Even if I have seen millions of zebra in my life, I still feel so happy when I get to show people their first zebra.
~ words from James that keep us thinking and wondering ~
Not hers. Not yours. People are always more than the chapters anyone could share. Hold what is here gently. Approach with curiosity, before judgment.
Notice what you notice. Wonder what you wonder. There is no quiz, no right way. Read until something stays.
this film has no words. notice what you notice. notice what you wonder. wonder out loud. and don't forget to notice what you feel, too.
Circle of Life
I know the land of the Maasai Mara like the back of my hand. It is my home, my heritage and my life. Even as a child, I knew how to locate water by looking at the dips in the land, and how to watch out for hyenas behind certain bushes. I know what every sound is in the night. I remember lying awake counting how many animals I could hear before I fell asleep. I know where the lions hide when it’s too hot, where the hippopotamuses like to swim, and where the cheetahs looks for food.
Have you before heard the phrase, “like the back of my hand?
” It means I know it really, really well.
As well as I know myself and my own hand.
What are some things you know like the back of your hand?
What type of things do you want to know like the back of your hand?
I have a natural ability to spot wild animals. It is not that my eyes are better but that I have a sense of where they are. Sometimes people go on safari and say they did not get to see many wild animals. That has never happened to people who come on my safari trips. I can find even the most rare animals. The black rhino is one of the most rare and difficult to find because it is always alone. On my most recent trip, we saw three different rhinos! I am grateful that I found a job where I can protect my home and the wild animals who live here. Every day is different for me; I never know which animals we will come across, what they will be doing, how the sunrises or sunsets will look, who the tourists will be, and what they would like to talk about. It’s a really exciting job and I could never be bored. Even if I have seen millions of zebra in my life, I still feel so happy when I get to show people their first zebra because I believe the Maasai Mara is a very special place. Since this land became protected for the wildlife, there have been many improvements for the nature and the animals. We are required to stay on the truck paths so that the nature can be left to grow abundant. Many species of animals are growing in numbers since they are under less threat from poachers. The elephant populations are on the rise. Even though the elephant population is increasing, the African elephant is still very vulnerable and must be protected.
In 1973, the elephant population decreased dramatically to only about 1⁄8 its original size: it went from 176,000 to just 20,000!
But in 2012, it increased by about 1⁄3 and numbers are still climbing!
Currently there are 26,000 elephants counted.
Can you help me understand which number is bigger, the 1⁄8 it dropped to or the 1⁄3 by which it increased?
Now I’d love your help doing a little line plotting to illustrate the fluctuation in elephant population. To make sure you have the dates and numbers, I’ll list them out for you: 176,000 (1972), 20,000 (1973), 26,000 (2012). To make it easier, let’s drop the 000’s and round to the nearest place value. Then, when you make your line plot, let’s call each dot worth 10. What would it look like? Do you notice any trends? Is there any information missing?
Kenya is a country of diverse, rich habitat but there are more than 100 endangered species found here because of the destruction of their natural habitat and the poaching of ivory, skins, horn and bush meat. The ivory trade business is very lucrative and therefore entices poachers to take extraordinary measures to kill rhinos and elephants and take the ivory tusks. I have come across animals who were killed for their ivory and it makes me so angry and so sad. I understand that poverty makes people do desperate things, but I feel sorry that the animals have to be impacted by the struggle. The human population is also growing in Kenya. There are more than 42 million people living in Kenya and the population is projected to hit 77 million by 2030.
Are there any protected or endangered species in your country?
I believe it is really important to respect and protect wild animals.
Do you?
Why or why not?
What are some actions we can take to protect wild animals?
How do you think the growing human population will impact the wildlife and natural habitats?
Some of the amazing moments I like to see on the Maasai Mara are wild animal births and the hunts. It’s truly the full circle of life! To watch any birth is amazing but watching the wildebeest is really unique. Wildebeest give birth almost always at the same time within 2-3 weeks. That means that approximately 300,000 to 400,000 baby wildebeests are born within 21 days. A newborn wildebeest can be up and running with the herd only 2 minutes after it has been born and is able to outrun a lion soon thereafter!
What do you think I mean when I say, “the full circle of life?
” In what way are you, or am I, a part of the circle of life?
Looking for new ways to create an engaging space? Turn on music native to the Maasai Mara so that it is playing when students enter the room
“What do you think I mean when I say, “the circle of life?” Some students may respond with a remark about Disney’s Lion King; you could respond by asking, “Great!
What did the circle of life mean in that movie?” If students are stumped, you could ask them to brainstorm with you some phases of life. You could also ask, “When I say ‘life’ or ‘alive,’ what do you think of? Let’s think about a flower. What are all the things that happen to a flower in its lifetime?” If a student offers a good example, chat as a class about the life cycle of that example. Be sure to point out how that example, say a flower, is connected to other things: an animal may need to eat it, the flower needs the soil, etc.
Watch the video I am James, then ask your students, “Do you see any examples of the ‘circle of life’ in this video of James’ life?” You may be able to keep brainstorming and adding to the list you started previously after watching the video.
