Blue Skin of the Sea

Goals:

1. Help students develop an understanding of what life was like for kids growing up in Hawaii in the 1950s.

2. Relate the issues and problems faced by Sonny, the main character of the story, to the students' concerns.

3. Connect ideas of the story to other parts of the A.L.O.H.A. curriculum.

Resources:

1. A classroom set of the novel:

Blue Skin of the Sea by Graham Salisbury (1992). New York, N.Y.: Bantam Doubleday Dell (ISBN 0-440-21905-1)

2. Movie clip from Old Man and the Sea.

Time:

This book will be used for seven one-hour slots in the literature section of the A.L.O.H.A. schedule. Because the chapters are all separate stories, one chapter per day will be read and analyzed. There are 11 chapters in the book, so teachers can either choose the best seven chapters and complete the book within the time frame, or read one chapter per day and continue reading Blue Skin of the Sea after the A.L.O.H.A. voyage is complete.

Procedure:

1. Each student will be expected to read the chapter of the day before class.

2. At the start of each one-hour period, there will be a discussion about the assigned chapter. The teacher will lead the discussion, taking the students through the chapter. This part of the discussion focuses on the chronological events and character recognition, not feelings or opinions of the students about what they read.

3. During the discussion, each student can speak only once or answer only one question. (This is provided class size is about 25 students. In a smaller class, each student may speak twice.) If the teacher asks a question that no one can answer, or if every student has spoken about the chapter, the discussion is over.

4. Once the discussion has ended, students have the option of handing in a reflection paper about that chapter, which would have been written prior to coming to class, or taking a quiz. The writing option is designed to allow students who are not good test takers another opportunity to show their knowledge.

5. The reflection paper will be 2-3 paragraphs in length and discuss the student's ideas about the chapter. Students who choose this option are expected to weave in story facts and opinion. They should pick out either a theme or specific event from the chapter and write about how it affected them. One option is to relate an event to a personal experience. Students who choose not to write the paper must take a 10-question quiz given orally by the teacher.

6. The quizzes are corrected immediately by classmates, passing them either right, left, forward or back. Those who did not take the quiz must remain in their seats and silently read. The reflection papers will be evaluated by the teacher and handed back the next day.

7. The remaining time in class (about 30-35 minutes) will focus on a discussion of a main theme from the chapter. The discussion style should vary from one day to the next. When dealing with some of the more sensitive topics, a question-in-a-box method might work best. In this situation, students anonymously write down questions they have and put them into a box. The teacher then picks questions out and uses them to start discussions. This discussion will allow for students to talk about how they felt about the chapter.

8. The topics for each chapter are as follows:

Chapter 1: Fear.

Chapter 2: Morals.

Chapter 3: Movie clip of Old Man and the Sea, followed by short discussion of comparison of film and book.

Chapter 4: Gangs.

Chapter 5: Danger.

Chapter 6: Families.

Chapter 7: Relationships and friendships.

Chapter 8: Trust.

Chapter 9: Environment.

Chapter 10: Self-defense.

Chapter 11: Jobs and professions. Following in others' footsteps.

Assessment:

1. For every chapter, each student will have either a 10-point quiz or a 10-point paper. Each paper will be evaluated by the teacher (rubric included). For the seven-day unit, a total of 70 points are available. (Criteria for success = 52 pts. out of 70.)

2. Teacher can award extra points for participation in class discussions.

Curricular strands:

1. Language arts: Reading of the book and discussion. Writing of essays for each chapter is optional.

2. Social studies: Discussion of the chapters can include geography and social structure of Hawaii.

Possible extensions:

1. Each chapter is told from Sonny's point of view. Pick another character in any chapter and tell the story through his or her eyes.

2. Read another of Salisbury's Books, Under the Blood-Red Sun (1994). New York, N.Y.: Bantam Doubleday Dell (ISBN 0-440-41139-4). This is a story about Tomi, an eighth-grade Japanese boy growing up in Hawaii in the early 1940s. Tomi's father and grandfather are arrested after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This book could also be used with the Maui section of the A.L.O.H.A. curriculum.

3. Use the following poetry book to further literature study:

The Echo of Our Song by Mary K. Pukui and Alfons L. Korn (1973). Honolulu, Hawaii: The University Press of Hawaii (ISBN 0-8248-0248-9). This book contains English and Hawaiian translations of poems written about Hawaiian traditions.

4. More Hawaiian young adult literature books can be found on the Internet site http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/Subject=Hawaii/5236-3559793-905808

We suggest the following books on that list:

Aloha Summer by Bill Wallace

The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson

Captain Hawaii by Anthony Dana Arkin

The Dangerous Canoe Race (Ladd Family Adventure 4) by Lee Roddy

Eye of the Hurricane (Ladd Family Adventure 9) by Lee Roddy

Island Dreamer by Robin Jones Gunn

For more recently published Hawaiian-based literature books, search the following Internet sites:

http://www.pete.com/mutual/HAWlit.html

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