unit

Hangin' with the Red Scarf Girl

overview

 The Introduction: 

Hangin’ with the Red Scarf Girl is an end of unit exploration of the Cultural Revolution in China (1966-1976).  This is your opportunity to pull together all that you have learned in Language Arts and World Cultures during the past four weeks.  You should refer to the Red Scarf Girl, your class notes, various handouts, writing and poster assignments, and the resources included below.  You are expected to use your best writing and revising skills in order to turn in a high quality product.  By the way, as you know from our year together, learning always goes better when you’re having fun.  Look for places to smile at the humor, cry at the pathos, and play along with the premise. 

The Mission: 

You have been assigned the job of a Cultural Investigator. Explore the art forms, writings, memoirs and reflections, historical facts, main characters, and the events of the Cultural Revolution in China between 1966 and 1976. The goal of your explorations is to create a dossier report on aspects of the Cultural Revolution, and to bring all that you have learned together into a final piece which answers how two cultural universals, literature and art, were used to either build up or tear down cultural unity and stability. Complete the following steps to earn your Cultural Investigator badge.

Task 1.   Background of the Cultural Revolution: (WC HW 4/27-29)
Prior to beginning the Cultural Revolution, Mao led the Communist Party in the Great Leap Forward.  Make an analysis chart like the one below and fill it in as you read.

Choose at least on article about the Great Leap Forward and at least one article about the Cultural Revolution, in addition to reading the required article "Details on the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution" hand-out from class.

Using your chart, write a one paragraph analysis of Chairman Mao’s leadership. Begin with a topic sentence:  The leadership of Chairman Mao during the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution was positive/negative (pick only one) because of its impact on the people of China.  Write several detailed sentences which clearly support your position.  End your paragraph with a forcefully worded, propaganda-like sentence supporting or attacking Mao.

Links: Great Leap Forward:  http://tinyurl.com/cvr7fb

                            http://www.mahalo.com/The_Great_Leap_Forward

                            http://tinyurl.com/cb2gjb

          Cultural Revolution: http://tinyurl.com/c6q5ly

                              http://www.mahalo.com/The_Cultural_Revolution

                              http://tinyurl.com/cvr7fb  open the subheadings

                              http://tinyurl.com/dn4s5u

          Photos:  http://www.rwor.org/i/china/gprc1.htm and http://tinyurl.com/dge5z5

Task 2.   Four Olds Poster Assignment: (in LA class 4/20-21)

In this assignment you will demonstrate your understanding of what the 'Four Olds' were and how art and language were combined by the Red Guards to advance the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution. Review the chapter on ‘Four Olds’ (pages 19-37) in Red Scarf Girl for ideas, and design a poster which might have been used in the Red Guard attacks on the 'Four Olds'.  Your poster must: 

---Be made out of red construction paper with black or white letters

---Contain a protest slogan which could have been from the Cultural Revolution days in China (Think about the Red Guards’ role in protest and enforcement of the 'Four Olds' )

---Contain a quote from Chairman Mao

Website with Mao quotes: http://art-bin.com/art/omaotoc.html

Task 3. Cultural Revolution Life Journal Entry: (in LA class 5/5-10)

Now that you’ve read this account of life during the Cultural Revolution, you will be writing a journal entry about a particular incident recorded in Red Scarf Girl from another character’s viewpoint. You will sign up for your preference of journal entries in Language Arts class. Your one to two page entry should give details about the particular incident and reactions of the character to the event. 

Remember that you are taking on another person’s viewpoint and your job is try to write what you imagine that person was seeing, experiencing and feeling before, during and after the incident. 

