Lesson 3

Lesson Question: How does a short book about the Arctic (such as Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak's NORTHERN LIGHTS: THE SOCCER TRAILS or his BASEBALL BATS FOR CHRISTMAS, both from Annick Press, Buffalo, NY) illustrate Inuit life, social interaction, and environments?

Standards Met:
Performance Expectations for Middle Grades: Theme 1: Culture, from EXPECTATIONS OF EXCELLENCE: CURRICULUM STANDARDS FOR SOCIAL STUDIES, developed by the National Council for Social Studies.

The learner can:

.	compare similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures meet human needs and concerns;
.	explain how information and experiences may be interpreted by people from diverse cultural perspectives and frames of reference;
.	explain and give examples of how language, literature, the arts, architecture, other artifacts, traditions, beliefs, values, and behaviors contribute to the development and transmission of culture;
.	explain why individuals and groups respond differently to their physical and social environments and/or changes to them on the basis of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs;
.	articulate the implications of cultural diversity, as well as cohesion, within and across groups.

Standard 4, from LEARNING STANDARDS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS:

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction. (Students will use oral and written language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.)

Students will be able to:

• listen to and discuss a short book or story in order to create checklists for identifying each component of a story;
• listen to and discuss the short book or story for clues about Inuit life;
• cooperate in small groups (threes) on learning tasks;
• reflect on the learning experience for future improvement.

Set-up: Play Inuit music as students enter class, perhaps Susan Aglukark's song "Arctic Rose." Then, with instrumental background music playing softly, read the chosen short book or story to the class.

Teaching and Learning Activities: In groups of three, students discuss the story just read, using the following questions as a guide to a short story's components:

.	Perspective From whose perspective was the story told? How can you tell? How would you write a story from only one person's eyes? How does this help the reader to identify with all the characters?
.	Plot What happened in this story? How can your story help readers to appreciate your characters and theme more by comprehending the sequence of events and the causal connections between them?
.	Setting How did this story show the Inuit world?
.	Characters How does each character convey self through the story? What might a reader's conception of these characters be? What do the characters think of themselves and others in the story?
.	Cultural perspective How does this short story also show the influence of cultural values on each character? How have characters' roles been shaped by human institutions? What is the level of moral reasoning reflected in how characters think about moral dilemmas or issues?
.	Mapping Illustrate the main theme of this story through a collage or other artistic representation. Be prepared to illustrate your story's main idea as a bulletin-board display to help others' understanding of your story.
.	Assessment Student groups will create a checklist of five items for incorporating each story component in their own writing. They can use the ideas above as a springboard for their work. Each group will create one checklist for one of the above topics. Their checklists will then be shared with the whole class.

SAMPLE CHECKLIST:

.	The story is told entirely through one character's point of view. _____
.	A clear, interesting story can be identified. _____
.	Through the setting created, readers can see, feel, and sense the character's world. _____
.	Each main character is "round," not flat. _____
.	Characters reflect their moral values, ethical choices, and cultural proclivities. _____

Closure: Groups briefly share key findings with the class to wrap up the lesson.

Reflection: Students and teacher consider problems encountered and resolve to learn about improving lessons and work.