Fear of Flying Students identify the use of flight as a symbol in Featherless/Desplumado. They then explore the meaning of the symbol in their own lives and write personal narratives based on their reflections.
30 minutes a day for one week
Whole class, partners, and individual
CA Writing Standard 1.0: Students write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a central idea. Their writing shows that they consider the audience and purpose. Students progress through the stages of the writing process.
Pens or pencils and paper
Plan
As a class, return to the end of the story. Tomasito says on page 30, “Theres more than one way to fly!” What does he mean? How does Tomasito fly in the end? Discuss with your students the different ways that people — and birds! — can fly in this story.
Next, point out to your students that just as Tomasitos wheelchair makes it harder for him to fly, and Featherless lives in a cage, we all face obstacles that get in our way. One thing that Tomasito needs to learn is that fear, frustration, and other peoples assumptions can be even more disabling than a physical handicap. Ask your students to think about the ways in which theyd like to “fly” but might be hesitant to try. Have them brainstorm a list silently, on paper, for a few minutes.
Now, ask students to pick from their lists one type of “flying” that is especially important — and difficult — for them. Why is it important? What would it feel like to succeed? How would this “flight” change their lives? Ask students to make notes or an idea web describing their goal. What are the fears or obstacles tying them to the ground? Brainstorm these as well. If necessary, model this process using a student volunteer or basing it on your own experience.
Draft
Ask students to write a personal narrative describing the “flight” theyd like to take and the cages holding them in. Encourage them to refer to their list and to use figurative language and poetic devices like those in Featherless/Desplumado.
Revise
Once they have completed their drafts, ask students to share their writing with partners. Remind students that, at this stage in the writing process, they should focus on the clarity of the writing and the impact of specific words or events, rather than on spelling or grammar.
Encourage students to revise their episodes according to their partners feedback. Tell them to reread their drafts to themselves and then to read them out loud to see if there are other changes they wish to make.
Edit
Ask students to edit their second drafts for publication, checking spelling and punctuation. Read through the drafts and mark errors. Encourage students to use a word wall, a dictionary, or other classroom reference tools as they correct their episodes.
Publish
Share student work through a bulletin board, read-alouds from an authors chair, or a class anthology.
Other Writing Activities
The Sounds of School: Give students a chance to practice using poetic language and alliteration of their own! Ask students to sit quietly and record the sounds they hear around their school: outside at recess, in the cafeteria, or sitting in a classroom. Then, have them use those lists to create a poem that comes alive with alliterations and onomatopoeia.
Sample Sentences: Point out to your students that Juan Felipe uses many different types of sentences to make his writing come alive. As a group, discuss four different sentence types: declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory. Students should find examples of each in Featherless/Desplumado. Have them finish by practicing writing each type of sentence on their own.
Ready, Willing, and Able Students learn about the history of the Disability Rights movement, explore the meaning of civil rights in the context of a school or classroom, and come to understand the role of the government in protecting the rights of all citizens.
45 min.
Whole class and small groups
CA Social Studies Standard 3.4.2: Students determine the reasons for rules, laws, and the U.S. Constitution and the role of citizenship in the promotion of rules and laws.
The Disability Rights Movement by Deborah Kent (see Resources); chart paper and markers
Ask your students to imagine Tomasito navigating a world without elevators, handicapped-accessible bathrooms, ramps, or graduated curbs for wheelchairs. How would he get around? What would happen to him?
Now, define the term civil
rights for your students as rights that belong
to all citizens, such as the right to vote, the right
to an education, and the right to have equal access
to jobs and housing. The civil rights of all people
are supposed to be protected by the government, but,
sometimes, groups of people have to fight to have their
rights recognized and protected by the law. For example,
until the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed,
many public buildings were not wheelchair accessible,
which meant that people in wheelchairs might not be
able to vote or even go to school. Explain that this
is what it means to protect peoples civil rights — its
not giving a person something extra or even helping
him/her out, but providing the person with what is needed
in order to participate in society as an equal.
Place your students into small groups. Assign each group a physical disability, such as blindness, deafness, or paralysis. Ask students to close their eyes. Using guided imagery, walk class members through a day at school imagining themselves as students with this disability. What would happen when the student entered the classroom? When the student tried to participate in lessons? When it was the classs time for reading, art, or physical education?
Ask the small groups to open their eyes and talk with each other about their imagined experiences. What could they do? What challenges did they face? Then, give each group a piece of chart paper and markers. Ask them to brainstorm a list of the things students with these disabilities might need in order to participate in the class.