Continue the discussion until it begins to fade, then read “James Knows the Maasai Mara.” Use the prompts in green text as discussion starters to explore the concept of endangered animals. Ask students things like, “why might it be a bad thing when animals become endangered?” and “how has poaching interrupted the circle of life? Or has it?”
Understanding elephant population decline and growth. In the first part of this math, the goal is to help students compare fractions of different wholes and their reading comprehension.
Without thinking about the fractions, they may already know that 1⁄8 is the larger number of elephants - this indicates great reading comprehension and understanding of the big numbers! If not, they will examine the two fractions and realize that usually, 1⁄3 is bigger than 1⁄8. In this case, discuss the huge drop in elephant population in 1973 and the small increase in 2012. Ask them, “What is the whole 1⁄8 is referring to? What about 1⁄3? Which whole is bigger?” The line plot portion provides also provides an opportunity to practice rounding and to multiply by tens. You could also approach it using division and explore the relationship between multiplication and division. A multiplication table could also be useful here - choose whatever feels most appropriate for your class. Debrief by asking them things like, “What patterns do you see in the line plot? What information is missing? What do you think we would see if we had an elephant count every year?”
Ask your students, how might our lives be connected to the life of the elephants James discusses? How might endangered animals here be similar to endangered animals in the Maasai Mara?
Use your debrief to assess student’s understanding of how connected animals are to each other, to their environment, and to humans by asking things like, “who or what might be dependent on elephants? How would they be impacted if there were no more African Elephants?” Encourage their curiosity to learn more about endangered animals near their home or in their country.
This is one way to teach this story. You could also weave your own way, threading two or three other people the AI finds for you alongside.
Want to weave a full lesson around this story?
The weaver finds 3-4 real people whose stories thread together with this one.
Weave a lesson →I am Me
Notice that I say, “I am a guide by profession.” I say it that way because I am not only a guide. I am also a son, a friend, a brother, and many other things. What are some of the things you are? These are called our identities!
I can charge $229 a day for guiding tourists. Some of that money goes to putting gas in my truck. For every liter of gas I use, it costs me $2 to fill my tank back up. A day of touring usually uses a whole tank. Can you help me figure out how much of my day’s salary is left for me to spend on other things? Could you also please help me figure out how many tours I need to guide to cover my monthly bills? Hopefully I’ll have a little leftover to save, as well. Some of the other things I need to pay for each month are listed below. It’s ok if you round to the nearest place value, we’re just estimating.
$17 - Water bill $226 - Rent $358 - Food for my family
Have you ever had an experience when things did not go as they were supposed to? How did you deal with it? How do you bring some joy to a difficult situation?
Sometimes my tourists scream when they see lions or leopards. I used to be so surprised by this reaction because, when I see these animals, I just feel joy. Have you had experiences where you reacted differently to a situation than someone else? Were you able to understand why the other person had a different reaction than yours? Do you know people whose lives seem really different from yours? What do you think they think about your life?
I think storytelling is a really powerful way to learn. I’ve heard that in a lot of cultures, stories are passed down through the generations for younger people to learn from. Would you tell me about some things you’ve learned from stories? Is there a special story always told in your family? Why might we learn a lot more from stories than from straight facts?
Looking for new ways to create an engaging space? Turn on music native to the Maasai Mara so that it is playing when students enter the room
Use a free-write to focus students, encouraging them to think critically about themselves.
Offer the prompt, “make a list of ways you would describe yourself.” Perhaps you start with your own list on the board, including both obvious things, such as “tall,” and less obvious things, such as “runner” or “dog lover.” The idea is to guide students to think freely about their identities without realizing what you’ve asked them to do. Starting such a list with little-to-no introduction could generate more raw answers. Encourage them not to worry about spelling - the focus is more on reflecting. This could also be a great way to get to know a new class. You’ll come back to these soon.
Next, you’ll be exploring the concept of assumptions and stereotypes. Start by watching the video, I am James. After the video, ask your students to share ideas of what James may put on his list to describe himself.
Write them on the board and ask follow-up questions like, “Why do you think that?” or, “How did you come to choose that one?” Next, ask them to look down at their lists and ask, “Which of the things on your list could James guess after watching a short video of you? How? Why couldn’t he guess the others?” The idea is to introduce students to the ideas of assumptions and stereotypes - you can decide whether introducing those exact terms is valuable for your class, or if simply engaging with the concept is enough. If they respond well, you can take the discussion further by pointing out things like, “it is natural to think things about people we don’t really know, but what is important is that we realize we are doing it. What are some ways we could be more curious?” Next, dive even deeper by reading James’ story, “James as a Safari Guide.” The first green text will connect to this concept of identity and stereotypes; you could read it before or after doing the above exercise. Leverage the other green text in the story as breaking points to check for comprehension, or come back to them at the end for review and engagement.
Practice using regrouping to add and subtract within 1000 and rounding to the nearest place value by helping James make a budget. This is a multi-step word problem that can easily be broken down into two-steps, followed by another two-step problem.
