What “Mask” Do You Wear?
Quickwrites
Write for five minutes on the
following topic:
• When do you act completely like yourself?
• When do you change how you are acting?
• Is it your physical environment?
• Is it the people around you?
• Is it your mood?
• Write for the complete five minutes, without
stopping. If you cannot think of anything else to
write, write the phrase “I don’t know what to
write” until something comes to you. Your hand
should not stop writing until the timer goes off.
Our Masks
• Most of us have had to wear a “mask” at
one point or another—we were trying to
impress someone, or behave, or act more
excited than we were.
• In the next few slides, we will be dealing
with actual, physical masks. But don’t
worry, we will be coming back to our
metaphorical masks soon!
Masks
• In the next few slides, you will see masks
from around the world.
• For each mask, do the following:
• List what you SEE
• List the EMOTION that you feel when looking at
the mask—what emotion do you think the mask
maker was trying to evoke?
• WHY you believe that this is the emotion the
creator meant for you to feel. What is your proof?
Native
American
Mask
Ancient
Greek
Funerary
Mask
African
(Igbo)
Mask/
Headdress
Japanese
“Noh”
Theater
Mask
What does this all mean?
• Everything that you just shared and
described is symbolic. Color, facial
expression, pattern, material, texture,
numbers depicted, characters…all of
these are important ways to represent a
culture’s beliefs and priorities.
How does this tie in to
what we are learning?
• We will be reading “We Wear the Mask” by Paul
Laurence Dunbar. You will need a pencil or pen,
because we will be reading this ACTIVELY.
• For the second reading, I want you to CIRCLE
every word that you feel shows TONE.
• For the third reading, I want you to UNDERLINE
every word that you feel shows IMAGERY.
Share
• Which words did you think showed tone?
• Which words did you feel showed imagery?
• What is the author saying about masks?
• Notice that this poem rhymes. Would the
meaning be different if it did not rhyme? What
does rhyme add to the author’s message?