TOTEM
A Symbol of Kinship Michael S. Chiariello
Carved from cedar trees by
the Native people of the
Northwest Coast, totems
are outgrowths of the
region’s aboriginal art forms. Originally an important part of the potlatch ceremony—a feast with deep
meaning to coastal First Nations—
totem poles were once raised to
represent a family clan, its kinship
system, dignity, accomplishments,
prestige, adventure, stories, rights,
and prerogatives. A totem pole
served, in essence, as an emblem
of a family or clan and often as a
reminder of ancestry.
The S.A.I.L. Program
The Strategies for Adult Independent Living (S.A.I.L.) program at
White Plains High School, NY helps
prepare special needs students, ages
sixteen to twenty-one, for society. In
this lesson, students in the S.A.I.L.
program worked
with Advanced
Ceramics students in the general education
program once a
week to build a
sixteen-foot
totem representing their individual interests and
kinship with
one another.
I began by
dividing the
twelve students
in the S.A.I.L.
program into
four cooperative
learning groups.
Each group
explored specific Web sites
I had selected
to gather information about
totems. I asked
each group to
write out, in
their own words,
three facts about totem poles.
At the beginning of the second
week, the S.A.I.L. students presented their totem facts to members
of my Advanced
Ceramics class.
At the end of this
class, I asked if
any students in
the Advanced
Ceramics class
would like to
help design and
build a totem.
Eight students volunteered. These
eight joined our class the next day
and were equally distributed into
the four groups.
instructed the groups to hold their
drawings vertically and bend their
two-dimensional drawings into a
cylinder. This helped the students
understand that totem poles are
three-dimensional.
At the next class, each student in
each group was asked to create a list
of at least five things they like to
do with their free time. Then each
group wrote down four interests
that appeared more than once on
their lists. Students were given 9 x
12" ( 23 x 30 cm) drawing paper and
asked to come up with visual symbols for each of their interests.
Once each group agreed on their
symbols, they were given a sheet
of 24 x 48" ( 61 x 122 cm) drawing paper with a 12 x 48" ( 23 x 122
cm) vertical rectangle drawn on
it. I explained that each group was
going to create a section of the final
totem. The large rectangle on the
paper represented the height and
length of their section. Each group
was asked to decide where they
wanted to position their shared four
symbols. Once the symbols were
sketched out with pencils, students
experimented with colors, using
markers, acrylic paint, and colored
pencils. After each section was completed, we decided the order that we
would stack the four
This unique project drawings, ultimately
brought together two the four sections of
the totem.
groups of students who I purchased four
would not normally 12 x 48" ( 23 x 122
interact socially or cm) heavy cardboard
academically. tubes from a local
hardware store. These
tubes are used to form
perfectly round pillars of concrete
for installation of lights, street
signals, and many other building
needs. Each group was given a tube,
stack of newspapers, Styrofoam,
mat board, cardboard, and 1" ( 2. 5
cm) masking tape.
Planning
I gave each group a sheet of 18 x 24"
( 46 x 61 cm) drawing paper and pencils and asked them to sketch out
a totem. When students finished, I