#1  Incident: Writing Da-Zi-Bao (p. 38-43)                  Characters: Yin Lan-lan, Zhang Jie

#2  Protest at Aunt Xi-wen’s house (p. 43-48)               Characters:Yin Lan-lan, Aunt Xi-wen

#3  Reading the Da-Zi-Bao (p. 48-51)                       Character: An Yi

#4  Red Successor Nomination (p. 56-59)                    Characters: Teacher Gu, Du Hai

#5  Taking Grandma to Doctor (p. 89-94)                    Characters: Ji-yong, Grandma

#6  Stealing of Old Qian’s Bicycle (p.108-112)               Character: Old Qian

#7  Burning of Family Pictures (p. 122-125)                 Characters: Mom, Dad

#8  Reading Fortunes (p. 152-155)                          Character: An Yi

#9  “May We Study at Home?” (p. 163-165)                  Characters:Teacher Zhang,Bai Shan

#10  Mom at the Office (p. 183-185)                         Character: Mom

#11  Police Station (p. 211-215)                              Character: Officer Ma

#12  Interrogation (p. 223-227)                               Character: Thin-Face

#13  The Rice Field (p. 233-237)                              Character: Bai Shan

#14  The Raid for the Letter (p. 247-249)                      Character: Mom

#15  Grandmother Sweeping (p. 260-263)                      Character: Grandma

Task 4.   The Chairman Smiles:  Analyzing Poster Art of the Cultural Revolution: (in WC class 5/3-10)

Poster art is a means of communicating ideas about culture and society. The Chinese posters from the following website once traveled the world as a cultural showpiece and were very influential. Today, they are valuable collector’s items.

Examples of Cultural Revolution poster art: http://www.iisg.nl/exhibitions/chairman/chnintro2.php

Other information about poster art of the Cultural Revolution:

http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/exhib/poster/PictPow1.html

Background info:  http://home.wmin.ac.uk/china_posters/contexts.html

Your teacher will give a PowerPoint preview lesson in class. Take notes during the presentation.

Then, read the introduction to the Cultural Revolution poster site.  Then, click on posters #21, #26, #40, #45, #53. Think about what you see in each of these posters.  Make sure to read the accompanying explanation of each poster. Complete a notes page (like the one shown below) for each poster that you examine. Now, spend some time browsing other posters which interest you.  Think about how the subject matter, color and style of each poster were carefully used to communicate a message. For help, you can look back at your class notes from the lessons that used paintings and posters to compare and contrast various aspects of dynastic and communist China. Again, create a note sheet for each poster that you examine.

Next, you will work with a small group from your class to develop a PowerPoint presentation which uses two posters from the on line exhibit to analyze their images and message based on the following two areas: 

• How are the images similar to and different from what was happening in China during the Cultural Revolution?  Give examples from your book, class notes, and the posters.

• How were posters, their artistic styles, and subject matter used to help advance the ideas of the Cultural Revolution?

Your group will develop a script to accompany your PowerPoint presentation.  Your teacher will provide you with a MindMap planner to organize your script. 

Finally, you and your group will record your script as narration on your PowerPoint before turning it in.

The Chairman Smiles:
Analyzing Poster Art of the Cultural Revolution
notes

Poster # and Title: _______________________________

Task 5. Vocabulary Tic Tac Toe

Choose three activities in any tic-tac-toe design: horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.  The vocabulary words and the definitions can be found in the glossary of Red Scarf Girl on pages 273-285.

Task 6. Socratic Seminar

Chairman Mao once said, [Our purpose is] ‘to ensure that literature and art fit well into the whole revolutionary machine as a component part, that they operate as powerful weapons for uniting and educating the people and for attacking and destroying the enemy, and that they help fight the enemy with one heart and one mind.’

Considering all that you have learned in this Language Arts/World Cultures unit, how did literature and art both unite and divide the hearts and minds of China’s people during the Cultural Revolution?

Your task is to respond to Chairman Mao’s idea in a Socratic Seminar. You will be assigned a group which will either discuss how literature and art united or divided the hearts and minds of China’s people. Preparation for the Socratic Seminar will be important, and you should be prepared to clearly and concisely share the information you have gleaned during your preparation with the group. Remember Socratic Seminars are conversations, so you should listen intently and thoughtfully question your peers.