English 9 – Tableau Novel – “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”

1) Introduction/ Exposition  

– The beginning of the book, background information is provided by the author, who, what where, when etc. The exposition is when the book introduced Junior as an indigenous 14-year-old boy, living on a poor reservation and born with a medical condition called excess cerebral fluids, for which he gets bullied for. Rowdy is introduced as Junior’s best and only friend. This was the exposition of the book because it shows what living condition he currently is living in as an indigenous boy with a medical condition and how it affects his life. It also shows you what type of setting they live in where people are constantly unhappy and under stress, which causes an aggressive mood in the story. To visualize this scene, my group and I added some things to make the scenes seem more realistic. From the baggy clothes, thick black hair, short hair, and the poses of vulnerability and defensiveness to represent the appearance of Junior, the poses of aggressiveness that the bullies show by holding him up by his collar and pointing at him, as well as the setting background of the behind of a school with lots of trees. When you put all these elements together, it shows how badly Junior is treated and the environment he is surrounded with.  

2) Initiating Incident  

– The complicating, activating circumstance; the thing that gets the conflict going. It can be a decision, action, something said by a character. The initiating incident takes place after Mr. P’s consulting when Junior decides to transfer to an all-white school outside of the reservation. Rowdy, who is Junior’s best friend, gets mad at him and punches him for transferring to Reardan as thinking of it as a betrayal. This is the initiating incident because this is the event that caused all the events that were yet to come, without this incident, the book would have no climax. Nothing would have changed with his life and the people around him. To exemplify this scene, my group and I added some elements that would make the photo easier to follow. For Junior, he dressed in baggy clothing and was in a slouching position as if he were hesitant to exchange schools, yet, his position showed that he was walking away from the reservation (the right). Rowdy was shown in an angry and confused pose because he was frustrated at Junior leaving the school on the reservation. The umbrella in the middle represented a sign between Reardan (pointing to the left), the all-white school outside the reservation, and Wellpinit (pointing to the right), the school in the reservation.  

3) Rising Action 1  

– The events leading up to the climax. The first rising action occurs on the first day that Junior transfers to Reardan, a strong boy named roger is a bully and walks up to Junior with his friends and starts to make fun of him. Out of self-defence, Junior punches roger he falls to the ground. Roger and his friends think of the punch as surprising, so they run away in fear. This is the first rising action because it is the first thing that happens that after he exchanges schools to Rearden that would affect Junior’s life and how his peers see him. To show this scene, we used many different techniques to show this scene in one photo. Junior was wearing thick black glasses, baggy clothes, and was showing the movement of him punching roger. Roger was on the ground with a surprised expression and looking defenseless. There are 2 of Roger’s friends standing next to Roger trying to help him and trying to stop Junior. The setting is at the front of Reardan on the ground to show the atmosphere of the setting.  

4) Rising Action 2   

– The events leading up to the climax. The second rising action is a little bit after he meets Penelope; his crush. He goes to her volleyball game and goes completely head over heels for her. Penelope is described as popular, and gorgeous. Because of Junior’s charming personality towards Penelope, she develops an interest in him. This is the second rising action because this is the first time that shows Junior shows development in the aspect of him learning how to talk to new people and to socialize. This photo represents how he is starting to fit into Reardan although he is the only indigenous kid who attends there. To represent this scene, Junior was wearing baggy clothes, thick glasses, short hair, and was holding up a heart as a metaphor of how much he adores Penelope. Penelope has long hair and was in the pose to set the volleyball. The player on the other side is posing as if they are ready to hit the ball. With these two players together, it gives an illusion as if they are playing volleyball together. The setting this was taken in was an indoor gym space mimicking a volleyball court.  

5) Rising Action 3  

-The events leading up to the climax. The last rising action is when he tries out for the school’s basketball after encouragement from his peers. When he tries out, he ends up being the best shooter the coach has ever seen. Because of that, he makes the varsity team the only freshman. This is the third rising action because it is the main thing that causes the climax. If it were not for Junior joining the basketball team, the climax would not have existed. Joining the basketball team is what gained his own confidence. It is also what made him feel like he belonged at Reardan rather than an outsider. His making the varsity team proved to many white kids that indigenous people can be incredibly talented in things they didn’t know. To represent this scene, Junior was holding a basketball in his hand, wearing baggy clothing, thick black glasses, and standing in a proud pose to celebrate his winning. The coach is pointing at Junior showing that he made the team while reading off his notepad. The other player is showing disappointment that they didn’t make it into the team. The setting is in the gym mimicking the actual location the story took place.  

6) Climax  

– The events leading up to the climax, the highest moment of intensity or tension in the story, the turning point of the story. The climax is at the basketball game. Coach changed Junior’s check to Rowdy, because of this Junior steals the ball from rowdy which causes him to gain confidence. Junior’s team (Reardan) beats Rowdy’s team (Wellpinit) at the re-match. This is the climax because this scene is when Junior finally accepts himself, as well as finding his relief. He realizes that he doesn’t have to see himself as split in two and that he himself is his identity. As a basketball player, cartoonist, bookworm, son, and indigenous person. This scene also symbolizes domination against Rowdy because this is when he proves himself to Rowdy through basketball. When he beats Rowdy, it proves to Rowdy that he can be successful without him an individual at an all-white school. To show this photo, Junior is wearing baggy clothes and thick glasses. He and his teammate are standing in a big and proud pose as a way of saying that they won. Rowdy to the left has a disappointed and shrugged pose as a representation of his team’s loss. The setting is in a gym as a way of symbolizing the actual scene.  

