Time of Remembrance: Lesson by Denise Phillips

Identifying Themes in Personal Narratives and Quotations

By Denise Phillips

OVERVIEW

GRADE LEVEL: 8th

CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
To review standards, see the California Department of Education’s website: http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ .

Reading
3.5 identify and analyze recurring themes (e.g., good versus evil) across traditional and contemporary works.

Social Science
2.0 Students will demonstrate the skills necessary for historical research, evidence, and point of view
3.0 The student will demonstrate the skills necessary for historical interpretation.

Writing
2.2 write responses to literature:

a) Exhibit careful reading and insight in their interpretations.
b) Connect the students’ own responses to the writer’s techniques and to specific textual references.
c) Draw supported inferences about the effects of a literary work on its audience.
d) Support judgments through references to the text, other works, other authors, or to personal knowledge.

Listening and Speaking
1.0 The students will deliver focused, coherent presentations that convey ideas clearly and relate to the background and interests of the audience. The students will evaluate the content of oral communication.

TIME REQUIRED: 1- 2 (55 minute) sessions depending on whether presentations are done on PowerPoint

MATERIALS:

Video Segments
Reaction Sheet
Internet Access

The Quotations Page - http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/
Think Exist Quotations - http://en.thinkexist.com/topics/
Life Interrupted Posters

Public Enemy http://www.lifeinterrupted.org/poster/poster1.pdf
Look American http://www.lifeinterrupted.org/poster/poster2.pdf
Key Enemy Targets http://www.lifeinterrupted.org/poster/poster3.pdf

OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the lesson students will have worked in cooperative groups to:

Identify an overall theme from a particular video segment from the Time of Remembrance…an Elk Grove Legacy website. (Reading 3.5) (History 2.0 and 3.0)
Justify their choice of this theme with examples from the Personal Narrative shown in the video segment. (Writing 2.2) (History 2.0 and 3.0)
Select a quote from the provided internet sites that best connects to the Personal Narrative in the Video Segment the theme chosen. (Reading 3.5)
Interpret their chosen quotation to justify the connection between this quote, the Personal Narrative and their theme. (Writing 2.2)
Develop an argument as to how this Personal Narrative and quotation can connect to and influence the lives of their 8th grade peers in a positive way. (Writing 2.2) (History 2.0 and 3.0)
Present the above information to their classmates with the last section (8) being done interactively by soliciting discussion from the class before presenting their argument. (History 2.0 and 3.0) (Listening and Speaking 1.0)

Optional: Create a PowerPoint presentation to display video segment, quotations, justification

INSTRUCTION

GUIDING QUESTION(S):

What is the overall message or lesson that you can take from the experience of your subject and how can you learn from and apply their experience to your own life?
How can you communicate this message to your peers to enable them to gain the same knowledge?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The Time of Remembrance Program was created in 1983 by the late Mary Tsukamoto, Elk Grove educator and lifelong civil rights activist. In 1942, Mary, her husband Al, and daughter Marielle were forced to leave their home with whatever possessions they could carry and relocate to an internment camp in Jerome, Arizona.

It was not until 1945 that Mary and her family returned to California, hoping to pick up the pieces of their lives in an atmosphere that was still charged with racial prejudices against Japanese-Americans. With much determination and courage, she pursued a career in teaching and became one of California's first Japanese-American teachers. Throughout her career, she worked tirelessly with local communities and schools to bring all races and ethnic backgrounds together. Part of her continuing local legacy is the Time of Remembrance Program, which she organized to bring Elk Grove students into contact with former internees to listen to their stories and to learn what it means to be an American citizen.

By participating in this lesson, students will be able to hear, first hand, the stories of other Japanese Internees in the Elk Grove area and take from them lessons that they can apply to their lives.

ANTICIPATORY SET:

Use “Life Interrupted” Posters to begin discussion of prior knowledge. Posters can be displayed or handed out to students.
Life Interrupted Posters
- Public Enemy http://www.lifeinterrupted.org/poster/poster1.pdf
- Look American http://www.lifeinterrupted.org/poster/poster2.pdf
- Key Enemy Targets http://www.lifeinterrupted.org/poster/poster3.pdf
Solicit Prior Knowledge of this order and the Historical Context

Explain that in this lesson, students will hear first hand experiences of Japanese Internees and will apply their experiences to their own lives.

PROCEDURES:

Divide Students into Groups of 3-4 students and assign each group one video clip to watch. Groups should watch the video at least 2 different times before beginning the reaction sheet. Addresses for the Video Clips are listed below.

