The students are learning about Native American tribes in their usual classes, so we did a project focused on a nearby tribe, the Hopi. This lesson took two days.
Day 1
The first day was an introduction to Hopi culture. The previous lesson had been about the Navajo, and they lived near the Hopi, so we reviewed them first. They didn’t remember much at first, but they remembered a few details once they got started.
Once past the general introduction, we talked about Hopi myths and stories. In Hopi culture, they use kachina dolls, to teach their children about important things such as religion and good values. This was a great way to show how art can tell a story through symbolism. For example, clothing can tell us that a kachina is an animal or a element of nature. We also talked about why it is important to remember and show gratitude, because Thanksgiving was coming up.
The assignment was to think of something that they are grateful for, then make a kachina doll that represents why they are grateful for that thing. The first day, we focused on conveying body language, facial expressions, as well as creating clothing and other items to help symbolize their message
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Day 2
The second day started with a review of what they learned last time. I was surprised how much they remembered.
Last time, I asked if they had any stories that had been passed down to them, in the same way that the Hopi pass down their legends. They were not able to think of any. This time, I had images of Hercules and The Tortoise and The Hare, and told them that these stories had been passed down to us for thousands of years, just like Hopi legends.
We also reviewed symbolism, but then went on to color symbolism. The main idea is “colors can remind us of objects or emotions.” Mr. Smith had the idea to talk about the characters from Inside Out, which worked out well. I found a website that talked about colors in Hopi culture, and it was great to talk about ways that symbols differ between cultures.
Then we passed out chalk pastels. I had planned on guiding the students through different techniques for using pastels, but Mr. Smith told the students that they should use the pastels to “create their own piece of modern art.” This ended up being really fun. We encouraged them to learn by experimenting and trying new things. If we saw a student use a cool technique, then we held up the artwork to show the other students.
Then we went on to color the actual kachina dolls. It was hard to be neat, and many of the students had trouble coloring small details. These are things that, next time, I will warn the students of ahead of time. However, the kids had a lot of fun, and did some great work.
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