7) Falling Action 

– The events following the climax. The falling action occurs when Junior is unexpectedly informed about Mary’s sudden death while art school. After Junior’s dad picked him up from school, Junior and his family go to her funeral to grieve and give their respects to her. This is the falling action because it is the main thing that happens between the climax and the conclusion. This scene also shows the reality and challenges indigenous people face daily. Even after Junior’s win, a tragic event happens unexpectedly. Mary was a very present character in the book, which we also thought was living her best life in Montana. In this photo, Junior is wearing baggy clothes, down on his knees, crying to show sadness. Junior’s parents are standing beside junior as a way of comforting him. They are also holding an umbrella to show that it is raining on the day of the funeral. Although Mary’s body was not present during the funeral in the book, we still showed Mary as a representation of her corpse holding a RIP sign indicating that she had passed away. The picture was taken outside as a way of showing the setting in the book. A park on the reservation. 

8) Conclusion 

– The solving of the conflict; a final episode at the end of the story where something is clarified or explained. The conclusion occurs after Mary’s funeral. Rowdy and Junior meet up near her funeral. They talk their problems out, catch up, and have a couple of laughs. The book ends off with a good note of them playing basketball together. This is the conclusion because this is the last event of the book, when the main conflict of the book is solved, which is the conflict between Junior and Rowdy. This is also the first time in the book where Rowdy finally accepts who Junior is and his decisions. In this photo, Junior is wearing baggy clothes, thick glasses, and is holding a basketball. Both Junior and Rowdy are high-fiving each other and have happy expressions on their faces as a way of showing that they are both happy and relieved that they are friends again. The photo was taken in a basketball court as a way of showing the setting in the book which was also a basketball court. 

 

English 9 – Indigenous Exploration – Residential schools (Kamloops indian residential school)

Group Members: Eun-Sae, Yara, Elandi, Kennedy

Reflection:

My experiences creating this assignment:

This assignment was a good refresher from using audacity and the unfortunate history of the ingenious people. I enjoyed learning new things like using a microphone which I found interesting because it felt as if we were recording a professional podcast opposing to a downgrade of a computer mic. As for creating a podcast, it took some time to get used to the style of recording. When I am recording, I’m used to a more formal speaking style and tone. Likewise, I had to imagine that the recording devices weren’t there so I wouldn’t sound like a robot. Through this project, I met some new people and worked with some of my friends. I became more comfortable with the environment around me. Overall I think that this was a very educating and enjoyable assignment.

Our group’s path in researching the topic:

Our group started by sharing one-word document so, all our information goes to a source that is visible to all of us. The first place we reached for where the school resources like gale or topic finder. We found that those resources were helpful because of how organized they were. With Google, it was a quick search because the residential school we researched was a pretty well-known school based on current events. We primarily looked for ethically sourced websites because the information was more accurate and to heart. After we gathered all of our research, we cited them, then went on to recording.

Obstacles or items I learnt in the recording:

We experienced and overcame many obstacles. The first obstacle we went through was learning how to use the microphone called the blue yeti snowball. The simple mistake of not connecting the audio to audacity, we needed to record the introduction again. The second obstacle we went through was getting the hang of the idea of sounding natural, but with a few laughs, we overcame our second obstacle. Our third obstacle was regulating the ratio of person to person speaking. Since we hit record and left it running for the whole block, we found that we were all collaborating with each other’s ideas, but some people from our group excluded themselves in the process. We all tried to make everyone feel equally included, which worked out in the end. Our last but most basic obstacle was remembering how to use audacity. Although it took a bit to use audacity, we remembered it all after a few uses.

Core competency Option 2: Communication- What are some ways to communicate your learning:

Comparing the ways I communicated my learning from a couple of years ago to the present, I believe that I have improved in showing my learning. From using blog websites like edublog, learning new online websites like sway and teams. Presentation sites like PowerPoint and sway help me show my learning during oral presentations. Furthermore, the most straightforward way that I communicate my learning is through tests and quizzes. I believe that it is the most direct way for teachers to understand our levels of learning. A big part of the ways that I communicate nowadays is through technology.

Sources:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/kamloops-residential-school-findings-1.6084185  

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjg0rLF7MfzAhW6JTQIHdImCqkQtwJ6BAglEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tru.ca%2Findigenous%2Findigenous-education-team%2Flanguage.html&usg=AOvVaw3hJPtuQYwx66CZdoUmKNxw 

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjr2dOC7sfzAhVFKn0KHRiXA8UQFnoECAMQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tourismkamloops.com%2Fthingstodo%2Fartsandculture%2Fkamloopsindigenous%2F&usg=AOvVaw0wVBALGIZmzEsX5_e2QtJQ 

https://globalnews.ca/news/7915520/kamloops-residential-school-survivors-stories/  

https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&u=43dcbs&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA663514831&searchId=R5&tabID=T003&linkSource=termClusters&inPS=true  

https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&u=43dcbs&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA666718900&searchId=R6&tabID=T003&linkSource=termClusters&inPS=true