Envisioning a More Perfect Future
Essential Question
What characteristics make up your perfect society?
Goals
- To use images and stories to introduce this unit on creating a more perfect future
- To explore one's own and others' initial impressions about what makes an idyllic society.
To Do's
Lesson Introduction: Watch the video . . .
Read the Following Folktale
DIDDY – WAH – DIDDY is a wonderful place to go. Its geography is that it is “way off somewhere.” It is reached by a road that curves so much that a mule pulling a wagon-load of feed can eat off the back of the wagon as he goes. It is a place of no-work and no-worry for people and beasts. It is a very restful place where even the curbstones are good sitting-chairs. The food is even already cooked. If travelers get hungry, all they need to do is sit down on the curbstone and wait. Soon they will hear something hollering, “Eat me! Eat me! Eat me!” and a big baked chicken will come along with a knife and fork stuck in it. You can eat all you want. By the time you feel full of chicken, a big deep sweet potato pie will push and shove to get in front of you. A knife and fork will be stuck up in the middle so you can cut a piece off and eat to your heart's delight. Nobody can ever eat it all up. No matter how much you eat, it just grows that much faster. They say, “Everyone would live in Diddy-Wah-Diddy if it wasn't so hard to find and so hard to get to even after you know the way.” Everything is on a large scale there. Even the dogs can stand flat-footed and lick crumbs off heaven's tables. The biggest man there is known as Moon-Regulator because he reaches up and starts and stops it at his convenience. That is why there are some dark nights when the moon does not shine at all. He did not feel like putting it out into the sky that night. Most folks believe this place exists. It sure is good to think about, anyway.
Create a Collage
Materials:
- Paper
- Magazines
- Foam Sheets/Pieces
- Other materials selected by student
- Scissors
- Glue
- Imagine creating a perfect world. What would it contain? Cut out a variety of images. Cover the entire sheet of paper with pictures. Add miscellaneous items (photos, small toys, ticket stubs, etc.) that would help to embellish the collage and represent a perfect world.
- Tell the story of your perfect world collage. Include the reasons why certain items were selected for the collage. Why are these items significant? How might others feel in this perfect world?