Encourage students to round the big numbers to the nearest place value first, and then complete the simple subtraction problem in the first problem set. In the second problem set, they’ll first need to add two- and three-digit numbers to determine James’ monthly expenses. Next, they’ll use the number they found in the first problem set to represent how much James makes in one day ($228 or $227, depending on whether they rounded). They can solve with addition or subtraction, but starting with addition will be easier. Encourage them to add 228 to itself once and see if that is enough. Nope, not yet. Add 228 again, yes! It is now more than James’ monthly expenses. Now they can use subtraction to figure out how much money is left for James to save. Make sure they recognize that for every time they added $228, that is one more day of work for James. You could use a picture graph to show how much of his salary each expense uses.
Divide students into groups where you encourage them to ask curious questions of each other. In their small groups, students’ missions are to come up with creative questions for each other that will help them get to know each other in a way they wouldn’t have before.
Each group can then share with the class some interesting things they learned about someone in their group. Ask them to share the questions they asked as well, and make a list on the board.
This is one way to teach this story. You could also weave your own way, threading two or three other people the AI finds for you alongside.
Want to weave a full lesson around this story?
The weaver finds 3-4 real people whose stories thread together with this one.
Weave a lesson →Positive Attitude Lesson
Do you notice changes in weather or resources in the location where you live? How does the weather impact your day-to-day? Imagine if your family moved depending on the weather; what would that entail?
When my family and I made our natural houses, the mixture had 8 parts. It was 5 parts earth, 2 parts straw, and 1 part water. How do we write those numbers as a fraction? Do you think we measure the earth and straw in grams or kilograms? And the water in liters or milliliters?
Sometimes we needed more than one home built. If we’re thinking about the 8 parts of the building materials, and we build 3 homes, how could we write that as a fraction?
My elders prefer being self-sufficient; can you think of some reasons why? How self-sufficient are you and your family? What does self-sufficiency mean to you? What do you think it meant to my grandfather? Who do you depend upon for your basic needs? What are your basic needs? In what ways are they similar to, or different from, the Maasai people’s needs?
My positive attitude has really helped me through the challenging times of transition in my life. What are some examples of a time that a positive attitude helped you or someone you know?
“What is a time in your life you felt someone forced you to do something you didn’t want to do?” As students offer examples, ask meaningful follow up questions such as, “what helped you get through that challenge?” or “why did that person feel this was good for you?” or “what positive things came out of that situation?” Note down students responses, you may be able to refer to them during the story.
Explore how James embraced the dramatic lifestyle change imposed by the government. Watch the video I am James, then ask your students, “What do you think a safari guide’s life is like?
How do you think he came to live this lifestyle?” Again, take note of your students responses and ask follow up questions. Someone may simply say, “he applied for the job!” You could respond by asking, “why might he want this job?” After students have thought critically and creatively about this, move on to read “I am James.” After reading, ask students, “what surprised you about James’ story?” or, “What do you admire about James?” You could take the discussion deeper by also asking, “What is the purpose of places like safaris and animal reserves? What are some of the benefits? What are some of the downsides?” This is a great learning moment to explore how there are always two sides to a coin; “Safaris sound great for the animals’ sake, but what about the impact they have on people like James’ grandfather? How do you prioritize?”
Leverage James’ experience building mud homes to explore mass and volume and to practice multiplication facts and fractions and whole numbers.
You could divide this activity and math work into two or three sections, or do it all at the same time. For the creative part, you’ll need mud, straw and water. Start by discussing the building process for James’ mud homes. Ask students how they would approach the process, and with what units they would measure their materials. You could do this in the form of creating instruction pamphlets or simply discuss and write on the board. For instructions, it is also important to know the ratio (fraction!) of materials needed. Then, provide them with appropriate “building” materials and let them figure out the amounts they need to build their homes. Encourage them to work in groups, as does James’ family. If your class builds a few homes, you could use the number of homes they built in the second part of the math question. This provides an opportunity to challenge them to write the whole number as a fraction as well as to practice their math facts. You could go deeper into mass and volume by giving them fictional numbers they need to add, subtract, divide, or multiply. For example, “if one home took 20 liters of water, how much water do we need for 3 homes?”
Choose one or more of the questions in green text from the story as a free-write prompt. Depending on your class, you could debrief in the form of a self-reflective free write, a discussion, or both.
Encourage students to choose the topic that most speaks to them: positive attitude, self-sufficiency, or the complex nature of safaris.
This is one way to teach this story. You could also weave your own way, threading two or three other people the AI finds for you alongside.
Want to weave a full lesson around this story?
The weaver finds 3-4 real people whose stories thread together with this one.
Weave a lesson →Not hers. Not yours. People are always more than the chapters anyone could share. Hold what is here gently. Approach with curiosity, before judgment.
If a moment stayed, follow it. If a question rose up, hold it. The quiet teaching is still teaching.
Three or four real stories woven into one lesson, your topic, your time. James is one. The weaver finds the others, threads the math, the literacy, the values, the reflection.
Open the weaver →