Beat Nation

Beat Nation Assignment ( 20 marks) : Go to http://www.beatnation.org/

1. Read the front web page. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement about young Indigenous artists who creating new forms of art: hTh

“There has been some criticism over the years by older community members who see this influence as a break from tradition and the movement of the culture towards a pop-based mainstream assimilation.”

2. Go to curatorial statement. Answer the following questions in two to three sentences:

Read the curatorial statement?  Why is Hip Hop important for young Indigenous artists?     Where did Hip Hop originate?   

3. Go to music. Answer each point below with at least two examples:

Pick one song.  Listen and try to write down some of the words.

Write down at least three ​Images that stands out? 

What are the themes in the song? Important messages? 

References to Indigenous culture? 

Symbols? 

4. In your opinion what makes the song interesting (2-3 sentences) .....rhythm,  repetition, tone, diction, denotation, connotation? 

5. What words or phrases are repeated over and over?    Can you you tell me the story of the song? (2-3 sentences

Bonus Marks: Take a look at the artists....pick one piece of art work.....why do you like it?? 

(5 marks)

Thursday, April 7

Grade 12 

1. Independent Novel Reading -up to page 20.

If you have not brought your novel, please go and get it from your locker.  You will be doing silent reading for 20 minutes or more everyday and will receive marks for reading.  5 marks a day will add up to a substantial amount by the end of this semester.

If you have not picked a novel, please go to the library . Mr. Morrison will have a few waiting for you.

2. Please finish the guiding tools sheet.  Paste into your notebook and write out on the left side.

Grade 10/11

1.  Reading Indian Horse.  I will go over the chapters with you tomorrow.

2. Lit terms worksheet.  Please just tuck the terms in your notebook.

3. Please catch up with any unfinished assignments:  guiding tools , symbolism paragraph etc.

All Grades   IMPORTANT! 

Please leave your notebooks in the classroom.  The purpose is so I can mark assignments and keep student work for upcoming report cards.  If you do not hand in your notebook or do not hand in assignments,  you will receive a mark of incomplete on your report card.  Then if the work is not done within two weeks following the report card, you will receive an F the first term. Sorry to bear bad news but we need to stay on track, and I have to take in marks for report cards.   I must have report card marks in by the end of next week so please keep on track with your work. 

Novel Study notes so far

All grades have been given a novel reading assignment.  Please review the questions and look at the examples that I included from Indian Horse. You will be using this model through out the novel.

Each entry will be worth 15 marks.

Symbolism defined

Definition of Symbolism:

Use of an object, person, situation or word to represent something else, like an idea, in literature.

http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-symbolism-in-literature-definition-types-examples.html

In Indian Horse,

the horse symbolizes change in society brought about by the arrival of the white man.

In our society, tattoos have become a popular way to show important and very personal symbols:






Symbolism assignment:  On the left hand side of your notebook, draw out or paste the image of an important symbol to you. On the right hand side of your notebook, write a paragraph (at least 6-8 sentences) on the symbol. Consider the following questions:

What does this image symbolize to you?  Is it also an important image to other people, society or a community of people?

How did it become important to you?  Tell me the story.

Why do you like it? Describe.

Visit with Quechua Indigenous students from Peru

Describe 3 parts of your culture that are very important to you.  

Find one thing that is similar and one thing that is different between your cultures.

Describe traditional ways of learning in your cultures.  

How are these ways different from modern, colonial schools?  

How has colonialism affected your cultures, traditions and lands?  

How would your parents or grand-parents answer this question.

What do you think your biggest challenges are today, as young Indigenous students? 

Indian Horse and Beat Nation......from there to here

Theme- 

behind-the-plot meaning, something less about events and more about significance, perhaps even a conclusion they’ve drawn from the book.

Plot is the events of story; theme is the meaning behind or revealed by story.

What themes stand out to you so far in Indian Horse?  

Beat Nation  

As we continue to read Indian Horse, a novel set in the tragedy of residential schools, we will compare the themes in Indian Horse to the writers, artists and musicians today.  My goal is to focus on the resilience of Indigenous communities in Canada, and how both resilience and resurgences are woven into the work of influential Indigenous youth, writers, musicians and artists today. 

I asked you to write about an important place. 

Watch the clip below and pull out some important themes in Favreau's clip. 

http://www.beatnation.org/index.html

One important theme in both Indian Horse and Favreau's story is the importance of home, and how the qualities of home can be found in many different ways.

Indian Horse so far, shows the loss of home.
Favreau shows how as an Indigenous musician from the West Coast, redefined home in the Mohawk Nation of Kanawake.

In both stories, family are a very important characteristic of home.  In Indian Horse, Saul looses his siblings and then his family splits from this pain and tragedy.  For Favreau,  having his son grow up on Kanawake territory cements where he belongs and calls home. 

Indian Horse....so far ....

A story isn't a story until you discover the problem driving characters to act.

Life is disrupted by the agents for the residential school system.  Indigenous families must flee to protect their children, from being stolen and taken to the schools.  Their entire way of living shifts as they move away from traditional ways of living and land. 

Plot -  up to page 30

• introduced to Saul Indian Horse, family and territory
• Flashes back to when the horse arrived to their culture, brought by Saul's great- grandfather,  the horse (first brought by Zhaunagush- white people)symbolic for great changes that will happen & people must rely on spirit teachings of the horse
• 1961 - threat of residential school, Saul's brother Ben and sister taken..
• parents and grand-parents on the move, working as transients 
• Ben escapes residential school, sick with TB and family goes to Gods Lake and traditional ways- then landslide (foreshadows tragedy) 
• Ben dies of TB pg. 30 
• 
  

• Setting

Wilderness of Northern Ontario and Manitoba 

Land- untamed thing of lakes, rivers, bogs and marshes 

sparkling water, citadels of bush and rock, labyrinthine weave of country. 

bush camp-  transient workers, alcoholism, rutted, muddy roads, desolate and sad 

Characters 

Saul-  protagonist of the novel, the narrator and told as an autobiography.  A boy in a family of three children.  Story opens with Saul's experience in an alcohol treatment centre.  

Saul's brother Benjamin- taken to residential school when Saul is four years old.  Escapes residential school and joins Saul's family then dies of TB.

Tall, thin, tough and resilient . 

Saul's sister- taken away to residential school. Unknown to Saul. 

Saul's mother- heart-broken by the loss of her sons.  Withdrawn and hard to know her true character.

Saul's father- heart-broken like mother and turns to alcohol.  

Symbolism

Indian Horse-  the coming of the change,  the arrival of Europeans