The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Page to Screen: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Smoke Signals, and Reservation Dogs”

In this activity, students will synthesize themes from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, the 1998 film Smoke Signals, and an episode from the 2021 television series Reservation Dogs.

Smoke Signals, directed by Chris Eyre from a screenplay written by Sherman Alexie, is based on Alexie’s short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, specifically, the story titled “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona.” Reservation Dogs is a 2021 television series directed by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi and is the first series to feature all Indigenous writers and directors and an Indigenous North American cast and production team. You will watch the film and the first episode of the television series and evaluate how thematic concepts can be translated from the page to the screen.

• Analyze how the unit themes appear in Smoke Signals and Reservation Dogs, and compare and contrast the ways these themes are presented in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.
• Collaborate with a small group to present your information to the class. This presentation may be a slideshow, a poster, original artwork, an activity that engages the class, etc.

This activity will culminate in a seminar-style discussion in which you and your peers process the thematic interpretations presented to the class. Keep in mind that the point of a seminar is to collaboratively uncover meaning in a text or texts and walk away with a deeper understanding of them and more questions. To this end, consider drafting comments and questions in advance that may help propel a conversation.

Teaching Suggestion: It may be helpful to consider the time you want to devote to this activity and adjust accordingly. If you do not have time to view both the film and the episode, you might consider viewing Smoke Signals to synthesize Alexie’s work specifically or viewing the episode of Reservation Dogs to do a contemporary evaluation. This activity will explore the three texts together but is designed to be tailored to specific needs.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who would benefit from support with organizing their thoughts, consider providing a graphic organizer for note-taking while watching. It may be helpful to note the themes of this unit on the graphic organizer and provide space for students to take notes when they recognize these themes in the movie and episode.

Paired Resource Extension

“Storyteller: Leslie Marmon Silko and the Stories that Make Us”

In this activity, students will read and analyze selections from Leslie Marmon Silko’s book Storyteller and then create their own multi-genre memoirs using their own stories, stories from their family or community, and photographs, artwork, or poetry. This activity connects to the themes of Storytelling as Creative Agency and Identity Through Dreams and Visions.

Leslie Marmon Silko is an indigenous writer who grew up on the Laguna Pueblo reservation in New Mexico. Her memoir Storyteller, first published in 1981, is a collection of essays, vignettes, poems, and photographs that tell her family’s personal stories and her people’s cultural narratives. You will read excerpts from her book and then create your own mini memoir in the multi-genre style of Leslie Marmon Silko.

• Evaluate the structure of selections from Storyteller and analyze Marmon Silko’s message about storytelling.
• Apply this knowledge to your creative writing project in which you use a similar structure and style to tell the stories that have shaped you and your world.
• You should use a combination of vignettes, poetry, photography, and artwork. You may choose your medium—in other words, you don’t necessarily need to create a physical book, and you may choose to display your storytelling digitally.
• You will follow the writing process for this project (planning, drafting, feedback, and revision), and you will bring in a rough draft of your written or multi-media memoir, then gather in groups of three or four to ask questions and provide feedback so you can revise and finalize your work.

The class will celebrate each other’s memoirs with an “open studio” style gallery walk, after which you will complete a short, written reflection in which you comment on how the themes of Storytelling as Creative Agency and Identity Through Dreams and Visions exist in your classroom community.

Teaching Suggestion: It may be helpful to remind students that the point of this project is to consider how they are shaped by the stories surrounding them. You may consider helping students brainstorm ways to acquire stories. In addition to their own stories, they might speak to family members or community members. They might consider doing some light research on their hometown or region.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who benefit from assistance with organization, it may be helpful to provide a checklist as they construct their memoirs. Additionally, consider using a writing workshop protocol like this one from the National School Reform Faculty for students who benefit from structure.