ARCHIVED - Canada: A Literary Tour

Educational Resources

Activity 5

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The Anatomy of a Landscape

Introduction

Just as the physical world that surrounds people holds stories about their landscape, so, too, do their own bodies. In this activity, students will consider their bodies as parts of the greater world around them and appreciate their unique position in their surroundings. For instance, what stories might hands tell that feet would not? How do their body's stories change in different environments? The teacher may select a poem or passage of prose that relates to the topic of landscape, or another subject. For ideas and texts, see the virtual exhibition Canada: A Literary Tour or the Activity Resources section.

Materials

• May be done with or without a self-photograph
• A pen or pencil

Performance and Assessment

The teacher may create an assessment tool or rubric to measure the following:

• Has the student adopted the persona of the body part in his or her writing?
• How perceptive and compelling is the story of that body part in relation to its surrounding environment?

Instructions

1. Students will prepare a list of their own various body parts or the teacher may select particular body parts on which to focus.
2. Students will write the story of their particular body parts in relation to their environment (e.g., their home environment, their neighbourhood, their house, a forest, a swamp, a creek, fields, their city, a park, etc.) or elsewhere in Canada. They should consider how the world may be experienced differently by each part of their body. How does each part of their body fit with the world around them or with other body parts?

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