Bob Uyeyama – Clip 2 - Loyalty oaths and "No, No's" can compare to loyalty oaths during the McCarthy trials. Dad was taken to Tule Lake Detention Center for not signing oath. Dad was separted from Family until the end of the war.
Christine Umeda – Clip 4 - Reflects on how fortunate her family was to have a house to return to, despite having a bit of a struggle getting tenants out. All the family possessions they had stored in the adjoining barn had been vandalized.
Frank Kageta – Clip 3 – time at Tule Lake – realizing they were prisoners, getting a job “doing pretty good”.
Gary Shiota – Clip 3 - Re-up for the military; sent to language school in Monterey to be a Japanese interpreter for US military; Sent to Tokoyo prison (Sukagawa?) interpreted for Tojo's wife; Admin Toshido; worst experience telling a woman of her husband's execution; describes other duties he performed.
Heidi Sakazaki – Clip 1 - Parents reaction to Pearl Harbor. She burned all items from Japan, she didn't want to seem Patriotic to Japan.
Heidi Sakazaki – Clip 3 - How even though she was in the Tule Lake Camp, that she really expressed how The United States was a very powerful country, and yet in her words "Our Constitution was violated. It is important that our constitution is upheld, and even though it is a piece of paper, it is up to all of us to uphold it."
Heidi Sakazaki – Clip 7 - Importance for people to know about the internment camps and a race can be targeted. It was just like when 9/11 happened, our country started targeting Muslims, and we as people needed to make sure that this didn't happen again.
Jerry Enomoto – Clip 5 - Similarities to Japanese internment and today. Jerry Enomoto – Clip 7 - Jerry describes cultural self-esteem and confidence.
Joyce Takahashi – Clip 1 -Paying respects to Lincoln in Washington DC, 6 months later Pearl Harbor is bombed and she is angry someone has bombed her country.
Kiyo Sato – Clip 3 - Resourcefulness of Father-hid one bed roll= hammer, nails, roll of wire, saw, bucket, a gallon jug, wrap old violin in one of blankets, bags of seeds (flower/vegetable). Their focus was always "For the Sake of The Children."
Lester Ouchida – Clip 6 - Reflections on career as impacted by life in camp
Reiko Nagumo – Clip 2 - Describes successes of her family after the camps. Her and her siblings graduated from college with degrees and PhDs. WOW!! Dedicated students.
Reiko Nagumo – Clip 3 - Lived a fulfilling life after the internment camp traveling the world. Theme: Overcoming obstacles. Stanley Umeda – Clip 1 - Explains importance of Time of Remembrance program. Needed now more than ever, with 9/11. "Thin veneer of tolerance" easily disappears. Need to renew efforts to "remember."

After watching the video clip, have groups complete the “Video Clip Discussion” section of the reaction sheet and record answers. This section enables groups to discuss their interpretations of the video clips and as come to a consensus as to the overall theme of the personal narrative.

Possible Themes:

Compassion	Change	Freedom	Tolerance
Perseverance	Dignity	Honor	Uncertainty
Loyalty	Communication	Hope	Pride
Patriotism	Community	Ignorance	Patience
Optimism	Forgiveness	Leadership	Family

The next step is to have groups go to one of the quotation sites listed in here and in the resource section and locate a quote that connects to the same theme as the personal narrative video clip they watched. They can search for the quotations by theme on this site and must appropriately give credit to the quote by providing relevant author and date information.

They then must complete the “Theme Quotation” section of the reaction sheet to develop a justification as to why they chose the quotation that they did. They will then work together to derive relevancy for their lives and the lives of their peers. In doing this they will record their thoughts in the “What does this mean to YOU!” section of the reaction sheet.

Groups will then begin to create a presentation to present their findings to their class and to encourage their classmates to develop their own meanings from the interview and the accompanying quotation. Many options exist for this including PowerPoint, Chart Paper, Overhead Projectors, etc.

Students present their video, interpretations, quotation to their classmates and then lead a discussion soliciting their classmate’s ideas on how the messages of the Japanese Internees can be a lesson for their lives.

EXTENSION AND DIFFERENTIATION ACTIVITIES:

Differentiation
Grouping provides opportunities for differentiation. Listed below are the Video clips that provide the most obvious connection to a specific theme with the theme listed.
Theme lists can be provided for some groups.
A PowerPoint template is provided for use by groups.

Extension
Groups can create a Digital Storytelling project using Photo Story 3 that tells the story of their video subject using words, images and music.

Write a letter that could be sent to the subject of your video explaining the impact that their experience and the sharing of it will have on their life.

EVALUATION ASSESSMENT:

Students will be evaluated on their written material, their ability to collaborate within their group and on their group presentations. A rubric for evaluation is included for the students on their reaction sheet and also below.

Evaluation Rubric	Exemplary	Good	Fair	Needs Improvement
Responses	Responses show a great deal of thought and understanding of both the experience of the video subject and the message conveyed. Ideas are justified completely and thoroughly.	Responses show a thought and understanding of both the experience of the video subject and the message conveyed. Ideas include justification.	Responses show a some thought and understanding of both the experience of the video subject and the message conveyed. Ideas show some justification.	Responses show very little thought and understanding of both the experience of the video subject and the message conveyed. Ideas are not justified satisfactorily.
Collaboration	Student worked extremely well with group in discussion, preparation and presentation of ideas.	Student worked well with group in discussion, preparation and presentation of ideas	Student worked fairly well with group in discussion, preparation and presentation of ideas	Student has problems working with group in discussion, preparation or presentation of ideas
Presentation	Presentation was not only clear, organized and thorough, but truly engaged the audience in examination of their own ideas in relation to the video clip and the theme presented.	Presentation clear, organized and thorough, and attempted to engage the audience in examination of their own ideas in relation to the video clip and the theme presented.	Presentation clear, organized and thorough, but did not engaged the audience in examination of their own ideas in relation to the video clip and the theme presented.	Presentation was not clear, organized and thorough, and did not engage the audience in examination of their own ideas in relation to the video clip and the theme presented.

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