people, including correct terminology.

Social/Affective: Students are writing about a foreign culture. As they write, I want them to think about the sorts of details they include so the audience can understand what is being described. They should then consider how they would describe their own culture to another. This whole unit is an exercise against ethnocentrism through the simple means of exposing students to the wonders of another culture. Having a sense of the world, of the similarities and differences across cultures, and of the intrinsic humanity and relatability of all people is a huge developmental step.

Procedures:

Introduction/Anticipatory: We’ve been building up to this point for a while. This is the final project, a chance for students to show off everything they’ve learned over the past weeks.

Step-by-step Procedures: As amalgamating research and transferring it to written description is quite a difficult process, students will begin by filling in a prewrite. This includes deciding upon a name for their main character and family members, foods they might eat, plants and animals they might encounter, a description of their home, and the sorts of tasks they will complete during the day. Once this is finished, all the information they need to write a description of a Maori person’s day is all on one sheet.

After students have finished their prewrite and gotten the “go-ahead” from the teacher, they should begin writing. We will have two 20 minute quiet writing sessions. When students finish their piece, they should add three adjectives their piece, then write “two medals and a mission” (ie. two things they are proud of and one thing to work on).


Closure: Students can share writing with the class. I will ask a few students whose work I have read to share for a specific purpose such as demonstrating use of descriptive adjectives, or dialogue, or inclusion of specific cultural details, etc.

This process should be repeated for the American fiction piece, preceded by a discussion on the types of details and description that students included in their Maori fiction piece so that their audience would be able to follow the story line.

Materials: Pre-write sheets, paper and pencil, two medals and a mission tags.

Adaptations: Some students work better writing with pens, since they spend so much time erasing that they don’t make progress. Others work best on computers. The ideas the students are communicating are more important in this lesson than grammar, punctuation, or handwriting.

Management & Safety: Students should remain quiet during the writing time so as not to disturb others. However, during the pre-write section, they can talk quietly to help generate ideas.


Name:__________________________ Date:___________________

American Fiction Prewrite

The main character of my story is named ________________________________________________

This character is a boy / girl / man / woman. (circle ONE)

Based on your character’s AGE, what tasks are they most likely to do during the day?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

His/her family includes:

Relationship (sister, father…) Name of Relative

His/her favorite family member is: _________________________________________________________

because______________________________________________________________________________

What kind of town/city does your character live in?

Is it big or small? ________________________________________________________________

Where is it in the United States?____________________________________________________


What does their house look like? (use descriptive adjectives and try to describe as many senses as you

can (look like, smell like, feel like, sound like, taste like).

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What kinds of food does your character eat?

_________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Does he/she have a favorite food? ________________________________________________________

Who are three (or more) people might your character encounter today (teachers, friends, coaches…)?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What are three (or more) activities might your character do today (school, dance class, soccer practice,

family time…)?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

ecmpprofessionalportfolio.weebly.com€¦ · Web viewFamiliarity Breeds Complacency: Anthropology as a Tool to Develop Descriptive Writing. By Eleanor Hitchings. Abstract “Familiarity

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