Share your lists. Explain to students that, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, schools have to provide all children with opportunities to learn. That might include providing some of the accommodations that your students have listed. Remind them that this was not always the case; these are civil rights that differently-abled people have struggled for over many years and continue to struggle for now. Tell students that, as citizens, it is their job not only to follow the laws of the government, but also to make sure that the laws are fair. That is what differently-abled people were doing in advocating for their rights, and its what groups of people have done in fighting for civil rights throughout history.
As a class, read selections from The Disabilities Rights Movement by Deborah Kent (see Resources). Discuss the struggles that differently-abled people have faced in securing their civil rights.
Other Social Studies Activities
No New-School Blues: Remind students that Tomasito is new at his school. Have your class create a brochure or pamphlet welcoming new students to the school and neighborhood. As a group, brainstorm questions and concerns that new students might have upon arrival at the school, such as those Tomasito faced when he moved to Fresno. Research the answers and identify resources that can help new students become more comfortable. Compile your findings into a guide for students who are new to your school.
Helping Out: Create a class community service project dedicated to supporting the differently-abled. Identify the website of a local organization that serves differently-abled individuals and identify ways that it says community members can help. As a group, choose one way to support the organization, make an action plan, and get to work.
Living Dreams Students create self-portraits of themselves achieving what they have been told is impossible.
45 min.
Individual and whole class
CA Arts Standard 2.3: Students paint or draw a landscape, seascape, or cityscape that shows illusion of space.
Oil pastels and construction paper
As a class, look at the picture on pages 22 and 23 of Featherless/Desplumado. In this image, Tomasito and Featherless are doing the impossible, flying together through a beautiful sky. With your students, discuss how dreams make impossible things, often the things we want most in the world, seem very real.
Ask your students to imagine themselves doing something they think is impossible, something that would make them as happy as Tomasito looks in this picture.
Ask students to illustrate those dream self-portraits, accomplishing what they never thought was possible, as joyfully as Tomasito dreams of flying.
Post these illustrations in a “Gallery of Dreams” on a classroom bulletin board.
Other Art Activities
Alternative Art: Ask your students to push their boundaries, creating art that is based on physical challenges. Blindfold your students and ask them to draw or paint without seeing. Ask the class: “How does your imagination work differently when you cant see the paper in front of you?”
Soccer Selves: Tomasitos soccer ball is like a symbol of who he is. Ask students to create their own symbolic soccer balls. These self-portraits illustrate the many sides of each individual. In each shape, students draw an aspect of who they are. Alternately, invite students to create their own symbols to represent themselves.
Taking Sides Using the shapes on a soccer ball as a place of departure, students practice identifying and classifying polygons.
30 minutes
Whole class, small groups, and individual
CA Math Standard 2.1.: Students identify, describe, and classify polygons (including pentagons, hexagons, and octagons).
A soccer ball or the illustration of a soccer ball in Featherless/Desplumado; tiles in the shape of assorted polygons; blackboard and chalk, or chart paper and markers; pens or pencils and paper
As a class, review what you know about polygons, starting with three-sided figures. Make a list naming each type of shape, from triangles to octagons.
Using a soccer ball (or the illustration of a soccer ball), model the identification of a polygon by counting out the sides of a shape.
Distribute an assorted batch of polygon tiles to each small group. Ask students to agree on the classification of each tile.
Finally, ask students to draw and title each type of polygon, writing the number of sides below it.
Birds of a Feather Students research examples of flightless birds, identifying their characteristics and how they adapt to their environments.
1.5 hours (may be broken up into several sessions)
Small and large groups
CA Science Standard 3.b: Students know examples of diverse live forms in different environments, such as oceans, deserts, tundra, forests, grasslands, and wetlands.
Point out to your class that even though Featherless cant fly, we know that he is a bird. Brainstorm with the group what makes a bird a bird. How are they different from people? From other animals?
Tell your students that Featherless is not the only bird that cant fly. Ask students if they can think of any others. Create a list, including penguins, domestic turkeys, and ostriches. Tell them its going to be their job to find out why these birds cant fly.
Break students up into small groups, based on their personal interests in the birds youve listed. Assign each group a bird from the list of birds that cant fly. Ask each group to find out as much as they can about why their bird cant fly and how it survives in its environment. Ask them to complete their Birds of a Feather Notes worksheet as a group. Yahooligans! is a great place to start for information.
Bring the students back together and ask them to share what theyve learned. Chart the classs findings.
Other Science Activities
What Is Spina Bifida? As a class, discuss the structure and function of the central nervous system. Go on to research the causes and symptoms of spina bifida, using some of the websites listed in the Resources.
