Lesson Plan: Modern-day noh drama

Synopsis: Students draw on knowledge of traditional Japanese noh drama to create a story board for an updated noh based on a work of literature previously read in class. Students identify characters to cast in the play, actors to play them, a setting with symbolic value and a title song for the soundtrack. They will also write and perform a monologue from the perspective of the lead character. Students will require previous instruction about noh to satisfactorally complete the project. Introductory information and references have been supplied below.

Background

• Noh is the oldest surviving form of Japanese drama
• It is famously minimalist, with a small cast, few props and simple music
• The main character is a masked ghost who cannot "graduate" to the after life because he or she is still in the grips of a strong emotion or worldly memory. The ghost always wears a mask.
• The secondary character is a wandering priest whose function is to hear the ghost's story so that it can rest. A small chorus is also present on stage.
• The Japanese drama page at Asia for Educators has more information and a video.

The project

After watching a video of the noh, my students and I discussed what changes would be necessary to make it palatable for a modern audience. This included modern music, contemporary actors and no masks. We also decided the story would be more interesting if the ghost encountered a real person from modern society rather than a priest. I then assigned the project using the prompt below.

Imagine you are a Hollywood producer. You want your movie studio to produce a modern-day version of a noh drama, but you must first convince your partners. To this end, you must create a Powerpoint presentation explaining and justifying your idea.The presentation must include the following:

• A spirit or ghost: a character from any literary work we have previously read this semester. You may select any character, regardless of whether he or she died in the story, so long as s/he would have a story of suffering, injustice or a strong emotion to share. Write one paragraph explaining why you have selected this character.
  
• A listener: A person from contemporary society who needs to hear this ghost's story. You may identify a specific public figure (for example, Barack Obama) or a general type of person (for example, a business leader sacrificing his or her morals in favor of profit). The ghost's story must be relevant to this person's life. Write a paragraph explaining why the ghost would want to communicate with this person.
  
• Pictures of actors whom you will cast as the ghost and the listener. Write one paragraph justifying your casting choices.
• A picture of the setting where your ghost and the listener will meet. Your setting selection must be related to some aspect of the listener's life or the ghost's story. Write one paragraph to justify this decision.
• A song for the soundtrack. This song should be embedded in your Powerpoint so that it can play during your presentation. You must also include excerpts of the lyrics with a 1/2 page explanation of why this song is fitting for the story you are creating. The explanation must refer to specific lyrics of the song as well as specific language or plot points from the literary work you have selected.
• A monologue. This is the story of suffering, injustice or emotion that the ghost will deliver to the listener. It must relate the factual details of the character's experience, and most importantly, what the character would like the listener to learn from it. It must include specific plot points and quotations from the literary work you have selected. Furthermore, this monologue will be performed, not simply read to the class. You may choose to perform it from a script during your presentation, pre-record yourself or even pre-record a friend or family member with good acting skills.
  

Teacher's Notes

• You can devote as much or little class time to this project as you choose. On the day the project was introduced, we used a single short story as a model, discussing what characters might make a viable ghost, who might need to hear their story and what actors might play them. I also showed them an example of a completed project.
• Some of the questions from this project proved to be excellent literary analysis tools. "Who would play this character in a movie and why?" was a much more interesting question for students than "describe this character," even though both questions led to the same kind of analysis. Likewise, "who in our society would these need to talk to? what message would they deliver? would they all say the same things?" was a more accessable and engaging question than "what are the main themes of this literary work?"
• I initially gave the students the option of making posters or Powerpoints, but I preferred the Powerpoint presentations by far. They were more engaging for other students to watch, looked neater, and saved me from having to store 50-odd posters in my classroom for grading!
• I was amazed by how much more engaging the presentations were -- for me and for students -- with music playing in the background.
  

Lesson Plan: Song Collage

Synopsis: This lesson compliments the previously posted Chinese poetry scrolls lesson. I use it as an introductory activity and a bridge between my "song as poetry" unit and my actual poetry unit. In this lesson, students analyze the lyrics of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" and work in groups to create a collage for each verse.

Supplies: Copy of "Redemption Song" lyrics, "Redemption Song" mp3, chart paper, scissors, glue sticks, magazines for students to cut up.

Time allotment: 1-3 class periods, depending on depth and length of discussion and what is assigned as homework.

Procedures

1. Pass out copies of "Redemption Song" lyrics. Ask students what they know about Bob Marley. (Biography here)
2. Play song for students. As they listen, ask them to highlight words, phrases or images that stand out to them. (You may need to clarify vocabulary like "redemption" and "emancipate.")
3. Questions for whole class or small group discussion:

• How can a song redeem people? What are the limits of this redemption?
• Who are the pirates? What are the merchant ships? (answers: white slave traders - students may need some prompting about Marley's race and African history)
• What is the bottomless pit?
• During Marley's lifetime, what types of "mental slavery" might have existed? What mental slavery exists now?
• Who are the prophets? What specific historical figures might they represent? Who in modern times might be considered a prophet? What are the benefits and dangers of viewing contemporary or historical figures as prophets?
  
