After watching West of the West's documentary The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island, class members imagine how Juana Maria/Karana may have felt about living alone on the island for 18 years and craft a blackout poem or a narrative in her voice.

Concepts

Narrative Writing, narrative poetry, native americans, native american tribes, north american native americans, california history

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Show the video after a reading of Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins

Classroom Considerations

• Although the lesson can be incorporated in a unit that uses Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins as a core text, class members need not have read the novel to participate in the activity
• Presumes class members have watched the documentary The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island
• Writers should have experience crafting narratives, poems, and short stories
• The link to a blackout poetry techniques resource does not work; however, resources are readily available on the Internet

Pros

• The three-page packet includes discussion questions and writing options

Cons

• No scaffolding is provided for the writing activity nor is a rubric included

Common Core

W.7.3.a W.8.3.a W.9-10.3.a W.11-12.3.a