Rules and Responsibilities

Was It the Pied Piper's Fault?

Meredith Henderson
Elementary School Teacher
Franklin, Tennessee
89001

AUDIENCE: These activities are designed for capable students in grades one through four. Lessons may be adapted for broader levels.

PURPOSE: The goal of this program is to enable students to understand responsibility by considering situations from children's literature. Emphasis is placed on the connections between people and their responsibilities to each other and themselves, as well as an appreciation for the perspective of various characters in a story. Questions, discussions, and activities are planned to develop thinking skills. The lessons fit easily into the social studies or language arts curriculum or serve as an enrichment program.

TIME TO COMPLETE: These four units require three hours each. Two one and one-half hour programs for each unit are suitable.

PROCEDURES: A literature selection is read to or by students. Discussion, questions, and an activity designed to examine the theme follow. There is a debriefing after the activity.

ACTIVITY I: Was it the Pied Piper's Fault?

PROCEDURE: Read the poem, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" by Robert Browning to the class. Ask the students to write who they think is responsible for the children's disappearance and why they think as they do. Discuss the events in the poem. Be sure the following questions are considered:

Who was responsible for the agreement with the Pied Piper?
Who is responsible for the children's disappearance?
Who is hurt?
Who is responsible for righting the wrong?

ACTIVITY: Mock Trial: Assign students parts of the Pied Piper, mayor, little lame boy, townspeople, a jury, lawyers for each side and a judge. Divide them into groups to help the lawyers prepare questions. This may be done with general group discussion if there is only one adult leader and the group has had limited experience in questioning. Students list reasons Pied Piper is responsible for the children's kidnapping. Plan questions to be asked and to whom they will be asked in order to show that responsibility. Then list reasons mayor might be considered responsible and plan questions which would show that. What information will the jury need? Conduct the trial, assisting students with their roles. Because of the age group, strict adherence to courtroom procedures is not expected. The prosecuting attorney opens the case with a statement, as does the defense attorney. Lawyers call witnesses, question them, and cross-examine them. Since questioning is the key to this activity. they may need to call occasional recesses to consider next questions. After questioning is completed, the jury discusses evidence presented. It will be useful if the class can observe the jury discussion. Throughout this activity the leader's role is to help students stay on the subject and remember their purpose. After the jury makes its decision, it is announced to the students.

DEBRIEFING:

Could other questions have helped?
Was the problem solved by the court?
Were some problems solved?
Are there further responsibilities that need to be considered? Do you agree with your first decision?

EVALUATION: Teacher observes students' abilities to use questions and to determine further questions. If desired, students may be given their first questionnaire and told to write on the back if they would change any of their answers.

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY: Conduct a trial of the mayor for breach of contract, using similar procedures.

MATERIALS:

A copy of Robert Browning's The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Pencils and paper.

ACTIVITY II: Can a Bear Be Responsible?

PROCEDURE: Read The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward to the students. Before starting discussion ask each child to write the answer to the following question: Who is responsible for the damage the bear caused and what should happen? Discuss the events of the story and the following questions:

What happened?
What kind of community was this?
How do people think of bears?
How did Johnny think of his bear?
How did the community think of Johnny's bear?
What was Johnny going to have to do? Why?

ACTIVITY: Puppet show
Make simple puppets from materials listed below. Use a draped table or large box for a stage. Let students divide into groups
of 6 to 8, select characters, and make puppets. Characters include: Johnny, his mother and father, his grandfather, the bear
and the neighbors--Mr. McLean, Mr. Pennell, Mr. McCarroll, and the men from the zoo. Mrs. McLean, Mrs. Pennell, and Mrs. McCarroll may be included or substituted. Students use their puppets to act out the story, practicing and then presenting it for the entire group.

DEBRIEFING: Discuss the following questions:

Who is responsible for the damage?
What if the zoo men hadn't come?
Is it fair to the bear? Why or why not?
What happens in a neighborhood when dogs mess up the trash? Do animals have rights? Who is responsible for them?
What is each actor's viewpoint? (Ask students who played each role first.) Act out the story again. The zoo men don't come.
What happens?
Can you think of some other solutions?
Who is responsible? Who gets hurt?
Is it possible to keep everyone from getting hurt?
What should happen? What is right?

EVALUATION: Would you make any changes in your answer to the question we asked at the beginning? Who is responsible for the damage the bear caused and what should happen? Would you add to your answer? If so, give students time to comment.

MATERIALS: Copy of The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward, Houghton Mifflin Books, 1952.
Paper plates, sticks or rulers to attach to plates and hold, construction paper, tape, glue, markers or crayons.

