Activity Five (Tent Five): Marine Life Story
In this story, there are four animal creatures: a shark, a carp, a crab, and a dolphin. Each of these creatures resides in us all. After reading the story, students are asked to write or draw about times that they themselves acted like the shark, the carp, the crab, or the dolphin, and are asked to share these stories. This activity ends with youth making a commitment similar to the dolphin as they begin to work toward social justice in their everyday lives.
- Power-Point Presentation: This is an optional visual aid facilitators can use to present the activity using Microsoft Office Power Point.
- Marine Life Template: This is a worksheet that can be used during the activity while students cite times in which they were each creature.
- Printer Friendly Version: This is a printable version of this page, as well as the pictures of the Shark, Carp, Crab, and Dolphin for those facilitators who do not have Power Point.
- Follow-Up Activity: This can be given as homework or used in class as a supplement to this activity.
- Pictures: These are some images you can show to your students to illustrate ideas.
- This activity involves telling a metaphorical story about a variety of feelings we have and behaviors we do as a result of being fearful of not having enough. There are four creatures talked about: the shark, the carp, the crab, and the dolphin.
- We all have each of these creatures within us; it is up to us to choose which one we are going to act like at any given time. There are times when we have acted like each one of these sea creatures.
- Give examples using people of diverse races, genders, and socio-economic status to depict the thoughts and behaviors of the creatures.
- We should try to be the Dolphin as often as possible. Do not think that you are above or below anyone else, treat others as equals, stand up for what you think is right, believe in yourself, and believe in others. Get to know people and build a community of safe curiosity and free of fear.
- Marine life pictures
- Drawing paper for each participant OR copies of marine life templates
- Pens, pencils, markers, and crayons
- Introduce each creature and what it does. Tell the story of these creatures, giving them the metaphor of how we behave and what we are thinking.
- Here is a suggested way to tell the story. Remember to get creative; the story is told much better when you tell it with your own words and spontaneity.
- a. “I want to talk to you about four animal creatures: a shark, a carp, a crab, and a dolphin. All of us can decide to act like any of these creatures at any time in our day-to-day interactions.”
- b. “Sharks tend to swim on the surface of the water in order to watch all that goes on below them. Sharks put other people down to make themselves feel like they are above and better than all others. They are afraid that there will not be enough of the good things in life to go around, so they want to make sure that they get their good things.”
- c. “Carp are similar to Sharks in that they are afraid there will not be enough of the good things to go around. But instead of believing that they are better than others, the Carp do not believe they are as good as others. They swim on the bottom of the ocean, eating whatever falls to the bottom, trying not to upset the shark. Carp believe that if Sharks think they are better than Carp, then it must be true.”
- d. “Crabs see what goes on between the Shark and the Carp but are too frightened to do anything about it. The Crabs walk side-to-side, afraid to stand up straight and stand up to the Shark. Crabs are bystanders. They do not defend against unfairness because they do not know what to say or do and are too afraid to help out.”
- e. “Dolphins are able to swim at the bottom of the water, where Carps live, and at the top of the water, where Sharks swim. They know there are plenty of good things in life to share with everyone. Dolphins believe they are equal with all others. They believe in win-win outcomes and cooperation. They have the courage to stand up for what they know is fair and right.”
- Ask the participants about their experiences being a Shark, a Carp, a Crab, and a Dolphin. They can draw their thoughts and experiences, write a descriptive story, or jot down some thoughts. Ask everyone to show and describe what they’ve drawn or written.