Language Arts | Geography | Social Studies | Visual Arts | Folklife Activities | Science


CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

To enhance classroom learning potential with our Guest Artist, Mary Louise Defender Wilson, CARTS offers the following interdisciplinary activities. We welcome your additions.

Language Arts:

• (All grades) Mary Louise says that we have a lot to learn from animals. Dogs, for example, remind us not to hold onto our anger or our ill feelings when someone hurts us. As Mary Louise says, "we sometimes scold our dogs, but they still love us afterwards." Encourage students to tell or write a story about an animal in their life and what they learned from that animal.
  
  
• (All grades) In addition to being an authentic story rooted in the culture of the Dakotah people, "The Woman Who Turned Herself to Stone" can also be used in a lesson on personification in writing, especially in writing poetry. Interestingly, a lot of poets have written about stones. Poet-educators have found that looking at an object in nature and imbuing it with human qualities and powers illustrates the power of language and the power of poetry—a real literacy hook for students! The poet Charles Simic, for example, wrote a wonderful poem called "Stone" in which he imagines he is a stone. He describes what he sees, feels, and does.
  
  Read Simic's poem to your students and pass out stones for them to touch as they're listening. After they've heard the poem, poet and teacher Marj Hahne suggests developing an imagination-writing exercise, which she says is especially inspiring for students with writing difficulties. The exercise is to imagine inhabiting something—a stone, a tiger, a French fry, etc. Provide students with writing prompts such as: How do I perceive the world as a stone? What do I feel? What do I see from the inside looking out? Students might answer by completing sentences beginning with: I look like, I taste like, and I feel like…. Marj says that talking or writing about what they sense is often what gets children to be poetic. When students are ready to share their poems publically, Marj suggests bringing in a "talking stone" (or other object) that students hold while they speak. Holding the stone establishes speaking order and offers security for students while speaking in front of an audience.
  
  
• (All grades) Mary Louise reminds us that there is a wonderful, extensive body of oral literature. Oral literature takes as much work to develop, learn, and transmit as written literature does. Have students develop an oral story of their own (a folktale or family story), practice memorizing it, and then present it to their classmates. Once they've been through the process, have them reflect on the process of learning and retelling an oral story in a writing assignment or other public presentation.
  
  
• (Middle and High school students) In addition to being an environmental story, The Woman Who Turned Herself to Stone is a story about self-discovery and individuality. The Woman spent her time differently than her friends and family, she also knew she wanted to live a different lifestyle than those in her family and community. She was gentle to herself and accepting of her differences vis-à-vis others. Have students explore how the Woman's community and family responded to her and what the story and the Woman's choice reveal about Dakotah culture? If they're interested, ask students to write a fictional or biographical piece about being different in a family or community and how to come into one's own.
  
  
• There are many genres of Native American stories, find out how many different genres there are. (Ask Mary Louise!)

Geography:

• Use a special historical atlas or an Indian history book to find two things: (1) North America as it was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and (2) modern Indian reservations. With the second map, locate the Standing Rock Reservation. Based on your findings, draw a new map, showing the Standing Rock Reservation inside the Dakotah people's original boundaries.
  
  
• Mary Louise's father's mother was Hidatsa. Find where the Hidatsa lived or ask Mary Louise.
  
  
• The Woman who turned herself to stone loved going for walks. Take your students on a walk around the school neighborhood with the intention of creating a new type of map using only words and sounds. Create a tour or radio diary of your neighborhood. Before going out, think of the sounds, feelings, and experiences that you want to represent your neighborhood. Try to paint a picture with all the sounds you hear in your neighborhood then create a map of it with a tape recorder. Go on a tour of your neighborhood, making special note of parts of the natural landscape that stand out. These could be interestingly shaped trees, familiar animals or birds. Write down your observations and draw a landscape map. The Teen Reporter Handbook: How to Make Your Own Radio Diary is an excellent resource available from the CARTS Catalog.

Social Studies (U.S. History, U.S. government):

• Compare how your U.S. history textbook treats Indian history with how American Indian historians treat it. An example of this history from the Indian perspective is Indians in American History, edited by Frederick E. Hoxie. Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1988. Identify three or four differences.
  
  
• Have your students take a moment in Sioux and U.S. history and rewrite it in the form of a story, poem or song.
  

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Visual Arts:

The woman who turned herself to stone loved to go for nature walks. In the spirit of her appreciation for nature, go on your own nature walk. Collect leaves and pebbles and sand (whatever is in your landscape) and use the material to create a collage. Write an artist's statement about what you created.

Folklife Activities:

Storyteller Mary Louise Defender Wilson recalls a childhood filled with stories about the land and how to live a good life on it. Describe some of the stories that are told in your home. Then interview members of your family and others about stories they remember from their childhood and what those stories meant to them. Write these recollections and combine them with those collected by your classmates to create a class storybook.

Science:

Mary Louise's Dakotah name is Wagmuhawin, which means Gourd Woman. Research and discuss the agricultural practices among the Sioux. Provide a context for the importance of gourds.

Language Arts | Geography | Social Studies | Visual Arts | Folklife Activities | Science

Mary Louise with her dog, Hokshina
Photo Courtesy of North Dakota Council on the Arts. Photographer: Dennis Gad

Canoeing in the Saniun River
Photo Courtesy of North Dakota Tourism Department
Mary Louise's ancestors lived in the level farmlands near the Saniun River until they were forced to move to Standing Rock Reservation.

Northeast from the place Mary Louise was born on Standing Rock.
Photo Courtesy of Mary Louise Defender Wilson

Pyramid Hill at Fort Ransom, ND
Photo Courtesy of Mary Louise Defender Wilson