LEARNING GUIDE to Fly Away Home

LEARNING GUIDE TO Fly Away Home:

SUBJECTS — Science; the Environment; World/Canada;

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING — Parenting; Grieving;
Father/Daughter; Teamwork; Caring for Animals;

MORAL-ETHICAL EMPHASIS — Responsibility; Caring.
Age: 10+; MPAA Rating -- PG for an opening accident scene and some mild language; Drama; 1996; 107 minutes; Color; Available from Amazon.com.
Description: "Fly Away Home" is a story about a 13 year old girl injuredwhose mother dies in a car accident in which her mother dies. . Her father, long estranged from the family, returnsbrings her to his home in Canada where she must grieve the loss of her mother and adjust to living with a fatherman she barely knows. The film uses the beauty of nature and an orphaned gaggle of goslings to illustrate the coming together of the process of healingthrough which the daughter heals and the process of learning tofather learns be a good parent. The action inof the film is based uponon the discovery by a Canadian man named Bill Lishman that ultralightultra light aircraft can be used to reintroduce migratory patterns in species of birds whose populations have lost the ability to migratemake seasonal journeys between biomes. Based upon this framework the filmmakers have built a delightful fictional story about a father learning to be a parent and a daughter recovering from a devastating loss.

Benefits: The ability to cope with the loneliness and pain associated with the death of a parent or with any loved one is a difficult lesson for young people to learn.. This film offers a look at how involvement with animals and a project that takes an individual outside of him or herself can serve the process of healing. It also addresses the redemption of a parent who comes to learn the importance of his role in the life of his daughter. This movie is an excellent springboard for a discussion of migration and its inverse, dormancy and can serve to motivate students in the innovative and inspiring efforts to undo damage to the environment.

The movie is an excellent springboard for a discussion of migration and its inverse, dormancy. It can serve to introduce students to innovative efforts to correct for damage to the environment.

Possible Problems: The film takes the position that bending the rules and breaking the law is justified in the effort to save the goslings because the perpetrators were well-intentioned and act with the intention of saving animals rather than serving the self. This weakness can be turned into a strength through comment and discussion. See Discussion question #9. The father becomes a better parent through the story, but some would question many of his parenting practices. See Discussion Question #11.

Young viewers may be disturbed by the auto accident shown at the film’s opening can be disturbing as canand the images of the a young girl grieving, depending upon the age of the viewer.. The character of the father, an artist who enjoys the risky sport of hang-gliding, can seem reckless in his willingness to allow his daughter to fly an ultralight aircraft alone, but she had been well prepared for the experience and succeeds admirably. Bending of rules is justified in the effort to save the goslings but the minor crimes are committed aboveboard, using humor, with the intention of saving animals rather than serving the self.
Parenting Points: Your child will see theThe dangers inof flying the untralight aircraft from are clearly presented in several incidentscrashes shown in the film involving crashes.. Point out how important it is to be well trained and to notice how much effort goes into finding just the right aircraft and how much time is spent practicing for the journey. Remark upon how the father and develops as a parent, from refusing to even see his daughter are planning to make to save the geese.being a caring and responsible parent. Point out how the girlAmy is taking care of her motherless goslings with as much dedication as the father is takinglearns to take care of the girl. Should your children be interested in the flight of the birds, show them Winged Migration or March of the Penguins. You can find some valuable information in the Migration Lesson Plan contained on this sitehis motherless girl.

Should your children be interested in the flight of the birds, show them March of the Penguins or the first 45 minutes of Winged Migration. The film is too long for most kids. There is valuable information in TWM’s Migration Lesson Plan.

Helpful Background: Migration of birds provides a basis for healing in Fly Away Home that begins when Amy, the 13 year old protagonist in the film, discovers unhatched goose eggs in marshland that had been destroyed by developers. The effort to save the birds is fascinating and is based in fact. The film may stimulate interest in the story about how flocks of birds have been taught to migrate when they have lost their natural ability to travel the necessary distance to a new habitat. Teachwithmovies has developed a thorough lesson plan on bird migration that can be adapted for use in conjunction with this film in order to encourage further interest in this important topic. Click here for the information.

Use of Fly Away Home in the ELA Classroom:

Each of the following Discussion Questions isare designed to stimulate thinking and isare often followed by an assignment that will enable teachersprovide students with an opportunity to assess both comprehension andpractice a range of skills required by most ELA curriculum standards.

The lyrics in the song that plays as the film opens and then again as it closes are important in terms of theme. Share the lyrics with the class then ask the following questions set out below:

10,000 Miles

By Mary Chapin Carpenter

Fare thee well
My own true love
Farewell for a while
I’m going away
But I’ll be back
Though I go 10,000 miles
10,000 miles
My own true love
10,000 miles or more
The rocks may melt
And the seas may burn
If I should not return
Oh don’t you see
That lonesome dove
Sitting on an ivy tree
She’s weeping for
Her own true love
As I shall weep for mine
Oh come ye back
My own true love
And stay a while with me
If I had a friend
All on this earth
You’ve been a friend to me

1. At the beginning of the story, the song ends after two lines into the third verse while the camera focuses directly on Amy’s face as she lies in the hospital: “Oh don’t you see that lonesome dove?” To whom is the question directed? Suggested response: The question may be asked of the father who has not been a part of his daughter’s life for several years and is now being askedchallenged by circumstance to enter her life fully. The question may also be directed toward the film’s viewer, who will see the girl characterized as lonely and heartbroken.

