Overview for Teachers

National Endowment for the Humanities
Summer Institute: Cultures and Religions of the Himalayas
Implementation Plan
July 2006

Isara Argent

Isbell Middle School - Grade 7 Language Arts/Science
with a focus on special needs

Many thanks to: The NEH for offering this institute; the directors of this institute; the staff at The College of the Holy Cross; and the many contributing scholars and colleagues. Links for the NEH and for this institute are at the bottom of each page, and I encourage other teachers to apply to any of a variety of institutes held each summer for schoolteachers K-12. Information for the next year's projects is available in the late fall, and all application materials are due by March 1st. Many other websites from this year and other years are available at the "Institute" link.

Santa Paula, California, an agricultural community East of Ventura in Southern California, is served by six K-5 elementary sites and supports a student population of about 1200 in grades 6-8 in the K-8 Santa Paula Elementary School District. http://www.spesd.org/main/

In implementing the California Content Standards for English/Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science, I have used an interdisciplinary approach, focusing instruction around English/Language Arts. This project will serve as an exciting introduction to the year for my new 7th graders, and will involve significant study in the first two weeks of school.

Isbell Middle School uses Holt’s Elements of Literature, First Course, Grade 7 as the English text for 7th grade, the first selection being Rudyard Kipling’s "Rikki-tikki-tavi". In honor of this, we shall start the year off with a bit of geography review, a warm-up for science on the snake, particularly the cobra, and a few shorter stories about snakes and "nagas" representing the Himalayas.

We will particularly look at “point of view”, “conflict”, "recurring themes" and genre. Besides looking at the story of “Rikki-tikki-tavi” that is in the literature book, we will contrast the point of view with stories from the Himalayas, including a short story from the Simla region of India, a Jataka story from Tibet, and anecdotal material about the naga from both Hinduism and Buddhism.

In social studies we will review pertinent geographical features of the world and the region to set a background, while reviewing the basics of Hinduism and Buddhism that were covered for India and China in 6th grade, as well as enriching that information with further details about these religions in the Himalayas.

For science we will look at the exciting king cobra snake, its composition and behavior, how it fits in the animal kingdom, and how the people of the region dealt with this animal culturally. Students will generate a written report on an animal of their choice from the readings, using the computer and the library for information sources.

In addition, I will integrate an exposure to a musical selection of the region involving a naga story. We will also use ethnic instruments to augment our reading of the additional stories.

For evaluation, the students will have a check sheet/rubric to show their participation in and completion of the various parts of the project.

Krishna http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/india/museums/dnm7.html