ACTIVITY III: Are We Responsible for Our Brothers and Sisters?

PROCEDURE: Students read Madeline L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time before the class does this unit. Discuss major events of this book.

What is a tesseract?
What do we know about the school? Examine from each child's perspective--Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin.
What do we know about the family in the book?
What responsibilities do the family members feel for each other?
Examine particularly the role of Mother, a scientist who works in her home laboratory, cooking soup on the lab equipment.
What do the children feel about their responsibilities to their father?
What does Meg feel for Charles Wallace and Charles
Wallace for Meg? Mother for the others? Father for the children?

Cite events from the book to explain answers. What risks do they take? Who was hurt or could have been hurt? Who was responsible on Camaztoz?

ACTIVITY ROLE PLAY: Review part of the story in which Meg rescues Charles Wallace. Let one student be IT and two others be the children. Divide in threesomes and role play the parts.

DEBRIEFING: How are Meg and Charles Wallace different? How are their responsibilities different? Can you think of a different way it might end? Act it out. Why might that happen?

EVALUATION: Let group evaluate the different portrayals. How are they different? Have we discovered anything about responsibility? Write it down.

FOLLOW-UP ART ACTIVITY: Divide children into groups. Ask them to make artistic representations that will show something of the theme of responsibility. After completion students explain to the total group how their work shows responsibility. To evaluate, again ask how the different groups' representations are different. How are they alike? Have we discovered anything else?

MATERIALS: Copies of Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle; Farrar, Straus & Girous, Inc., 1962.
Larger sheets of paper, markers or crayons.

ACTIVITY IV: Are We Responsible for Everyone?

PROCEDURE: Read chapters one and two of Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl to the students. Discuss the three farmers and Mr. Fox. Are they mean? Why or why not? What is the job of each? During and after reading, discuss perspectives of various
characters.

SUGGESTED QUESTIONS:

Why does Mr. Fox take food from the farmers?
Do animals have responsibility? If so, how is it different from people's responsibility? If Mr. Fox were a person, what else might he do?
What responsibility do the farmers have? How do they think of Mr. Fox?

EVALUATION: Ask students to role play Mr. Fox and the farmers. Have each explain his responsibility.

EVALUATION OF PROGRAM: In order to evaluate the program students and parents can be asked to answer questions at the beginning and end of the program. Teachers should conduct an ongoing evaluation throughout the sessions. Students were asked at the beginning and end of the program to explain what responsibility meant. They were also given hypothetical situations concerning responsibility and asked to tell what they would do.

Parents were asked to answer these questions at the beginning of the program:

What indications, if any, has your child given of interest in the idea of responsibility?
What do you hope your child will gain from this program?

At the end of the program parents were asked:

Have you had an opportunity to discuss responsibility with your child? If so, have you noticed ideas or understanding that you had not been aware of previously? In a continuation of this program what would you like to see included?

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ACTIVITIES
How the Camel Got His Hump by Rudyard Kipling- Justice, Responsibility

The Elephant's Child by Kipling--Authority, Justice
Activity--Cartoon representations of the stories and emphasis on the language.

The Cowtail Switch by Courlander and Herzog-Responsibility
Activity--Flannel board stories--Students made figures for the flannel board and told the story.

The Unicorn in the Garden from James Thurber's Fables for Our Time--Emphasis on language and expressions in the story as well as justice.

The Goldfish by Eleanor Farjeon--Perspective
Activity--Watercolors--Represent the goldfish and his world.

The Devoted Friend by Oscar Wilde--Responsibility, Justice
Activity--Storytelling--parts of a story. Listen to tapes of Jackie Torrence telling Jack Tales.

Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss--Responsibility

The Moth and the Star and the Rabbits Who Caused All the Trouble by James Thurber from Fables for Our Time--Justice

DISCUSSION OF HOW STORIES ARE USED TO TEACH LESSONS, ROLE-PLAYING:

The Red Balloon by Albert Lamorisse--Justice and a lesson in a story
Activity--Tissue art--Students used tissue paper to illustrate the story.

Vasilissa the Beautiful by Post Wheeler--Justice and story structure
Activity--Determining what stories are like this one, combining two other stories and acting them out.

Fresh by Philippa Pearce--Justice, Responsibility
Activity--Debate

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss--Conservation--Responsibility
Activity--Debate

The King and The Shirt and The Raven and His Young by Leo Tolstoy--Justice
Activity--Making and using puppets to act out stories.