Maui Fact Check - A fun research activity you can do with Mythology, American Lit, World Lit, or just English class in general

 Disney has had it's share of criticism for not staying accurate in movies like Pocahontas and Hercules, among others.  However, when they set out to make Moana, they did bring in several people from Polynesian culture to make it stay on track.  We are going to see how good of a job by fact checking Maui's claims in the song "You're Welcome!"

Now, before I give you all the details of how to run this assignment, you need to know who this lady is:

In the 1920s, if you studied mythology, you studied Greek and Roman, or maybe you dabbled in Germanic fairy tales and folk lore.  Beckwith, though, believed all cultures deserved to be studied and became fascinated by Hawaiian and Polynesian mythology.  There were no books on this, so she traveled to these islands and talked to the story tellers to record their mythology.  This was quite dangerous as many of these cultures had little contact and interactions with the rest of the world.  Nevertheless, this complete boss did so and wrote a comprehensive book - no, THE comprehensive book on Hawaiian mythology.  It was cleverly titled Hawaiian Mythology.  You can buy it on Amazon.

It is the source that all other mythology books that cover anything Hawaiian or Polynesian cite as their source.  It is also rather dry, sort of like Edith Hamilton's Mythology, but a bit dryer.  Rick Riordan hadn't been born yet, much less show everyone that you could actually write mythology in a fashion that is enjoyable to read.  

Fun fact - she got kicked out of a theater once because they were doing an act with "authentic hula dancers" and she stood up, halted the show, and lectured them on what they were doing wrong and suggested the crowd demand their money back.  :)

What you need:

• Martha Beckwith's chapter on Maui
• "You're Welcome!" lyrics and worksheet

Tell students about Beckwith (she deserves it) and then break them into pairs or trios to work together.  Then show them the song video and let them enjoy it and sing along with it.  Now they will need to scour the Beckwith chapter to look and see if Maui actually did those things.  If the answer is no, have them figure out who did it instead (may need a Google search for that).  

Depending on your students, this takes around 45 minutes or so of class time.

You're welcome!

Change Your Students' Responses to Text Using the Three Book Approach

One thing that inhibits student discussion at all levels is the fear that they did not come to the correct answer.  We, as English teachers, know that there is simultaneously a correct response and a validation of practically all responses, but students have a difficult time compressing that information in to trust that they can give their thoughts and epiphanies on a reading passage.

In my AP class, we do this first week, when we take "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and break it apart using as many different literary criticism as possible.  In my regular inclusion English IV class, we use this in our first book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time when we discuss the chapter where Father hits Christopher.

I draw this on the board, stopping to explain before drawing the next image:

Once I draw BOOK 1, I say this is the author and the book he wanted to write.  It is what was in his head as he envisioned the plot, characters, setting, etc.

Then I draw BOOK 2 and explain that this is the book that was written.  We all know that the ideas in our head does not always come out clearly in our writing.  Plus, this has undergone revision, editing, advice from trusted readers, publisher mandates, and many other things that changed the original idea.

I wrap up with BOOK 3 - this is the book we read in our head.  Everyone in the classroom read the same text, but because we all have different life experiences, different relationships with parents, friends, neighbors, different cultural backgrounds, and different environments in which we read (some of us were distracted, others hyper focused) - all these things lead to different feelings, different interpretations, different focuses.  In the "Woods" poem, our experience with snow and nature and possible previous interactions with Robert Frost impact out reading.  In Curious our relationship with our own father (or lack thereof) and our connection to someone on the spectrum will determine if we can forgive Father after this.  All these reactions are legitimate and part of the reading process.

It's why some people can (wrongly) enjoy the Star Wars sequel movies - they don't have the same baggage I bring with me to the movies.

Of course, just because we have certain reactions to characters and situations that differ from everyone, that doesn't dismiss the intention of the author and that can lead to a discussion of whether or not Shakespeare was successful in his intent to create an intense scene or Twain's ability to get his point across.

This discussion carries through my entire year and we often reference that third book.  It has increased participation in class discussions tremendously for me.

Characterization - Two Questions to Spark Discussion

I saw a quick interview video clip of author Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl) talking about character creation. He has the ability to create rich characters and supporting characters that feel like they have their own stories independent of the protagonist. He was asked how he does it and his reply is two questions - ones that I think our students would benefit from when analyzing characters:

1. What do they want?
2. What are they afraid of?

He says once he knows those two things about a character, it informs everything they do - whether it be shopping or fighting. 

If you've read the book, you get why the cat is wearing a tiara, sunglasses, and is riding a velociraptor. 

I will be using this today in my discussion with my students on the characters of Brave New World. Two simple questions that should spark quite a bit of discussion. Or maybe it won't. Who knows?

Here is the clip if you want to use it in class (it is less than a minute long): https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQk2M7IDOv2/

Famous Last Words

 I don't know how much you know about this guy:

His name is Thomas de Mahy and he was the Marquis de Favras during the French Revolution.  He was arrested and condemned to death on the testimony of two men, but without corroborating evidence.

So why does he get his own post on Extreme English Teachers?  Because of his last words.

Upon reading his death warrant, his only response was, "I see that you have made three spelling mistakes."

Ha!  THAT is AWESOME!  If you've got to go, might as well go out in style.