2. What purpose is served by leaving out the final verse until the story’s end? Suggested response: The completion of the song at the end of the film once again focuses the viewer on Amy but this time allows for the progression of her grief. The lyrics have used second and third person and now adds first person directly linking the singer and the audience to Amy’s experience. Listeners will feel the empathy is tyingas the lyrics tie first, second and third person together. Thus Amy’s experience is shared; her loss and the handling of the loss gain universal appeal.

3. How do the final lines in the song, “If I had a friend/ all on this earth/ you’ve been a friend to me,” suggest theme? Suggested response: It has been shown that the true nature of friendship alleviates the pain of grief and foments healing. The father, his brother, his companion, Susan, and his young buddy all behave toward Amy with unconditional positive regard, which can be seen as vital in true friendship.

Assignment:

·  Write an explication of the lyrics as if they were presented as a poem. Use literary devices such as diction, imagery, metaphor, tone, verse form, rhyme and rhythm to illustrate how the poet expresses overall meaning.

2. Characterization in the film comes through imagery, dialogue and action. Which scenes best reveal characterize AmyAmy’s character using these three elements? Suggested response: Here are a few examples. Encourage students to think of others. The characterization of Amy as lonely is seen in several shots in which she is by herself in nature; it is seen when, she curls up on her bed with a teddy bear, and when she recalls swinging on the tire as a child. It is heard in the dialogue when she asks her father why all of this had to happen; when she tells him she doesn’t care about any of what is going on in the environment, and when she says she would rather die than go back to school. Action reveals character when Amy rejects her father by storming off when he crashes his glider; when she is rude to Susan, who has brought her a gift, and when she looks through the old trunk that is filled with memories of her mother.

Assignment:

·  As the film progresses, Amy begins to change. Select three examples of imagery, dialogue and action that reveal this change and present them in a well organized essay which first makes a statement about what kind of change is made then cites evidence of the scene that shows this change and follows reference to the scene with two comments linking the scenes to the assertion of change. (This style of support is referred to as “cite, comment, comment” and is used in expository, analytical and persuasive essays.) An example follows:

1.  Assertion: Amy, in the process of healing, begins to accept a relationship with her father’s woman friend, Susan.

2.  Citation: When Amy freaks out in the shower after getting soap in her eyes, Susan comes into the bathroom and tells herAmy that no one can ever replace her mother, but if Amy will allow it, the two of them can become friends. Susan adds that the first rule of friendship is trust.

3.  Comment: By Susan’s admission that no one can ever take her mother’s place, Amy is freed from the feeling that being close to another woman may be disloyal.

4.  Comment: She Amy hugs Susan allowing them to grow closer and enabling; Amy to beginis begining to trust, an essential element in the process of healing.

3. There is parallel in the growth of the geese and the growth of Amy. What happens in the story that shows how both the birds and Amy mature as the film progresses? Suggested response: Both the geese and Amy move toward adulthood and independence. The geese mature from waddling to flying as Amy grows from behaving in a childlike manner to a more responsible adolescent;: she stops refusing to go to school, accepts her father’s instructions and goes to her mother’s trunk to try on clothes and put on lipstick, hinting at new interests. The geese learn to fly following the ultralight aircraft as Amy learns to fly itthe plane; the geese fly through danger as does Amy and eventually the geese make it to the pond, and thus to adulthood, as Amy flies alone to the pond without the guidance of her father.

Assignment:

·  Write either a formal or informal essay in which you discuss how Amy feels as she matures. Feelings are an important partcomponent of the theme in this film and Amy’s feelingfeelings are shown as they progress from loneliness to engagement to confidence. In your essay, focus on Amy’s change in feeling in terms of her willingness to trust, her willingness to accept risk and to allow herself to grow closecloser to others., and her ability to accept risk for the benefit of others. Be sure to address how sheAmy feels at thenthe end of the film as she basks in her accomplishment.

4. Tom, Amy’s father, has clearly made mistakes inas a parent; he allowed his job of parenting. He had not been a anger at his wife, or her anger at him, to prevent him from being part of Amy’s life since she was around threefor ten crucial years old. He has, however, learned. Through the course of the film Tom learns how to be a good father. What steps did he take in earning the label of “fatherthis journey?” Suggested response: Amy’s father The first step that Tom took to becoming a good parent was to take responsibility for his daughter and to engage with her in a loving way. He does not judge Amy, nor does he use anger or impatience in the way he treats her, even though it is clear that he is often at a loss about what to do. He is patient and forgives her many things, yet he does have a few standards that he insists be maintained. Tom is willing to sacrifice his Moon Landing sculpture and histake valuable time away from his work in order to help Amy save the geese. He admits to Amy that he has not been a good father in the past and he apologizes. Finally, when Tom’s ultralight has crashed short of the preserve where the geese are to spend the winter, he tells Amy to take the geese and fly awayon by herself, he says. He is giving her permission to be independent and act on her own, a major step, perhaps the major step, toward adulthood. In that conversation, Tom tells Amy that she has her mother’s strength, giving her which not only gives Amy the confidence she needs to go forward independently but signals that he accepts and approves of her love for her mother and values those parts of Amy’s character that are like her mother.

Assignment:

·  Write a personal essay in which you express your ideas about what constitutes good parenting. You may refer to your own parents as examples in either positive or negative terms or you may refer to grandparents or the parents of friends. Be sure to cite specific examples of good parenting rather than write in general terms. For example, should you determine that forbearance is a characteristic of good parenting, you may want to illustrate the quality of forbearance through mention of a particular time when you witnessed it in a parent or parent figure.. Consider in your conclusion how you hope to be as a parent.