Storytelling with
Visuals

MOTIVATIONAL SET:

1.  If you have an opportunity to use the Culture Room at Chief Whitecap School, please book the room as this lesson would be effectively delivered there.
2.  Prepare students for viewing the YouTube video of Chief Arvol Looking Horse Speaking of the White Buffalo Prophecy. You can use the 3-2-1 Graphic Organizer and have students record as they listen (this could be handed in for evidence on listening):
   •  3 key points they took from the video.
   •  2 connections they made to their life, the world, or other information they have heard or read.
   •  1 question or wonder they are left with.
3.  Discuss key elements of the what was shared in the video and what students recorded as they listened to the video (portions or all of the video might need to be viewed more than once).
4.  Discuss with students how Chief Arvol tells the story of the White Buffalo Women. How would visuals help you to visualize the story better?

MAIN PROCEDURES:

1.  Arrange students into groups. You can choose group sizes depending on the make-up of your class. Recommended group sizes would be 3.
2.  Allow student groups to choose one of the 4 Dakota Story options:
   • The White Buffalo Calf Women
   • Turtle Island
   • The First Flute
   • How the Fawn Got its Spots
3.  Once groups have chosen the story they wish to visually re-tell. Hand the group the Visual Thinking Sheet for that specific story.
   •  The White Buffalo Calf Women Visual Thinking Sheet
   •  Turtle Island Visual Thinking Sheet
   •  The First Flute Visual Thinking Sheet
   •  How the Fawn Got it’s Spots Visual Thinking Sheet
4.  Construct Criteria with students about creating a retelling of the story. Students can record the criteria on the Visuals Criteria Handout.
5.  Students work as a group, highlighting specific words that give them a visual cue and then in the visual thinking box to the right of the word the students would indicate the image or scene that they see. This will allow students to see the relationship that between the textual cues and their images.
6.  Students then split the story into sections and use the Storyboard Handout to create a draft layout.
7.  Students choose appropriate images or make their own images in order to retell the story. Students can use the image gallery in the Whitecap Dakota Lessons Website, or do an internet search to find creative commons pictures which can be freely used and downloaded. If you are at Chief Whitecap School, there is a set of picture magnets that might have images that students would like. Teaching appropriate use of using images off the internet is important.

CLOSING:

1.  Invite care partners or younger students to come to hear the stories. If using the Culture Room at Chief Whitecap School, the stories can be told on the wall with the buffalo and horses, or the wall with the trees.
2.  Optional: If you have the book The First Flute in the David Bouchard version, share the Dakota reading that is on the CD while you show the pictures from the picture book and students listen and view.

POSSIBLE ADAPTATIONS, DIFFERENTIATIONS OR EXTENSIONS:

Adaptations
• Choose which stories based on the grade and the make-up of the class.

Differentiation
• Specific images could be chosen for different stories if the teacher feels that appropriate choices could not be made.

Extension
• Invite an Elder in to tell another traditional story or an adult from another culture to share one of their traditional stories.