Literacy Links

The Totem Pole project gives many opportunities for meeting the English National Curriculum requirements. It provides a resource and a topic that can be exploited in many ways eg. writing of personal and local legends, designing a personal totem pole and writing the story of the pole to accompany it.

The use of the WWW site itself will be primarily centred around reading the diary and discussion area, and writing contributions for the discussion area. The project is designed for KS2, though it is also relevant at KS3. It meets the requirements of the KS2 English curriculum as follows:

KS2 curriculum programme	Totem Pole project fit
Reading
1. Range
a) Pupils should be encouraged to develop as enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers. Opportunities for reading should include both independent and shared reading of play scripts and other texts, by groups and the whole class.	In the Totem Pole project pupils have a unique and motivating opportunity to communicate with indigenous peoples and to read about the carving of the Exeter Totem Pole.
b) Pupils should read and use a wide range of sources of information, including those not specifically designed for children. The range of non-fiction should include IT-based reference materials, newspapers, encyclopaedias, dictionaries and thesauruses.	The project allows the integration of different forms of ICT-based reading: use of WWW and email, use of CD-Rom encyclopaedias for background research. The links to other relevant WWW sites allows children to access authentic resources that were not originally purposed for educational use.
c) Pupils' reading should include text with challenging subject matter that broadens perspectives and extends thinking.	The ability to read the WWW resource materials (on or off-line, or on paper), understand and engage in the First Nations culture and its distinct values and meanings mindset will challenge and broaden the children's perspectives. It is also expected that teachers would wish to encourage their children to reflect on their own personal values and those of their community.
d) The literature read should cover the following categories: ... texts drawn from a variety of cultures and traditions; myths, legends and traditional stories...	The majority of texts within the discussion area and the diary will be written by the Nuu-chah-nulth themselves (both those visiting Exeter and Nuu-cha-nulth children in Vancouver Island), and will include traditional texts. This will allow children to gather a real understanding of how symbol, myth, and legend work within the cultural life of a living community.
2. Key Skills
c) Pupils should be taught how to find information in books and computer-based sources by using organisational devices to help them decide which parts of the material to read closely. They should be given opportunities to read for different purposes, adopting appropriate strategies for the task, including skimming to gain an overall impression, scanning to locate information and detailed reading to obtain specific information. Pupils should be taught to: pose pertinent questions about a topic they are investigating; identify the precise information that they wish to know; distinguish between fact and opinion...	Children will need to employ a range of reading strategies both within the diary and the discussion area. They will need to scan the entries to check if their intended questions have already been answered and then read in detail to ensure that previous entries have directly met their line of enquiry. Children could be encouraged to open up different lines of enquiry: e.g. totem poles, stories, education in the Nuu-cha-nulth school, daily life etc. The discussion area is dependant on children asking pertinent questions and then evaluating the responses received and following up with subsequent questions. The Totem Pole WWW site will include both fact and fiction and fiction within factual replies (e.g. the mythical origins of symbols and imagery used in Totem Poles.
Writing
1. Range
a) Pupils should be given opportunities to write for varied purposes, understanding that writing is essential to thinking and learning, and enjoyable in itself. They should be taught to use writing as a means of developing, organising and communicating ideas.	Using this interactive WWW site will allow children to communicate using the internet, and therefore to understand the value of the internet in communicating ideas. The project topic provides the basis of a wealth of ideas for fiction and non-fiction writing.
b) Pupils should be given opportunities to write for an extended range of readers, eg the teacher, the class, other children, adults in the school or community, imagined audiences. They should write in response to a wide range of stimuli.	In the discussion area children will primarily be writing to (and for) senior members of an indigenous community. Other unknown adults and children will also be able to read their messages, which are in fact also available to the general public.
c) They should be taught to use the characteristics of different kinds of writing, eg argument, commentary, narrative, dialogue.	Children here will need to understand the contemporary stylistic requirements of a WWW based discussion.
2. Key Skills
a) Pupils should be taught to write in response to more demanding tasks. As pupils write for a wider range of purposes, they should be taught to distinguish degrees of formality in writing for unfamiliar audiences, eg as appropriate to guidebooks, pamphlets, reviews. They should be encouraged to make judgements about when a particular tone, style, format or choice of vocabulary is appropriate.	Children are writing to a formal and public audience in the discussion area.
b) Pupils should be given opportunities to plan, draft and improve their work on paper and on screen, and to discuss and evaluate their own and others` writing. To develop their writing, pupils should be taught to: plan - note and develop initial ideas; draft - develop ideas from the plan into structured written text; revise - alter and improve the draft; proofread - check the draft for spelling and punctuation errors, omissions or repetitions; present - prepare a neat, correct and clear final copy. Pupils should be encouraged to develop their ability to organise and structure their writing in a variety of ways, using their experience of fiction, poetry and other texts.	A typical process for children to follow when composing questions might be: Read latest WWW entries (diary and discussion area: these could be printed out if necessary or read on-line by a few and reported back to the class) Compose questions in response to themes already covered or to open up new themes: draft questions in a word processor, Proofread questions Read latest entries on WWW again to check that the questions have not been covered ion the meantime Revise and redraft questions as required by 3 (in word preocessor). Proofread questions Post questions to the WWW discussion area (copy from word processor and paste into WWW page).
3. Standard English and Language Study
a) Pupils should be given opportunities to reflect on their use of language, beginning to differentiate between spoken and written forms. They should be given opportunities to consider how written standard English varies in degrees of formality.	WWW discussions, although written, are closer to spoken language in tone and structure. Children should be encouraged to reflect on this and respond to the level of formality and structure as it evolves during June.

Further literacy extension activities:

Reading

Reading newspaper coverage of the exhibition: this could be linked to children preparing their own reports.
Children do library research to learn more about First Nations in Canada. A comparison can then be made between different nations.
Read museum publicity.
Children read European folklore and myths traditional and modern.
Search the WWW to find information about other indigenous peoples around the world: eg searching for tribe, first nation, indigenous, and report back findings to class.
Read Nort Wext Coast Indian folktales, poems and songs.

Writing

Children write personal stories that are used to inform the design of their own totem pole (maybe on paper).
Write a news report on the exhibition (this could draw extensively on the diary data, particularly of the 10th June: additional questions could be asked via the discussion area.)
Write a play or poem based on the story of the Nuu-cha-nulth pole.
Write a guide to the exhibition for visitors.
A piece of mythic style writing having read traditional and/or contemporary myths and fables and having considered the style and structure appropriate to this type of writing.
Write a letter to the Canadian Embassy asking for information about other First Nations in Canada.
Design an advert for the exhibition.
Write up a summary of the process of making a totem pole.
Prepare a class encyclopaedia entry for the Nuu-cha-nulth.
Write a glossary of Canadian First Nations symbols.
Write a questionnaire to survey local people about symbols: importance, examples of symbols (traditional and contemporary).
Prepare questions to the pole itself or to the individual aniamls and characters on the pole. Children could then role play the pole, aniamls or characters and give replies to questios asked.

Web page created by Elayne Taylor and Dominic Prosser of The Telematics Centre. It is supported by T3, a DGXIII_C EU funded project and Exeter City Council..
The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter is a service provided by Exeter City Council.