• What "book" does Marley refer to? What actions would people take to fulfill the book?

Creating the collages

1. Divide students into groups of 3-4. Assign each group one verse of the song and distribute chart paper, magazines, glue sticks and scissors.
2. Tell each group they must find (or create) images to illustrate their assigned verse. They should write the verse in the center of the chart paper and surround it with images. Next to the images, or on a separate sheet of paper, students must explain how their images relate to specific words or lines from the song.
3. Hang finished collages around classroom.

Extension Activities

1. Listen to Johnny Cash's cover of "Redemption Song." Discuss: how does each singer present the song differently? Do their choices alter the meaning or impact of the song? What is the effect of hearing Cash sing in a Caribbean dialect ("old pirates rob I")? Should he have changed the lyrics to better suit his American speech patterns? What audience would each singer reach the best?
2. M.I.A's "Paper Planes" is a more challenging song and could be used to introduce satire. Students discuss how the lyrics satirize typical gangster rap as well as Western attitudes toward immigrants and terrorism.
   

Lesson Plan: Chinese Poetry Scrolls

Synopsis: Students develop an appreciation for Chinese art and world poetry by selecting a poem, an image to compliment the poem, and creating a name stamp for themselves. These will be used to create a Chinese-style poetry scroll. Students will circle the room, discussing and writing comments for the selected poem.

Time Allotment: 1-5 class periods, depending on how much you have students do in class or as homework.

Materials (for poetry scrolls): 1 piece of chart paper per student, glue sticks, scissors, crayons or colored pencils. Students need 1 copy of their poem, 1 copy of their image, and copies of their name stamps.

Procedures:

1. Show students Chinese hanging scrolls like Blossoming Plum by Wang Mian or Night Shining White by Han Gan. Ask them to speculate on what the stamps and writing might mean.
2. Explain that poems were often written next to paintings to create a unified work of art. Artists, owners and their friends then stamped their name and wrote poems or comments on the completed products.
   
3. Discuss: If you owned a valuable painting, would you write your name on it or invite your friends to do the same? What might be the value of this tradition in China?
4. Focus students on this black name stamp and ask them to speculate on the meaning of the color. (As explained on the website, it is black because the owner is in mourning.)
5. Tell students they will create scrolls like the ones they have just seen. As a first step, they will design a "name stamp" of their own. The stamp must have a border in a color that symbolizes them somehow. Additionally, whatever they draw inside the border must symbolize them as well. The illustration should be simple to draw as they will be signing one another's scrolls with them later. As an assessment, have students draw you a larger copy of their stamp and write 1/2 page explaining how these symbols are appropriate for them. (Teachers note: this turned out to be an excellent way to warm my students up to the challenging concept of symbolism, and I learned a lot about them in the process.)

This usually gets me through one 50-minute class period. Some students finished by the end of class and others completed it as homework. Depending on your class schedule, you can take students to the library to find poems for their scrolls or assign this as homework. I preferred to help them find poems during class time because many students needed help choosing between several poems while others needed guidance for choosing appropriate poems. Many had to be steered away from excessively short haikus or children's poetry. Students browsed the top 500 poems at PoemHunter.com as well as library books to find their poems.

I also devoted 1 class day to helping students analyze their poems before choosing an image. We worked toward identifying themes in their poems and writing lists of emotions the poem evoked. Students used the list of feelings and themes to help them select an image to match their poem. We did this in the library in one class period. Students were instructed to bring money for 1 color copy of their chosen image.

Part II - Assembling the Poetry Scrolls
1 100-minute block class period

1. Distribute chart paper, glue sticks and scissors to each student. Chart papers should be long. Ask students to affix a clean copy of their poem and image to the chart paper. Then they should write an introductory comment about why they have chosen these poem and image.
   
2. When students have finished creating their scrolls, have them circle the room, writing comments about each other's poems and images. Comments should be signed with a copy of the symbol students created earlier. Tell them that any comments are acceptable. They can comment about what they liked (or disliked) about the image or poem, or what meaning they found in them. You may choose to assess students based on the quality of their comments.
   
3. Divide students into small groups of 3-4. Members should discuss the comments found on their scrolls -- were they surprised? Did they agree or disagree with the comments? Did they see any other students' poems they particularly enjoyed.
4. Groups share results of discussion.
5. Assign assessment: Tell students to imagine they are art dealers who hope to sell their scroll for the highest possible price. They must write a 3-page letter justifying the merits of both the poem and image on their scroll, including interpretations of specific lines of poetry or aspects of the image. Variation: As a pre-writing exercise or alternative assessment, have students divide a sheet of paper into 2 columns. Labe one column "text" and the other column "meaning of text." Students write specific lines from the poem (or describe parts of the image) in the "text" column. Next to it, in the other column, they write an interpretation of those lines of poetry. I find this really helps them focus on analyzing key words and phrases from the poem, or key features of the image.